RIP Wallace; Sheep movements; 2016 yarn; Sassos; Bull
Posted: Monday 29 August, 2016
Monday 22nd August
Grey and drizzling this morning but the sun came out at lunchtime and warmed the place up nicely. The sweetcorn must have grown two feet in the last week. Not sure if summer will last long enough for it to ripen cobs though – some of the trees are turning already.
Mak is courting Annie, which is good.
Tuesday 23rd August
Grey and mizzley all day; mild though. Been sorting out the paperwork for the twelve ewes and gimmers I’ve sold. They are going to their new owner tomorrow. I will be sad but onwards and upwards.
Wednesday 24th August
Well, the ewes are safely away.
Lucy, so sad to see the sheep leave.
However, any sadness at their departure was eclipsed by having to have Wallace put to sleep.
Wallace under this favourite tree.
He’d been almost sound last week but had relapsed yesterday and, frankly, his spark had gone. He didn’t want to stand up, except for his bottle, and was just done. It was all very peaceful – he was curled up in the sun in his favourite spot and there was no struggle.
That’s all for today.
Thursday 25th August
Grey, cool and overcast this morning. Mak seems to be happy that he’s had his wicked way with Annie – it was wild out there yesterday – and is grazing quietly.
Had to kill one of the Sasso cockerels this morning. He’d gone off his legs. At nearly 13 weeks old, we were planning to kill all seven cockerels tomorrow anyway. They’re definitely not as big as the Hubbards are at the same age.
Seven of this year’s Rhode Rocks are broody. The egg size is a bit poor too, I think. Not stressing about the broodies too much – if a hen has the capacity to lay 600 eggs in a lifetime, we’ll either get them at this end or the other.
Received welcome notification from Animal and Plant Health Agency that we will be exempt from routine TB testing in 2017.
Friday 26th August
Mak is now courting Blizzard. He’s been in with them for two weeks, so it would be great if he caught them all first time round.
Got our 2016 yarn back from The Natural Fibre Company. Really pleased with it.
2016 Rosedean Ryelands yarn.
The light coloured batch isn’t as pale as I thought it would be but is all the lovelier for that. The dark batch is maybe a shade or two darker than the 2015 yarn. It'll be available to order on the Rosedean Ryelands online shop soon.
Killed another three cockerels but decided to leave the rest because they aren’t awfully big yet.
Saturday 27th August
Cleaned the four cockerels this morning and found them a wee bit disappointing.
Brought the fourteen ewe lambs and two oldies home. That just leaves the six tup lambs and three steers at the grazing. Heard lots of bleating this afternoon – found two lambs with their heads stuck in the fence.
We'll just rest here for a minute...
Managed to unstuck them without losing any eartags.
There are cobs on the sweetcorn and pears on the tree.
We might get a sweetcorn crop depending on the weather.
We should get a nice pear crop from the espaliers.
And the fuchsia hedge is coming away nicely.
Young fuschia hedge.
It's only been in about 3 weeks, and it already several times larger than when planted. Can't wait to see it when it's mature.
Sunday 28th August
Busy day with an “Introduction to Smallholding” course. Hope everyone found it interesting and informative. :-)
