The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Wizard on April 27, 2010, 07:25:12 am
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So hopefully you have the keys Jackie Update Update Update wot happened am here all agog and awaiting a report ;D :pig: :cat: :chook: :dog: :goat: :horse: :sheep: :&> Wot say gimme time to get me breath.XXX George and Kath
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lol George we have just got back from NK and Im drinking my first coffee.
Well, we walked the land and the place looked worse than we remembered cos the vandals got at the kennels and the house. Hubby said "omg Jackie what have we done?"
The render is falling off the house and hubby thinks it may be concrete cancer :( the internal walls are so wet trout could live there.
There was no electricity or water on untill 2 pm today. And the water is on a meter and the electrcity is a card meter, so we have to get that changed.
We started to just tidy up the offices as HARA folk had left EVERYTHING including the ashes of a pet dog! We will need huge bonfire just for the accounts alone.
We took 2 workers over with us and the ideea was that they stay the night in the offices to provide on site security and we were to got home (80 miles) but we left it too long to drive home and so decided to find a hotel or B&b. Ill tell you that any bed in Grimsby or surrounding area is as rare as hens teeth cos Conoco has a shut down and 2.5k extra contractors getting the beds.
At 5 to 10 we finally found a really, really grotty place to stay, it stunk and there was puke on one wall, I checked the 2 single beds for bugs and didnt even get undressed it was so horrid.
Anyway after being awake most of the night we went back to NK then hubby drove home to collect our 45 cob chickens, they are 35 days old and from a huge unit of 100,000 chickens.
They are now in a very large kennel area looking so sad with hardly any feathers but I know all will be well soon.
We had a meeting with a person from the council to move the public right of way to the edge of our field and thats going ahead.
Tomorrow Im getting my bitches hips xrayed and elbows checked so wont be going over but hubby is.
Im spending some time getting my CPH and phoning around for some lambs as the land has been neglected for many years and hopefully they will bring it back for us.
The pigs I want arent even born yet so Im ok with no stock movement after the lambs.
Son and I cleaned out the cattery with Jeyes as the smell made our eyes water!! Yuk!!
We cleaned the rabbit house and made sure the outside cages were secure.
Feel free george to come over at the weekend if you fancy a nose around as hubby and I are there in our caravan. I can offer only tea or coffee (and a biccy or two) having no kitchen etc.
So thats it in a nutshell. Hard work, very little sleep and shear panic at the state of the place.
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Jackie, i dont know what NK stands for but it sounds like it will be great when you've got it all sorted. kind of like us - 3 years in and still nowhere near where we want to be, but loving every minute of poverty i have to say!
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What great fun, sorting all that out!
And bl**dy hard work too.....
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WHoooooooo egglady NK means where Jackie is going to live North Killingholme next to South Killingholme one way and Thornton Abbey the other hey Jackie you aren't interested yet but Bill Spinks has a Garden Center type place at Thornton.Sorry to hear of your plight in a room.Wasn't there on at the Oaklands?Sorry I cannot offer we have a 2up 2down in the middle of them 2 ;D I wont call without prior arrangement it's not fair people always call when you are at your busiest and hold you up ??? ;D :farmer:
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thanks wizard
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Part 2
This is the place we have bought
http://www.harasanctuary.co.uk/
Although it really doesnt look as nice as the pictures as it had been empty for approx 2 years. The village itself is very, very quiet with just a hotel but no shop. We cant hear or smell the refinery (place is approx 1 mile away from refinery) but the guys told me that at night when walking the land they could see the refinery and it looked quite mgical with twinkling tiny lights all over it. ;D We are thinking of having a small shop on the land in the future, certainly to sell our own stuff if not milk and papers as well.
Yesterday I should have taken my bitches or their hip xray but couldnt find the paper work needed (microchip documents) so had to cancel the appointment with the vet so decided to spend the day over at NK although I didnt do very much.
The lads mowed the land surrounding the house and rabbit hutch and weed killered (glysopahte)the entrance area and the courtyard so it is looking better.
We have 4 feral ex rescue cats left over from HARA days and we feed them 2x per day and cant get near them, the ex memebr of HARA board who lives in the village said she would get us some food as technically the cats are the charity's responsibilty.
The cattery smells much better after the jeyes fluid, now we have to paint the outside wood on the cat runs and thats all set then to clean the cat kitchen for the cat licence.
Oh btw prior to us actually buying the place we had a meeting on site with the boarding kennels and cattery licence woman from the council and asked her what we needed to do to bring it up to scratch for the licence. Apparently charity dog runs and cat cages dont need the same criteria as boarding does.
We havent touched the dog runs yet but have ordered everything we need for them ie waterproof and dog safe paint, plaster boards for the ceilings, plastic pipes for the central heating (vandals knicked the copper pipes) New window frames for where the vandals ripped out the windows to try to knick the washing machine and tumbles dryers in there etc etc.
Today hubby is taking our best plaster over to NK so they can assess the state of the place and then decide whether to knock down the house and rebuild or upgrade it. Either way we have to contact an architecht to incorporate the offices into the house area as we need 8 bedrooms with on suites (8 family members and 1 nurse for Mum) in the new house and its worth paying for an architecht to design something and see through the plans with the council.
I wont be going to NK today as I came down with a migraine yesterday with all the travelling we were doing.
Friday Im going over to spend the weekend at NK and the lads are going home, but we have found out that it only costs £20 return for them on the train from Stalling borough to Grantham. This will save us a round trip of 160 miles plus 4 hours driving. They can catch the train back on Monday so another 160 miles and 4 hours saved.
I did have a scare yesterday as the lads told me that 1 chicken had a broken beak so when i got to NK I picked it up and had a look. I did ask if either of the lads would kill it for me if it needed it, the answer from both was a resounding 'No!'
It seems that the chicken was born that way and its crop was as full as a couple of others and I watched it eating so all is well. The chickens wont venture out from where we actually put them when we first got them to NK although the gate is open. I guess they like the thick straw under their featherless buttocks lol
On Friday if they still havent ventured out Im doing a Crumb trail for them to follow to the outside cos they need grass etc.
At the weekend hubby and I are exploring the area so will probably pop into the garden centre George.
No George Oaklands was full and dont worry we dont need anywhere as we now towed our caravan onto the land and we can sleep in that. Its very comfortable.
Dont worry George about you and Kath popping in at anytime as we dont have a telephone connected yet and a break is sometimes very welcome lol Just remember you are both very welcome but I wont push it, whenever you want to is fine by us. ;D
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Hello Jackie where did you get to any where nice I stayed home as we always do b/h's there is enough loons about especially those leaving Cadwell after the races and all the tin snails going home from the coast ??? :D :farmer:
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Jackie it will look wonderful when you have completed all the renovations. :)
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I hope all goes well with your venture, it sounds like the sort of thing I dreamed of years ago! Too old now, even if the opportunity arose so I'll enjoy watching your progress. :) :)
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Hello Sylvia I go nearly every week to the Earl of Yarborough's Farms The field at the X roads is one of Brocklesby Farms I'm sure so I shall sneak in an video it so I can see what headway Jackie is making eh!Only joking Jackie its to far from the X roads any way intit .We will let you know when we are expecting to be in SK Then we can come a mile up the road can't we :D :D :D :farmer:
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Part 3
Ivejjust got back from staying at NK for a few days.
