The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: WillowPonds on December 15, 2019, 07:34:42 am
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Been using this site since getting our smallholding last year. It’s been invaluable. This year we have had pigs, lambs, ducks, chickens and turkeys. Pigs and lambs now in the freezer, turkeys will be prepped for Christmas soon. We got three coloured ryeland sheep and a ram in the summer so hoping for some new lambs in the new year. Hoping to get some advice on lambing as it will be our first time :farmer:
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Where are you WillowPonds ?
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Hi we are based in Norfolk in The Fens so it’s very flat where we are. Consequently the sky looks huge :D
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:wave: I was born on a market garden in the Fens (Littleport) but we moved on to a pig and turkey farm in North Norfolk when I was 3 months old so I only know the Fens from visiting family. Wonderful soils but not much of a view ;D I wonder why I moved to a hilltop in Scotland :innocent:
Which breeds are your pigs and turkeys?
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We are about 15 mins from Littleport ????. You’re right about the views but I quite like the uninterrupted stretch of the fields. Although Scotland certainly is beautiful. We have Norfolk Bronze turkeys and the pigs were mud white x saddleback. Really lovely pigs to keep. We have coloured ryeland sheep. Must admit to being quite fond of the turkeys but resigned to the fact that they are for dinner and not pets ????
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Turkeys do make wonderful pets. We had one here, called Gilbert, which used to follow my husband as he did his chores - I think he talked more to the turkey than he did to me! We decided to keep him and not eat him for Christmas, but one of our sons had different ideas :tired: . We put him in the freezer for the following year as we couldn't bear to eat him straight away.
Ah, funny that - at first my father kept saddlebacks but then changed over to Danish Landrace in the late 1950s. I preferred the saddlebacks with their floppy ears and friendly ways. A field full of Landrace sows tried to eat me when I was 4 so I've never liked them much ;D . Here we kept Tamworths for a while but now we concentrate on the sheep, the environment and wildlife.
Wave to Littleport for me - the house my parents built is no longer there, replaced with newer ones.
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Hi. We are just south of Cambridge. Berkshire pigs ( you would never see them on the fen soil!). Coloured ryelands & angora goats. Last sat outside Littleport, well Prickwillow, when car blew up with the horse trailer and 2 horses coming back from Sandringham. Several people stopped to offer temporary accomodation for the horses. A nice lot of your way.
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I used to hail from Cambridge before moving to Swansea and later our farm on the edge of the Gower. Hello and good luck
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Well it’s turkey day today and I’ve been awake half the night fretting about it. [member=4333]Fleecewife[/member] i hope mine won’t sit in the freezer until next year ????.
[member=30154]pharnorth[/member] i wouldn’t mind trying Berkshires one year. How long have you had your Coloured Ryelands for? First year for us. Hope our ram has done his job. Yes they are a friendly lot around here and love their horses ??
[member=194689]Kiran[/member] how lucky for you to be in The Gower. Such a beautiful place. I worked in Swansea for about 4 years. Loved every minute especially going running on the beach. One the way out watching guys fishing from the beach and then on the way back seeing them cooking their catch on a fire they had built on the beach.
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone ?????????????????????????
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We have had the Coloured Ryelands for 5 years now. They lamb reasonably easily but sometimes need a little help. Are you into spinning knitting weaving? We are MV accrediting the sheep as we have a herd of CAE accredited angora goats and it is easier for husbandry. But consequently won't be showing the CRs this year
The Berkshires are a delight. There is a wonderful breeder even closer to you but nonetheless you are welcome to come and see ours sometime if you like.
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Hello again ???? Are you lambing this year? Just got our maternity unit ready for our three girls. Hopefully they are in lamb. Time will tell I guess. We put our ram in with the girls late September so I guess anytime from now on. No signs of bagging up yet but I’m checking daily without trying to cause too much fuss ????. Any tips for our first lambing?
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Hi! Just catching up with your posts. We moved up to Scotland from Cambridgeshire 4 years ago. Lovely reading names I've not thought about in ages, Prickwillow and Littleport ????. We lived in Ely for a while, and I worked at Addenbrookes, really hope to get down for a long weekend soon!
Enough reminiscing.
I am still very new to sheep myself, this will be our 3rd lambing. Started with 3 in 2018, now have 40 to lamb this time. Main trick with ryelands is not to overfeed. They are greedy little oinkers in my limited experience, and the only truly difficult lambing we had last year was from a ryeland ewe. Because we have good grass, this year I'm really limited my ryelands. They are going in with my Shetlands who get the odd handful.
You can usually tell when they are getting ready to start. Are they first timers?
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I used to live in Suffolk, in Lowestoft so not far from Norfolk, I live in South Yorkshire now