Diary

Rosie / Storm / LammasRSS feed

Posted: Monday 2 August, 2021

by Rosemary at 3:10pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 27th July

Hot, muggy. Rosie is in season and she’s lame, which gives me a dilemma – I want her served but I can’t bring her in with Ace because the mats get slippy if they are wet and if he mounts her and she slips, she could do serious damage. So I’m hoping she’ll be better tomorrow. The gods love an optimist.

Tuesday 28th July

Still hot and muggy – we’re just waiting for the rain.

Rosie is still lame and still in season. We’ve bought a new bull. He’s called Hartons Grey, born mid-April. I like him a lot and his dam looks like a good cow. Now I have to arrange for Ace to go to the abattoir, which is making me sad.

greyOur new bull, Harton's Grey.

Wednesday 29th July

Oh my, so much rain overnight, accompanied by thunder and lightening too. Dan was up a ladder at 3am clearing gutters. Coincidentally, the roofer arrived this morning to do any repairs to the roof and rainwater system and to repair some roughcasting. The rainwater system is the original cast iron, but some of it now needs replaced.

We sure needed the rain - we’ve had a few heavy showers through the day, and there’s a wee bit of water standing in some of the fields but the sun got out in the afternoon.

waterBit of standing water after the storm.

I did a cow reshuffle and brought Ace into the field shelter, mainly to get him out of the way, then brought the cows and calves into the barn. Vet came out to see Rosie, who’s still very lame. The problem is in her foot and there seems to be an infected cut at the top of her off hind, at the fetlock. She’s had antibiotic and a painkiller but will have to stay in for five days while she completes the course. So Rosie, Bronte and Rora are in; Blizzard, Annie, Baby and Ace are out in Laing’s Field. I walked miles opening and closing gates.

And we had another fox visit last night – one layer and one meat bird killed. It must be small because it chewed through deer netting and got through the stock netting. We’ll have to put chicken wire round the perimeter. Meanwhile, Robbie will be round to take care of this one. Dan took the breasts of the meat chicken – the dogs and cats can have it.

pulletsPullets taking to the trees.


Thursday 30th July

Overcast and drizzly this morning, and much cooler. The roofer back to finish off; so it’s the painter next. I’m looking forward to having the kitchen and dining room painted.

I cooked the chicken for the pets and baked an Oat & Treacle Soda Bread. I made one last week but it wasn’t very good, so I bought some buttermilk for this one. It was better but it was a wee bit uncooked in the middle. Oh well, just have to keep trying.

Robbie came tonight; he saw the fox. As we thought, it’s a cub. He couldn’t get a shot off. Dan’s going to add chicken wire toe Fortress Chook next week when he’s on” holiday”.

Friday 30th July

Rosie is much improved; the three of them are quite settled. There’s a bit of shouting at feed times, but other than that they’re fine.

The lambs are doing well. Kit's Ryeland x Shetland lambs are almost as big as she is. It's a great cross. The BFLs are looking lovely - Bean looks very masculine compared to the ewe lambs. We'll be weaning them in two weeks.

sheepBean. Not so stringy now.

Saturday 31st July

I cleaned out the hens this morning and moved them to fresh pens. Dan strimmed and then trimmed the hedge on the road – it had become a menace for walkers, so he took off he worst bits.

Sunday 1st August

Today is Lammas, one of the four traditional Fire Festivals and a celebration of the start of the harvest. Unless you grow courgettes, in which case the harvest has been going on for some time. In celebration, Dan picked peas, which yielded 3.5kg of peas. We try to take the four quarter days and the four Fire Festivals as holidays, but it doesn’t always work out like that. We did have a bit of a lie in though, once the animals were fed.

Rosie is almost sound and she had the last of the antibiotic this evening. I’ll turn them out tomorrow, I think. Once Ace has gone at the end of the month, I’ll get Rora jagged, just in case he’s served her.  Ace is showing no interest in Annie. Fingers crossed that this continues. I fully expect Rosie to come back in season about the 12th August.

Dan’s on holiday next week – well, not doing desk work (unless there is an emergency). But he has a very long To Do list.

 

 

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