LOl we went to Morrisons the scenic route of 40 miles cos we got lost, and when we finally found it I asked at the till for the post code of the store so we wont get lost again and explained we actually live in Melton, the girl at the till light up and said my auntie lives there! I asked where and her reply was the same road as my Mum used to live in. My reply to that was,,,,, of all the tills, in all the supermarkets, I picked yours! Small world eh?
I wanted to go to Pelham Pillar as it was an open day but couldn't find it! We did go to a car boot and it was soo expensive, in fact a lot of things are more expensive in Lincs. We are planning to buy our chicken food in Melton as its £3 a sack cheaper so will load the stock trailer and van up now we are home. Son and worker are back at NK so the chickens are not on their own.
We are thinking of becoming a retailer for cheaper chicken food as we have a dry barn we can store loads in, I'm gonna phone the manufacturer tomorrow.
The chickens are coming on a treat and I now call 'Come on Ladies, dinner.' Son asked me why I call them 'Ladies', my reply was cos they look like ladies wearing crinolines and sound like a load of old biddys!!
The Gypsies broke into a few places in NK over the weekend but we were OK as my dogs bark really loudly. ;D
The front is now secure so nothing can get in and it looks much better. Tomorrow we are painting the cattery.
We have now come to the sad conclusion that this year is a gonna for boarding as everyone will have booked where their animals are gong so will probably take in some rescues this year. Ah well such is life!
I'm gong to ask hubby or son how I post pics on here so expect some soon.
Must go as we just got in and the kettle has boiled and I'm gasping.
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Aw Jackie I wish I had known.Turn Left out of your gate up to the X roads (roundabout now) straight across straight on at the Habrough roundabout and follow the road through to Brocklesby keep until you can join the A18 at Kirmington keep going at the fork toward the airport not far is Kirmington Xroads Turn Left up the side of the airport and keep going that road joins the road from Limber at Pelham's Pillar Of course its nearer to come from Brocklesby X roads to Limber and then you will end up at the pillar Its about 10 miles.What a shame.To go to Morrisons go to Brocklesby Xroads and turn left keep on that road to Keelby and join the A18 and turn left go to Laceby Roundabout and turn Left go up the A46 towards Grimsby to the next roundabout and turn left into Morrisons Complex They usually one of the cheapest petrol in Town By the way Morrisons is in Cleethorpe It is Morrison PLC.Hilmore Road, Laceby,Lincs DN37 7SQ Please Email me if you need to know where something like this I will Email you back same day.Do you know about Pillar ? The surname of Lord Yarborough who built it was Pelham The current Lord Yarborough the 8th Earl is Charles John Pelham who is now known as Abdul Mateen after his convert to Islam
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Well Ive bought 6 pigs. They are 5 gilts and 1 boar, 2 lop/Wild boar x's, 2 lops, and 2 tamworth/Gos x's.
We put them in the pig pen we had sorted out for them and they disappeared into the long grass and stinging nettles to reappear 30 mins later with sore and stung ears so we strimmed the nettles down for them and they are digging up the roots for us. :) Good little piggies.
The first morning they were at the farm I woke at 4.30am and went to look at them AND I COULDN'T FIND THEM!!!
I searched all over their pen, peered hard into their ark, NO PIGS!!!!!!
I ran back to hubby and woke him with the news that the pigs had been stolen, he shot up and in his underpants ran to the pen (not a nice sight) he looked all around the pen and opened the gate and went into the pen and shouted me to follow him.
OOPPPSSS! Bless the little piggies!!! They were fast asleep buried in the straw with just 1 ear poking above the straw. ::)
Funnily enough hubby was grumpy all that day. ;D
The poor little boar gets bullied by the gilts at feed time so I have put the pellets in 2 different places now so he at least gets a chance to eat.
After a few days the lops and the boar is eating bread out of our hands but the wild board X'S are very skittish still.
The chickens have now ventured out of their pen and onto the grass. Yesterday I saw 2 of the biggest facing up to each other to sort out the top chicken I suppose, they pecked at each others eyes until I sprayed them with the hose.
I'm not surprised about how much Cobs eat but heck don't they drink a lot!!
The German shepherds now live permanently at the farm but I haven't yet allowed them to see any of the animals.
We have discovered that we have 5 apple trees on the land but I have no idea which variety so Im still buying some fruit trees in.
I finally got the magic phone call about the rescue battery hens. ;D And Im picking 20 of them up next Saturday. Oooh fresh eggs for breakfast from now on.
At the farm we have no cooker so Im trying to manage cooking for 4 adults with a microwave only, it isnt easy so we have tried to make use of takeaways but they are positively disgusting. We have tried 2 different Chinese takeaways and both times non of us could eat it. We tried a kebab place and the dogs loved it. The fish and chip shop near us serves re-cooked chips and very, very greasy fish.
However we have found a good reasonable priced pub called the Trawl (Hungry Horse chain) which is about 30 mins from us so Im working my way down the menu. lol
Im still waiting for Smiffy's pigs to be ready and Im having 6 more of those I think cos if the quality of the takeaways says anything then they are gonna love my pork!!!! ;D and ckicken and rabbit and duck and turkey and goose!!!! ;)
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On Thursday Hubby and I went to Louth cattle market. I was quite shocked as it was so very small with no stalls etc compared to Melton cattle market. I was carrying a big note pad and people moved out of my way and kept looking at me oddly. Finally one brave farmer asked who I was, I explained I was just looking cos we have bought a smallholding etc and he laughed and said everyone thought we were some one 'official' and thats why we were being given a wide birth lol
Anyway we went to look at the sheep pens and not knowing what exactly I was looking at I asked a young girl who was off loading some sheep and she pointed me to a guy called Ken who knew everything that I needed to know about sheep. He did. We asked Ken to bid on the lambs for us but he suggested we bid and if he sees us going wrong he would step in to help and with his help we bought 6 ewe lambs. Ken told us before the bidding that they would go over the £30 each we wanted to pay as they were nice strong lambs, they went up to £33 each.
We bought some healthy 5 week old cade lambs, 4 sussex cross and 2 charolaise. Ken suggested that if we wanted to breed from the lambs as they got older to only breed from the sussex crosses and send the other 2 to slaughter for meat as they arent such good mothers.
Ken is 85 and still going to markets as a day out. Funnily enough I asked if Lord Yaxley brought and of their sheep for sale there and he said no they go straight to slaughter. I asked if he knew my auntie Shirley and he said 'Yes I know her!!! He knew that she looks after Lords Yaxleys pigs etc and Im to remember him to her when I see her next. ;D
It never ceases to amaze me just how small this world really is!!!! ;D ;)
Ken also pointed out the animal health lady for me to talk to and she was lovely and really helpful, she gave me lots of books and movement stuff, and introduced me to the feed sellers etc
I got back to the farm after being deafened by these lambs to see that I had a letter from our local Animal Health lady, Linda somebody, who wants to come to visit to show me how to fill in all the paperwork, apparently its a requirement of their job. ???
The lambs came with a 'How to care for them' typed up instructions with feed times and amounts etc so thats been really helpful. It cost £88 for the food, fly stuff and wormer. Sheep are expensive.
Today I sprayed them to prevent fly strike as its fly season ??? Yes Im very ignorant, I will worm them in 2 weeks.
I bought 6 teats that fit on coke bottles so its a mad scramble come feed time as I only have 2 hands. lol The lambs are inside still with a deep bed of straw and fresh hay from our own field that they chomp on as well as the lamb creep.
