No5 / PIgs / Pullets - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 15 April, 2019

by Rosemary at 6:54pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 8^th April

Lovely spring day – sunny and warm. Moved No5 to the maternity ward then went for hay. Dosed No7 and No11 and tailed their lambs; turned out No11 but keeping No7 in until I’m sure the lamb’s eyes are better.

Turned out the pet lambs during the day but brought them into the maternity ward for overnight, just to be sure they’re safe.

Managed to get our personal tax returns done and off to the accountant; one down, three to go.

The pear trees are in full bossom now. Beautiful.

Pear blossom.

Tuesday 9^th April

Another lovely day. No7’s lamb’s eyes are improving steadily.

Big numbers on the farm tour today but good fun.

Wednesday 10^th April

Wow, ground frost this morning and the water was frozen! However, the sun got out by mid morning and it was lovely and warm again.

Turned out No7 – I can catch the lamb in the field. That’s four left – No2, No5 and the two Shetlands. Oops, three left – No5 had a lovely big ewe lamb at 8pm. It's our only scanned single.

No5 and her ewe lamb.

Prepared the pig ark for the new arrivals tomorrow. Looks very snug. We have a wee hurdle pen round it for the first 24hours – just so we know they know where their bed is.

Pig ark ready.

Got another year-end done – two down, two to go.

Thursday 11^th April

Cool and frosty, turning sunny and warm. Still a cool breeze though. Milky Wayne’s got a sore eye, so he’s getting eye drops too.

I was supposed to be riding but I slipped on a frozen hosepipe and tweaked my hamstrings. Ouchy.

No tour today so went to pick up the three little pigs. They’re little crackers – very calm. They were born on St Valentine’s Day, so almost two months old.

Our new pigs.

Dan checked the bees – all three colonies are doing fine. Hive 1 is very, very busy indeed.

Friday 12^th April

No tour today so it was off to Perth to pick up 40 new laying hens. We’ve put Rocky in with them and he’s very pleased with himself. They all went into the house at bedtime but only a few went up the ladder to perch, so we popped the others up. Hopefully, they’ll have got the hang of it tomorrow.

Rocky and his new girls.

Lost the blooming eye drops so off to the vet for a new tube. Keeping them in the box this time.

Saturday 13^th April

Another nice day – but still that cool wind from the East. Bruce out topping the rushes in Laing’s Field. Not finished as the machine broke down but hopefully done next week. Dan moved the meat chicken pen - lots of grass, but the sheep made short work of it.

Poultry pen.

I think my biorhythms must be in disarray. I didn’t shut a gate and the Shetland sheep got out – easily got back with a rattley bucket, before the Ryeland had even noticed the gate was open!

Didn’t shut the gate of the cattle pen properly and Ace got out – thankfully he only went as far as the hay bale, and went quietly back into the pen on his rope.

And I burned a batch of muffins – the oven gloves caught on the temperature gauge and turned it from 180C to 220C and I didn’t notice. So cross.

On the positive side, the lambs were sunbathing – always good to see – and I was able to give the pigs a wee scratch.

Pet lambs sunbathing with a chum.

A squish of lambs.

 

Dan’s sorting out and cleaning all the bee stuff – he’s got a stocktaking app on his phone. He and Andy were busy at that this morning, doing repairs and making a list of what’s needed. Best done now before the bees start flying in numbers and find the old honey.

Sunday 14^st April

Cool and cloudy. Andy and Dan back on the bee equipment. What a difference a day makes – he should get it finished this week, barring disasters.

The maternity ward - byre plus outdoor area - has worked well. Don't know if it would have worked as well had it been a wet spring but woudl definitely do it again. Not sure thet the flowerbed is going to make much of a recovery.

Maternity ward.

Having an early night – well, I’ll be up at 2am.