Diary

May 2021RSS feed

Annie's calf / Alice's lamb / Pig ark

Monday 3 May, 2021

by Rosemary at 12:07pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 26th April

Rain forecast fro today but only a few showers. Annie surprised us by calving this afternoon. Her due date was 4th May, but I think if I looked back, early calving has become the norm. I saw little legs below her belly while I was doing evening chores and the legs were running about – which is good. Sadly, Ace was pummelling the calf, so we bought him in and left the girls out overnight.  I’m 99% sure it’s a heifer.

calfAnnie and her very new heifer calf.

Bronte / Pigs / Rushes

Monday 10 May, 2021

by Rosemary at 10:36am in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 3rd May

Nice start to the day but by late afternoon, it was like November – heavy rain and strong wind (or in the words of the BBC, a brisk breeze!). Dan made some modifications to the cheep run to make it a bit less exposed – I was going to bring them back in.

The cows came in by themselves mid afternoon. Rosie’s not going to go until her due date of the 10th, the question is when will she go. The weather for the week isn’t great. The lambs are all tucked up at the back of the field shelter.

Pigs / Rhubarb / Mucking out

Monday 17 May, 2021

by Rosemary at 4:42pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 10th May

Definitely, finally, feels like spring. Warm, sunny showers, a light breeze. Braw.

Office day but did sow grass seed in Sheepfold where Dan harrowed yesterday, and put a tape across to divide the field into two unequal halves. I thought it would be nice to see what grows if it’s not grazed.

Found a dead hen in the field shelter – she must be four years old and must have just keeled over while scratching in the straw.  Not a bad way to go. And we had to cull one of the new batch. She’s been looking off for a couple of days, then looked better, but was plainly struggling today.

What's happened to summer?

Monday 24 May, 2021

by Rosemary at 7:10pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 17th May

Nice morning, but rain started at 4pm.

Picked up two bales of hay. Took the faecal sample to the vet; as I arrived, Alistair was leaving, but he took the sample back to get it sent off.  Ken arrived with diesel and to collect the weight thing off the front of the tractor.

Did some paperwork then had a snooze. Was woken by the rain!

Dan went off to empty the muck trailer because I’m going for a tonne of layer pellets tomorrow. It’s all time critical because the car’s going for an MOT on Thursday and the trailer’s going for a service next week.

Gardens / Shearing / Blood tests

Monday 31 May, 2021

by Rosemary at 10:38am in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 24th May

We had more rain overnight and the day was cool, damp and drizzly. We ate the last of last year’s apples this morning – we cooked and froze tonnes (well, it felt like tonnes) in the autumn. I fear we may not have a good a crop this year. Some of the apple trees look rough and the poor weather will have affected the number of pollinators.

Wednesday 26th May

(No, I'm not sure what happened to Tuesday either)

Finally plucked up courage to plant up the tubs for the back door. And one hanging basket.

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