I walked one of my big brave german shepherds past the piglets and 1 poked her nose through the fence and grunted, the dog jumped 6 feet in the air and took off at supersonic speed. A very brave shep eh? lol
The other shep escaped to where the piglets are and I found her nose to nose with a piglet. the dog trying to lick the pigs nose and the pig trying to bite the dogs nose. lol
The baby boar is still getting bullied but now I sling the pellets all over the pen so he doesnt get pushed out of feeding.
I found 1 chicken dead when I went to let them out 3 days ago and I have no idea why she died. All the others are fine, no sign of illness etc.
Im home in Melton until Sunday, Hubby, son and worker, Smiley, are back at the farm and Im taking my mum back to the farm on Sunday so my son and Smiley can have a week off.
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At the farm we have no cooker so Im trying to manage cooking for 4 adults with a microwave only, it isnt easy so we have tried to make use of takeaways but they are positively disgusting. We have tried 2 different Chinese takeaways and both times non of us could eat it. We tried a kebab place and the dogs loved it. The fish and chip shop near us serves re-cooked chips and very, very greasy fish.
However we have found a good reasonable priced pub called the Trawl (Hungry Horse chain) which is about 30 mins from us so Im working my way down the menu. lol
Laceby chinese takaway is lovely you should try it! Also healing manor do lovely food i often go there when im at my mums (its her local and she about lives in there ::) ) also no too far from the trawl Little field lane chinese ta is the best in the world!! :yum: and littlefield to a really nice carvery just down the road frm the chinese well worth a try
Danielle
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all sounds good, (apart from the dead chook)
smilimg at the cowardly shepherd... ours is obsessed with licking the pigs' noses, then jumps when they sniff & blow back at her!!
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Thank you Danielle, now we wont starve! ;D
Considering GSD's have such a fierce reputation they are not all like that. lol It seems as though yours is as wimpy as mine Little blue. ;D
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Ive just had a phone call call from hubby on the farm and 1 lamb has died overnight. Im so sad about if as they looked so healthy at 5 weeks and were taking milk very well.
However I did notice one shivering last night after its feed and it didn't take all its feed,
Im wondering if it could be pneumonia although it wasnt coughing.
The lamb are housed inside (no draughts) with a good deep bed of straw, they have access to creep and fresh water and hay.
Hubby has kept the body for me to look at tomorrow as he said its stomach looks swollen but that could be stomach bacteria and is a natural swelling after death.
Any ideas?
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Sorry about your lamb Jackie :(
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Thank you Sharon.
I contacted my vet (in Melton) who said its probably something called 'water belly???' and has given me 5 syringes to inject the lambs with when I go back tomorrow.
Fingers crossed I catch whatever it is.
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Jackie I look forward to each new chapter of this story, please dont stop.
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Thank you :)
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Oh I didnt say but we went to see Smiffy and her animals. We spent a great 2 hours looking and stroking her pigs and have ordered 5 pedigree sows for breeding plus Smiffy is getting fresh boars in so I can take my sows back to her for mating. ;D
Im getting the berkshire, mangazila and lop piglets very soon but the Tamworths arent born yet and Smiffy isnt sure whether the sow is in pig.
I know I said I didn't want Tamworths as they tend to be escape artists but I fell in love with Boris the boar as he chatted away to me for ages and I was stroking his snout. Heaven! But OMG they are huge animals!!! Plus I met the new baby Tam boar and we hand fed him grass and he followed us inside his pen talking all the time. ;D
2 Berkshires would make 1 Tamworth!!!
Smiffy's place was well set out with nice regimented fenced areas for the pigs. Each breed was kept separately with 1 boar to several sows. Lol The lop sow was so huge she couldn't be bothered to move her carcass out of her ark so we reached in and scratched her behind the ear.
Smiffy has all rare breed animals, chickens, cows, turkeys and 3 rhea. Ill buy some turkey poults (bronze cross whites I think they are) later in the year for the Christmas market.
Despite hubby saying we would never own a cow he fell in love with a calf that Smiffy had in the barn. She is a lincolnshire red I think but pure white in colour with huge great gentle eyes. Hubby asked how big she would grow and when Smiffy told him it put him off a bit I think, anyway we didnt buy it, although she probably wasnt for sale anyway lol BUT, and a huge BUT, it has got hubby now thinkling about owning a house cow, so thats all good. ;D
I should have sorted out the prices for the piglets when we were there but Smiffy had so many phone calls asking about her stock and I was slightly gobsmacked by it all that it was hard to remember what to ask. I do however remember asking how much her great big barn was as I was dead impressed by it and we need one similar and much smaller going by the price Smiffy paid lol
OH and I have ordered 40 geese, Ex breed geese, so they are not truly babies that I could lose. They are fatteners for the christmas market. I am due to pick them up early July. Ohh I better check it may be early June.
I didnt collect my rescue battery hens cos we had a major problem at home that day (Mum has alzheimers and gets aggressive) and had to dash home, Im sorry that we couldnt even phone the rescue lady to tell her but she phoned us on our mobile the next day and was quite snotty even after we explained!! I understand she now has and extra 20 chickens at her place that she didnt want but she didnt give us an alternative day to take them. Ah well such is life!
NVM a friend of one of my daughters owns a commercial poultry unit and will sell us some chickens for £1 each so Im still rescuing chickens albeit not from the rescue above.
I was hoping by now to be eating our own fresh eggs.
Lucky for me that we bought a rescue place as it has loads of fenced off pens for the animals with sheds already on so all we have to do is put the animals on the land.
We have now started to paint the walls inside of the kennels and bright clean white and the outside walls a warmer cream colour. Even just simple painting makes it look better.
The central heating pipes have been replaced as the copper pipes were all stolen plus the copper tank in the roof space.
A friend of ours came up last weekend and hes a tech genius so we now have CCTV all over the land, we have 6 cameras that are movement censored and can see in the dark too. They are wireless connected to a computer and the info is stored on the hard drive and can be accessed by our mobile phones too. Very techy stuff but needed in this area me thinks.
Anyway Ive just ordered a chinese meal so Im going now.
Thanks for reading.
PS Thanks to the people who added me in Facebook. Annie you looked very glamorous on that cruise. ;D
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IThe central heating pipes have been replaced as the copper pipes were all stolen plus the copper tank in the roof space.
A friend of ours came up last weekend and hes a tech genius so we now have CCTV all over the land, we have 6 cameras that are movement censored and can see in the dark too. They are wireless connected to a computer and the info is stored on the hard drive and can be accessed by our mobile phones too. Very techy stuff but needed in this area me thinks.
A very big yes to that! ::)
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sounds great Jackie....
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I went to Brocklesby yesterday to see the new long reach teleporter.Then up to the Grange where Paul's Dad was splitting logs since its only about 3 mile away I went to inspect the NK Venture.My they have a lot of work to do the place was just left by HARA rubbish and all the lot.They have made a start and it looks good there Kath went and inspected the animals and because I wasn't to great with wandering about the Grange I went and inspected the walnut trees they look well there will be plenty.When we go to NK I was very short of breath so I stayed with Jackies O/H and he showed me how they have got on on his compooter It's a smasher mobile with ever such a large VDU has loads of pic's on.We had a nice cup of coffee and a nice long chat before we came away.Both look very well and hopefully both are off to Rasen on Saturday.Lets hope they find loads of goodies they need for the NK job and nice and cheap as well Will report later as and when I go. :farmer:
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Shall I carry on doing this for everyone or are you bored with it?
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Well, I certainly am not bored - I am very interested (or is that nosey?!!!)
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Definately not bored so please carry on
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Thank you ;D Ill carry on then ;D
Last week I decided to spend a week at the farm (yay!!!) simply because I persuaded my mum to come too as Stacy needs a break from being around her. Mum has dementia (alzheimers) and can be very agressive towards everyone and it hurts Stacy or makes her angry, I just let it go over my head.
We took with us 2 little lads (aged 13 and 10) whose mum has just had a baby girl so needed time off from the bigger kids. 2nd marriage, 2nd family :)
Anyway, the weather was absolutley wonderful! Too hot to want to make the lamb pens lol but we did.
If anyone had told me what sheep or lambs were like I would never have believed them. They are the most arkward creature that God ever put breath into!!!
I feed them with 1/2 litre coke bottles with nipples/teats on but only having 2 hands can only feed 2 at once, whilst doing that the other 3 go mad at me biting my fingers, nipping the other lambs etc so picture this;
There I am standing, bending over slightly to feed 2 lambs in a sort of 'C' shape, one lamb at each hand when a lamb came up and under my arms and took a leap and bit my boob!!!
I yelled, my arms shot in the air complete with bottles and the 2 lambs I had been feeding imediately dropped dead!!!!! :o :o
Or so I thought! Phew! Relief! They blinked, shook themselves and stood up.
I now never go and feed the lambs without a thick apron and I dont EVER bend down!
The lads that came with us have been a great help, especially the older one as the younger one has been spoiled a lot having been the 'baby of the family for so long.
Tyrone (elder one) loves to be put to work and he has learnt how to feed every animal we own, how to bed them down with fresh bedding and how to make their homes water proof. In fact hubby shoved him onto a shed with a tarp and a nail gun, I worried, Tyrone worked fine. :) Tyrone had worked with every power tool we own and is quite happy (like most males :)) as long as he has a tool in his hand! He especially liked using our sit on grass mower and throwing huge plumes of grass out behind him, which he later raked up as hay.
Tyrone announced thjat he wanted to be a farmer when he grew up so he must have liked it all.
Now Brandon the youngest didnt stick to anything, in fact we asked him to screw a washer onto a lug nut and after 2 turns he couldnt get it on so he just dropped it and walked away. This is how long his concentration lasted at the beginning of the week. I must admit he drove me nuts and I got quite angry at him several times, he was greedy, selfish and once pushed his brother into the nettles and I have never seen such large nettle stings in my life all over his back, neck, arms and even through his trackie bottoms and all over his legs.
At that point I made Brandon sit in the kitchen and showed him what he had done to his brother, Brandon burst into tears as its his way of getting out of any trouble, it didnt work with me and he stayed in the kitchen for an hour and was told if he carried on crying he would be there longer! Oh yes cruel me!
However by the end of the week Brandon (and hubby and I not taking any rubbish from him) had turned around completely and had made/dug a whole veg patch, layed down straw, cardboard and compost and then went on to plant over 100 veg plants plus threw down some chicken fertilizer pellets. Then he watered the whole thing and I took some photo's on the phone to send to his mum. I was so proud of him I could have burst!
It did make me laugh when he phoned his mum to say that when the crops were ready he would bring his mum some strawberries, he didnt plant strawberries!!! lol Oh and he thought that potatoes grew on a bush! He was on a steep learning curve all last week.
One day out of the blue my hubby shouted from the gate "Jackie theres someone here to see you." Walking to the front gate I asked who? "Come see" he replied so in my pink spotted wellies and blue skirt and very dirty T shirt I walk to the gate and see a man standing who said with a great big grin on his face"I bet you cant guess who I am?"
"GEORGE!!!!!"
As with most websites we feel like we really know a friend we make on here so with that in mind I slung my arms round his neck and hugged him in welcome. Bless him he didnt mind a mad 50 year old fat woman flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him. Kath was still in the car so I waved at her and she soon came out to join us and she got a hug too! As I knew about her hand ops I had a look (being an ex nurse etc)and she must have had a good surgeon as the scars are very neat but still rather sensitive.
I ushered George and Kath into the house and Tyrone made the cuppas, we could only find 2 mugs lol so we took it in turns. That shows how unlivable the house is yet, we live mostly in the offices, a sort of camp out thing.
I loved chatting to Kath and George and took Kath to see my animals while George stayed with hubby talking about computers.
All too soon it was time for George and Kath to go home and I hope they both are very frequent visitors to my place.
I wanted to give George and Kath a prezzie so I asked if they wanted a chicken so I killed my first chicken. It was awfull!!!
I picked up the chicken that had gone off its legs being too big and took it to the barn and the humane killer, put its head in and pulled hard and fast as you should. I had forgotton the knife to cut its throat to let the blood drain out so I screamed "Get a sharp knife." Tyrone brought back a bread knife and I stood there trying to saw a slit in the chickens throat with a blunt knife whilst it was still flapping!!!
I was so worried that it was still alive and I was hurting it that I pulled it up to eye height to see if it looked back at me, Thank God it didnt and was really dead.
It was all very horrendous and I felt guilty for 3 days about killing it. Huh! Some farmer I am eh?
I havent yet plucked up the nerve to kill another chicken but I know I will have to as my chickens are meant chicks not egg birds.
George told us about several places that we needed such as the woodyard for stock fencing so we followed Georges instructions and found the place. I stayed in the van while hubby went in to get the wood then he called me out of the van and said "These guys know your Uncle jack and where he lives." So we went to visit my uncle and as its been so long since I have seen him he didnt know who I was!!! I said I would call back later with my mum when my auntie was home from work. Uncle Jack and my mum are brother and sister. Later it was very different as Auntie Shirley was home and she knew who we were and we have a good couple of hours. I was very weepy as I never thought my mum would see any of her family ever again.
The other place George told us about was the sale at the race course, I didnt go but stayed on the farm so hubby went with the 2 boys. Hubby wished he had taken loads of money (he only took £100) as there was lots he wanted to buy. He did buy some stock fencing much cheaper than in the shops and will for definate go back when they have the next sale in September.
Hubby said there was a childs sit on pretend grass mower that he will buy for grandson next time so they can both mow the land side by side trundling up the field lol Grandson is 13 months BTW lol Baby genius according to grandad.
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Lovely story... can't wait for the next installment!
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So exciting for you Jackie and us! Love hearing about what's going on thanks for sharing with us :)
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Shall I carry on doing this for everyone or are you bored with it?
I look forward to each new posting please keep going
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I've only just picked up on this story but i'm enthralled.............keep the stories coming Jackie.
There is sooo much stuff on this forum and it's great :)
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Thank you I shall. ;D
Oh I didn't tell you about the boar.
As I think I have already said (maybe not?) the pigs can close their own door at night but not always open it in the morning, sometimes they do and its ok.
However on Monday morning I assumed that the pigs had let themselves out into their run so I didn't rush to feed them, in fact I was late at 10am instead of 7 or 8am as is normal.
I had been up most of the night as my mum said she was cold in bed with me and proceeded to lie on the concrete floor and despite me trying and trying to get her back into bed with me I finally left her so I could get some sleep so I woke late. Mum finally came back to bed at 4.30am and shoved her cold feet on me. She didn't remember a thing about it all in the morning!! Such is dementia! :'(
Anyway back to the pigs, I finally got the pig food and heard an amazing amount of squealling as I walked to their pen. I dropped the bucket and jumped (climbed over faster than normal) the fence and peered into the pig house (shed) and the 3 smaller pigs were attacking the boar. I opened the door quickly to let them out and threw some food down to get them eating so I could examine the boar.
He was in an awful state, with blood everywhere and huge blue bruises under the skin. I called my hubby to pin the boar into a corner and tried to spray him with that purple stuff. The first squirt went on hubby, the second got deflected by my long nail over the squirting hole but the third finally got the boar. After about 5 squirts we let the boar go and he ran and hid away from us and the other pigs.
Hubby spent the rest of the day making a pig pen just for the boar and we herded him in. For the next few days he didn't eat or come out of his house very much despite me feeding him inside his house. When the injuries started to heal he came out of his house to look around but was still very depressed. It is easy to see when a pig is depressed as they hang their heads and don't react to anything to anyone.
I said to hubby that we shall have to put another pig in with him but was a bit wary in case the chosen pig was involved in the attack on him.
This decision was taken out of our hands as the three little gilts attacked another gilt. This time they have broken her tail as well. So out came the purple spray and she went into the new pen with the boar.
The boar is now much happier with company and the gilt is happy cos the boar sleeps all day and she gets the treats that the boar sleeps through. lol
Now we have 3 little pigs and 1 much larger pig together and so far so good as the bigger pig is perhaps too big to attack and I have propped the door open.
I will keep my eye on those little gilts as they are wild boar Xs, perhaps they are nastier/more difficult pigs altogether?
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Hi,yes please keep posting love reading them.
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Please everyone feel free to ask any questions. Ill try to answer anything you ask, warts an all. ;D
I think I need the two way conversations with you all so that I feel Im not boring you so feel free to post. :D
Thank you Rosemary I have just realised that I have got Hero status back. ;D
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Did you get Saturday? :D G & K :wave:
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Definitely not boring us Jackie quite the opposite I'm jealous as hell :-).
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I didnt go George but Les went, he said it was great and is certainly going in Spetember when they have the next sale. Les bought some stock fencing at a very good price.
Dont be jealous right now Helen as Im always wishing Im somehwere else lol When Im at home in Melton I want to be at NK but when Im at NK I want to be in Melton cos I miss my grandson a lot! Besides Im a bit old to appreciate all the camping out we have to do at NK and I miss my washer/dryer/cooker etc.
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Ive just set up a blog, well Stacy set it up so please read it although its mainly the same as here. Its called Pigs Poo and More.
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I'm jealous cause you're able to go for it and try a new venture like this. I have an expensive property with a huge mortgage so although I'm lucky to have the land an animals I have to work full time doing something I no longer want to do to pay for it.. I know cry me a river time loads of folks in far worse positions but when my daughter leaves school it's all going on the Market and I'm going for it full time and moving somewhere far cheaper.
So well done you Jackie you're an inspiration love!
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Helen love, one thing I have learned about life is that you dont have to live the way you hate living. There are always choices and truly life is too short to do things you dont want to do.
Perhaps your daughter could go to a different school and be just as happy? Perhaps you could down size and still keep your daughter at that school?
What is the point of working at a job you hate just to pay for a house you dont want?
Too many people die before they realise their dreams or they convince themselves that for various reasons they cant do it.
This reminds me of when I used to hear about people saving up to have a baby and making sure they had the perfect house and the perfect car etc but then they ran out of time to have that 'perfect' baby because they were soo busy working to pay for everything for it.
Dont live your life 'wanting' and then 'regretting' please. :)
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Hello Jackie. I completely agree with the sentiments about going for it. Perhaps you could give us your opinion.
We want to move to a farmhouse in Wales with a modest amount of land. We are not sure that we can survive there without an income so we are looking at possibly getting a house in South Derbyshire that backs on to The National Forest and commuting to our shop in Birmingham.
However, our current house is just right for us, it has a stream outside the front and a village green type setting and two great parks to walk the dogs. The downside is that we have a social club behind the house and scum undesirables living round us.
It's only a brief description but what are your thoughts given your attitude to going for it? I must say that we change on a regular basis as to our best option. Do you think that it is because we don't hate our current situation?
Quite deep this by the way. Hope you don't mind ;D
Ian
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The question you have to ask yourself Ian is can you live with the decision for the next 40 years of NOT going for it?
If the answer to that is 'No' then go for it.
The chances of being completely self sufficient is remote on a smallholding without any other business bringing in income but I know I would rather take a part time job to help finance my dream than work and live in a way I hate.
In your case I would look to see if I could put a manager into the shop to run it for you if you can afford to buy a new place, if not then sell the shop to finance your dream.
Look at other areas besides Wales as the property prices have hiked up in the last few years there, such as Lincolnshire or Scotland.
Have you looked to buy a redundant pub? There are loads on the market and some have huge car parks and beer gardens that can be turned into a smallholding.
If you go for the redundant pub idea then hire a specialist estate agent to look for you as it will save time and invariable money plus you get a better choice than some you could find.
I looked at one in Lincolnshire that could be converted into an 8 bedroomed house quite easily in case my smallholding dropped through. It had a huge car park and garden of approx 1 acre with land around it I perhaps could have bought or rented later.
There are good deals to be made IF you have the imagination.
There are many ways to bring in some cash;
Have you thought of converting a few bedrooms to guest rooms for B&B or perhaps an outbuilding?
You can have 5 touring caravans on any land without planning permission.
Dig a huge pond, stock it and have fishing holidays.
Advertise disabled holidays with a few adaptions to the house.
If its a pretty area advertise painting or photographic holidays for artists.
A walking area? then advertise that.
What about trying to have a boarding kennel business? or small animals, these don't need a licence.
There are many, many ideas to bring in some cash but you have to ask yourself. are you brave enough to live the way you want?
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Wow Jackie, I can see why you do so much in life. What a motivational reply! There sure is a lot to think about there - thank you!
Sorry to have hijacked your thread, please do keep us informed as to your progress with NK. I'm sure lots of people are waiting for updates :)
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You are very welcome Ian. ;D
I just hope I have helped clarify things for you and not made any decision making by you and your wife harder.
As for hijacking the thread, you most certainly have not!
I have asked people to post their thoughts and welcome people doing so as some times it can feel like Im either boring people to death or people are thinking 'Oh she's up herself!'
So post away. ;D
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Jackie I think from the replies we get the few that are bored with us are so easily bored anyway.They have no imagination no motivation now't. I am past it now but I still find things to do although I don't fell and log trees or dig dikes out and all those sorts of things as well as repairing farm machinery as a job.I used to be able to carry a cwt bag of cement on each shoulder and one under each arm for a bet now I struggle with a carrier bag in one hand.Ah well Tempus Fugit and all that. ??? :farmer: :wave:
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What's your story then Jackie? I'm not trying to be nosey and am not looking for more detail than you want to give but I would like to know how you came to be where you are now?
When did the bug bite so to speak? :)
Ian
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Ah ok my background, well my family, Grandparents (mums side) have always been farmers but my mum married a lad (dad) in the RAF so I was brought up away from any animals apart from a hamster lol. We used to regularly go to my grandparents and stay for a while so I loved farming and shooting and riding etc. and especially grandads dogs as he was the local unofficial rescue back then. <<<<<<<<< This is where the bug bit!
My dad got demobbed and we came to Melton Mowbray where I married a lad who was brought up in Shepard's Bush London so he knew nothing about farming etc. I left uni where I was doing a degree in Law to support my hubby getting his engineering degree. We went on to have 3 kids always following hubbys career but then I eventually persuaded hubby to go self employed as his job is quite a specialist thing.
In the meantime I stayed mainly at home with the kids but I loved dogs so I set up my own registered kennel at home from which I showed and bread golden retrievers.
The kennel was very successful and without advertising people came from all over the world for one of my dogs. Pedigree Petfoods (Masterfoods) was one of my customers with 2 of my dogs in their show team.
I only ever had 2 litters from each bitch so I wasn't a prolific breeder but I was very, very careful with the lines and so I had more potential owners than I ever had puppies.
One day a friend came for coffee and said "What did you want to do with your life Jackie? I replied "I wanted to be a nurse but its too late now." BTW I was in my early 40's. She said "You are never to old to do what you want."
So that was it I got myself onto a college course to upgrade my A levels, in fact I caused a problem for the course tutor as she said I coulnd join the course half way through as I would never catch up. I had to go over her head to be allowed to join and I did catch up so I did 4 A Levels in 6 months!!! ;D
I applied to uni and got in, (I got told at the interview I had got in which is very unusual) as they had already heard of me apparently.
I loved uni and nursing but had to leave when my dad died in '07 to take care of my mum as she has dementia. I sobbed and sobbed about my life being over and having to leave nursing to look after my mum but I couldn't leave her to go into a home or hospital as I have seen the care in most places and it ain't good!
Ive been looking after mum for 3 years now and I was very, very bored.
Luckily hubby won £122k on the lottery two years ago and we stuck it in the bank for 6 months not knowing what to do with it so as not to waste it.
Hubby went away to Scotland on a contract and I spent it all. I bought a house with cash (actually I bought it with my debit card, I was very blase when I did it but stood outside the bank afterwards shaking and holding onto a wall so I didn't collapse lol)then phoned hubby and told him. I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a whole half an hour while he calmed down. ;D It was no good asking hubby if we should buy the house as he would have said no, so I had to do it that way.
I later learned that paying cash was a daft thing to do but hey ho you learn as you go along and I have never done it since although I bought a few more houses.
That house was the start of making real money. I made £40k profit on it.
Before anyone says "Well its ok for her she got that money from the lottery." Most people have money they don't realise they do, equity in their house or a pension thay could cash in. I did learn a lot eh? You only need a 10% - 30% deposit to buy a house to do up and a really good mortgage broker.
In another post if you don't mind Ill write how to make money from houses.
Hubby was so pleased with what I had done he knew I was aiming for a smallholding but knowing me it had to have 'that little more', he was fine with it all. Les (hubby) actually saw my place on the internet and it had been on the market for over 2 years, just ripe for a good deal!! :'(
The place had run down kennels and cattery plus a circular rabbit house and loads of fenced off areas just ready for pigs etc.
We employed a mortgage broker (couldn't use our 'normal' one cos this was a commercial mortgage we were after) and offered £115k less than it was advertised for, they accepted and we had major problems getting a mortgage.
No bank liked the property and it took a local guy (bank manager) who realised that at £250k its about the price of a 4 bed detached in Melton and he backed us but it took us 8 months to finally get the money.
This is where our mortgage broker came into her own as she kept the vendors sweet and holding onto the deal for us for all that time. She cried with me when a bank pulled out after saying 'yes' to us and she set up more and more deals for us. Employing her cost us £2k but its the best £2k we have ever spent!!!
All in all it cost us £6k in total to value the property for each bank but well worth it.
Contact me for the name of my commercial mortgage people and if you contact them please say I recommended them as Id like them to know how gratefull I am for their help. They really went over and above to help us.
As soon as we get the kennel boarding licence the value of the property will go up £100k so the bank told us! (as if I didn't know ;))
So there you have it, I now own a smallholding with 5 acres of land plus 30 kennels 18 cage cattery plus room for my farm animals. BTW I am now 53 so its all been done in a short time really. it was a steep learning curve to make enough money but we did it! ;D
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Hello K and all Do not be envious of Jackie at all.I have met Jackie,Les and Mum.I have also been to the New House at N.K.There is a terrific amount of work needed to make the house fit to live in its been allowed to run down The buildings all need repair and the 4/5 acre needs lots of work.She and Les have started and are making a smashing job.They have renovated some of the buildings and have chickens and pigs with some lambs which I can only tell you about secondhand.Kath went on a tour I stayed at the house with Les as I was in a low state with my COPD as I had just been at Brocklesby and been up the drier and was really out of breath.Jackie and Les are where they are by sheer hard work.There is a lot left if you want to go and help I feel sure they would appreciate it.Tree felling some gone mad cypresses would help wouldn't it Jackie.Great big horrid things folk never think how big they can grow if left unattended.It's a wonderful dream that is turning into an even better reality.All the best Jackie and Les we will call again when we are your way.
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There are a few ways to make money on property but this is the way I know.
1 See what cash you can generate from your own property with equity or see how much you can get from your pension if you cash it in. It has to be approx 30 - 40 k
2 Get a really good independant mortgage broker and ask them to lower their charges for you (mine charges £99 for getting a competative domestic mortgage for us.)
Get the promise of a deal, mortgage in principle acts as cash. Get it in writing if you need to show estate agents
3 schlep around every estate agents ONCE PER WEEK. Offer them a sweetie as you eat one so they remember you. ;) Complement them on their nice perfume etc. but always, always talk to them.
Tell them you have lots of cash and are looking for a great deal and when its done up you will sell it throught them so they get 2 deals from it. These are the people who can really help you. I get estate agents phoning me with deals that are coming onto the market now before others see them.
Oh and I send a bouquet of flowers to the estate agent every time I buy a house. Costs not a lot but generates loads of goodwill. :D ;)
Make sure you can make a profit on the property by looking at the others in the street and seeing how much they sell for.
Use a website to see how much the area is worth and dont over improve or price the house.
Buy the bad house in a good area, not the good house in a bad area.
Study the internet to look for up and coming areas with major investement in as house prices will go up.
Aim to make at least £20k from each house if not more or its not worth it.
See if you can make 4 bedrooms from 3 large bedrooms and if in a univeristy area look to see if you can do a house of multiple occupancy, look up the regs for that but its great money.
4 Go around and look at houses yourself and check the paper, internet and listen out for deals. people will eventually tell you about anutie ?? house going cheap cos shes died or gone into a home etc.
5 Ask around for workment and handy men that are prepared to work weekends, after their own day job or look for people who are unemployed. Test them with a little job at your own house to see how good they are. A lot of people talk a good job! You have to be able to trust these people so make sure you like them and they are trustworthy.
6 Spend some time looking for materials on the internet, usually cheaper. This is how we found a wholesale kitchen supplier that can supply a decent kitchen for £1k. Bathrooms and central heating systems have to be got this way or they will cost you way too much from the high street.
Remember the costs eat into your profit.
7 This is NOT your house, you are selling it so dont add your own taste. Your own taste will cost you money you dont have to spend.
Make the place clean and modern and nuetral To gut a house and start from sratch should cost no more than £15k but if you are clever buy a house that just needs a new kitchen and bathroom plus painting, cheap and simple.
8 Concentrate on getting it done quickly, as quick as you can then go onto the next one.
9 When you sell the house buy 2 with the profit, one to do up to sell and 1 to rent out. Keep doing this and you will have a good stock of houses to cash in altogether when you are ready to buy your smallholding.
So far I havent sold any of my houses but 1 is on the market now and another soon to follow, once its done up lol
Good luck. ;D
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Thank you George ;D
Yes there is a humungous amount of work to do and thats why we got a great deal :D but the work doesnt worry me (it does worry Less however as he keeps wondering around saying "OH my God what have we done?" but then he always says that when we buy a house to do up lol)
It will take us a while to get the place as I want it and Im already starting to get twitchy about the amount of time its taking cos Les so far hasnt listened to me about getting local people to work for us he keeps bringing our own guys from Melton who can usually only stay for a day or two at most!!!!
Im gonna investigate local workers myself!
Im looking forward to the day I can say to you George "Come see my place its about done" and you will be well enough to look around with me. ;D
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I went to NK at the weekend and it was sooo relaxing as its the first time just hubby and I have been there. All I wanted to do was sleep lol
We got stuck in traffic driving back to NK and I was really worried about the lambs being still out and foxes. Son had put the chickens away so they were ok. We finally got back at 10pm and thank dog the lambs were all ok but going mad for a bottle.
My lazy son hadnt cleaned or steralized the bottles from the last feed so it took me a bit longer than normal to feed the babies.
Huh! when I leave NK I always leave the milk made up in the fridge for him to feed!!!
The lambs have eaten all the grass in the small area we had fenced off for them (they are real little eating machines) so we are going to let them eat all the grass and nettles and thistles in the excisting pig area to get it ready for the new pigs in a month. I did suggest we put them in there right from the start but hubby didnt think they would come back to the shed for bed, now he knows different when they stampede for the bottles. ;D
The lambs are also eating creep by the bucket and they are just about as round as they are tall. lol
I keep meaning to worm the lambs but am worried that I dont know their weight so have suggested to Les that we take scales back to NK this weekend and get the skinny worker to pick them up so we can weight them prior to worming. Hubby, son and I cant do that as we are fat and the scales wont go that high for us plus a lamb I think.
Im not going to work out the dosage as I do remember working out some meds for our huge pond and the koi and I got it wrong by x10. Thank goodness I checked with Les before I dosed the pond.
The tails have dropped off all the lambs bar 2 now and on the ground they look like those foxes tails you used to see on scooter ariels. If you remember that far back?
I have checked my raised beds and the courgette seeds are showing through and as I planted them 2 to a spot as you should and I cant waste anything I now have about 12 courgette plants. If you know anything about courgettes it means I have enough of them to feed a small third world country lol Ah well I can freeze them or sell them at the gate I suppose.
The pumpkins havent come up :( but I think the seeds were maybe too old as I always buy old seeds cos they are much cheaper at 5 pkts for a quid. Some you win, some you lose. but I did wonder if they would come up so I bought 3 pumpkin plants from Melton car boot at 50p each.
The sweetcorn and various sorts of cabbage and kale are doing very well and so are the feral cats cos no rabbit has eaten the crops.
Some of the leeks have been pulled out of the ground by birds so I went around to plant those again.
In the quad area in front of the offices I made a veg bed there, actually Brandon did, and the plants are doing ok, not brilliant as the slugs are active so I must get some egg shells around the plants. I cant use slug pellets cos the dogs are in that area.
The pigs are doing fine and the more I stand and stroke them the more I love having them.
The 2 pigs that were attacked are doing well and the gilt if getting fatter by the day cos the boar is a gentleman and lets her eat first. I have 1 fat gilt and 1 thin boar. lol
In the other pig pen everything is calm and no other attacks. I must have been right that the only non wild boarx is too big to attack.
In this pig pen there isnt a blade of grass to be seen and they are ploughing up the ground beautifully and getting all the nettle roots up lol they look like loads of tangled balls of string all over the place.
Oh which reminds me, where does all this orange/blue/yellow twine come from? Is there are layer under the earth where the dam stuff is sold by earthworms so it can appear in a pig/chicken/lamb pen every day? Theres so much now I could make a peggy rug!!!
The house next door to us has got rid of their horses or ponies and had a whole barn full of straw/hay mix that we saw a guy with a tipper truck burning!!! Being a chancer that I am I asked if instead of burning it we could have it, so he gave us enough to last over a whole winter!! 3 sheds full and 1 large pile with a tarp over and 1 large pile without a tarp and all animals got fresh thick bedding. I gave the guy a fresh chicken.
Yes I had to kill a chicken again :( and it wasnt any better the second time around, in fact it was a whole lot worse!!!
I bravely went to the checken run to sort out which chicken to kill and 1 pushed its way through the gate so that was the one. I got my work coat on and picked it up and like a fool my hand was over its heart and I could feel it beating. Stupid, stupid me. I should have moved my hand but I didnt :(
I picked up the sharp knife we had bought at Tesco with a sharp point (for digging into the neck) and an empty food bag to catch the blood and marched to the barn with the chicken sitting quietly in my arms. I firmly placed her head into my humane killer and pulled fast and hard. Her neck was broken when I took her out of the humane killer but her heart was still beating so I put her back in and did it again thinking I had done it wrong. I was in quite a state by this time and panicking to kill the chicken to get her out of, as I assumed, pain. I then slit her throat with the knife and felt her heart stop beating.
I did make Les check that the machine was set right and it was. Les has tightened it so much now it should take the chickens head off straight away next time, if there is indeed a next time.
I was in such a state after that I swore I would never do that again, however on looking some information up on the 'net I was told that as the spinal cord was broken by the first pull she would not have felt any pain (pain travells up the spinal cord to the brain, yes I did know this beforehand but was panicking) and the heart does beat for a minute or so. I really dont know if I can do this again and I now have 42 chickens that have reached killing weight just eating the food cos I cant kill them.
I told you that we had 4 feral cats at NK and that the previous owners (HARA charity) was going to supply some cat food for them as they technically are theirs, anyway they arent going to supply food now so we bought a sack of cat biscuits to cut down on the costs but they didnt eat biscuits only tinned food and thats expensive. We have asked the charity to come and collect 2 of the cats and we will keep 2 as that seems fair, and they went on Monday. I hope 2 is enough to keep away the rats and rabbits plus I have 2 pet cats so they will hunt too.
Les and the lads have now sectioned off the bedrooms and we have made 4 bedrooms out of 3 plus a passageway to the extension for when its built. We had a new window put in what will be my mums bedroom as it has room for an easy chair and small coffee table for when it all gets too much for mum downstairs. Plus she has a good walk in wardrobe which all women love.
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The post was too big for more hence a second post. ;D
The kennels are coming along nicely as the lads have now painted all the walls and ceilings a clean white. They have wire brushed the metal mesh and today will paint it with hammeright. Tomorrow they are putting leveling compound on the floor to seel the cracks in the concrete ready for the floor to be painted grey.
Les has ordered from the internet the feather edged boards we need for the outside walkway. The fence is only going to be 3ft tall with mesh on the top as we want daylight into the kennels.
The bath and shower and sinks have all been connected now and the central heating will be tested when we buy some oil.
I have ordered some rolls of vet bed, colour grey, for the dog beds as it washes easy and lasts forever. HARA left about 50 plastic dog beds in various sizes but a lot of them are chewed and so son is going to use an elctric saw to cut off the jaggy bits as we wont get the licence with dangerous dog beds.
Anyway, thats the latest from me and NK. ;D
Enjoy!
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lasts forever
unless you get a dog that rips bedding, then it disspears so easily ;D
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I tell you this, if i'd have written those posts, I wouldn't have had time for any work lol
It is nice to read the posts it's almost as though I know the place. Keep the info coming Jackie.
How many hours constitutes a working week for you at the moment?
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lol Thats true Cameron but the boarding dogs will get 1 chance at bedding and if they eat it they go without for the rest of their stay with us. They wont freeze to death even in the winter as the kennels has central heating and the dog beds are on a shelf away from draughts on the floor.
One of my GSD's tried to chew her vet bed but when she got it in her mouth she couldn't chew it as she wanted so now she sucks it like a dummy. Big bold GSD having a dummy!!! ;D
A friend in America asked me what I do for fun Ian and I couldn't answer him. I work for fun I think and when I'm at NK I tend not to go outside into the real world, except for food shopping. I don't have any hobbies now as I'm generally too busy but I love it.
I'm always promising myself that I will go swimming or join a gym, something that is 'me' time but I haven't.
In fact I'm quite dreading the day when everything is done at NK cos I know I will be looking for other properties to do up, Goxhill and that area looks good to me and around NK is major investment so house prices are going to go up. I once saw a house in GY that was on sale for 4k cos it had had a fire and was very, very tempted even then.
I work, work, work then eventually I have to sleep, normally I wake at 4.30am and go to bed at 12pm. I did most of my uni course with waking at 2am lol so 4.30 is a lie in for me.
I sort of have a come down when we go on holiday so that I sleep for usually 4 days straight. Hubby's very good and sees when I need a break cos I get migraines or IBS when I'm under too much stress.
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Hello You chaps and chapess's at N.K.You are ok for work for a little while I think.It will soon be harvest and have you made a place to store your straw bales.I said to this chap "Shall you let Jackie have a few" He said "Can she handle 1 ton Heston Bales?"I replied "No but you can if you take em wi a Teleporter" :D :farmer: :wave:
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Yeh everyones fine at NK except 1 chicken was badly bullied so Smiley our worker killed it. The chicken had a very bloody back end and as she was walking past other chickens they would take a peck at her. It would have been cruel to keep her as she was in such a state.
Now it seems they have started on another chicken and I have asked the lads to see which chickens are the bullies. I wonder if the chickens need more space now?
Just tell me when those bales will come George and Ill make room, even if I have to have it in the living room. lol
I think I have got a person to cut the trees down but Im having to wait untill hes finished his chain saw/tree felling course.
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That sounds good Jackie.Hope it is as good as mine was :D Tree felling let me know. ??? ;D :farmer: :wave:
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Of course Ill let you know George ;D
Hehehehe I had a phone call from a very embarrassed hubby last night, he was laughing and giggling even before he started talking so I knew he had done something silly.
At NK they had decided to start a bonfire of all the woodwormed wood (good so far) it was approx 30 yards from anything else, no tree or building.
Remember here that hubby had been topping the grass and left it to dry on the floor. Yes you got it, the hay set fire and the fire ran across the field to a half dead tree without anyone seeing intially.
Eventually when the tree was well alight my son finally noticed it was on fire, you will note here that it wasn't my hubby who saw it!!!!
After 2 hours with a hose (we ARE on a water meter) trying to put the tree 'out' they called the fire brigade and it arrived with the blue lights flashing and sirens roaring!!!
So now I'm short of hay and Alfie's (grandson) proposed tree swing is a no no.
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Oh dear would you like me to have a look round.I will see what is about and the asking price, but don't forget 1 source will be in Ton bales if he has some to spare.Can you fell the tree and make firewood Failing that get rid of Les for an hour or two ;D and make a bonfire .You can then use the ash on the veggie patch.In the 1940's the bonfire ash was shared out and spread on the gardens and dug in.Many take Uncle Bill he collected Human Pee over summer and mixed wood ash into it in a bucket and then applied it to the tomato's at ground level he all ways said don't get any on the plant stems it'll bon em.I did some trials years back and it is definitely advantageous for tomato growing.Did you find some pallats to make compost bins? :D
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If you would please ask around as to the price etc for me George Id be very grateful. I cant collect the 1 ton bale :( It would have to be dropped off maybe?
Les chopped the tree down this morning and Ive told him to stack the logs from it for the house fires. I never thought about collecting the ash but you are right, I did use ash on my allotments and so Ill collect the ash for the veg.
As for human pee so far I have asked the lads to pee round the chicken houses (keep foxes away) and on the compost heap as pee contains lots of nitrogen which is great for growing and its a compost starter.
No we didnt manage to get some pallets as we did ask somewhere and the guy said £1.50 each and as the going price is usually £1 or free so he was taking the mick!
There is a pub round here that usually has some free for the collecting I just havent been that way when I have room in the van. The compost heap is just that, a heap on the floor under the apple tree so I should get some good apples this year. Us and the pigs (and chickens) will love home grown apples. ;D
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Oh they will and you can pinch a couple of hours and make some cider and a gallon of apple wine.I will have a word wi a chap and see if I cannot scrounge you some pallats.We want 10 Euro Pallats really so you can have 3 bays start in bay 1 turn it over into bay 2.When its nearly done turn it into bay 3.When you emptied bay 1 into bay 2 you start again in bay 1.You need not turn bay 3 Just keep filling it from bay 2.It will go lovely and black so long as you don't put to many lawn cuttings in it. :D :farmer: :wave:
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Ill start looking out for a fruit crusher/apple press then if you fancy some cider and apple wine George ;D
Yup 3 bays are the best :) Thanks for trying for the pallets.
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Thanks Jackie Have sit down and look in Vigo Presses.co.uk I did warn you to sit down.It's the pictures that are interesting. I have the steam juice extractor Its ace for soft fruit juice extraction Boys got it for Xmas for me 5 year ago.It is to slow for doing many apples ??? :D :farmer:
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I looked at those Vigo ones and WOW!! The price of 'em!!!
So as its time versus money this is what Im gonna try;
1 Grate all the apples using a cheese grater, plus people to help. I can get 5 litre food grade buckets for free. ;D and if you make a hole in the lid (use a hot poker/metal rod/large drill bit to melt the plastic for the hole) and pop a bubbler in then seal around the bubbler with pastry or blue tack etc they are great for fermentation. ;)
For wine I use 1 litre water containers from Tesco as they are cheaper than glass demi johns and easier to store as they are square shaped. Same hole making applies to the lid.
2 Use the tight holders for holding wood that you tighten as needed to hold pieces of wood together for screwing or glueing. Dunno what they are called but we have some. This will be used over 2 pieces of wood with the apple pulp inside and tightened using the ratchet.
I can but try eh?
Ive been a wine maker for years now but not made any cider ( I am a cider drinker, ooh ah, ooh ah :D) so that will be fun. ;D
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Hello lass I am having a chortle at your expense and Kath has just said What are you giggling at.So I have said come and read this. And I have the lyrics on screen for I am a cider drinker Google Lyrics for I am a cider drinker on the page that comes up choose I am a cider drinker and when the page comes on the is a video as well as the words see if it makes you chortle G & K xxx
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An alternative method to grating.In a new clean washed out builders bucket place some apples.Now with a piece of planed up nice and clean piece of wood ponch the apples to pulp keep adding a few until the juice splashes out then pour all the contents into a pail and do some more until you have sufficient for you needs.Still chortling :D :farmer: :wave:
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lol George I did remember that song hence I wrote the 'ooh ah, ooh ah' bit so Im glad you recognised it and had a giggle. ;D :D
Ohh your way sounds better than mine I shall certainly give that a shot. ;)
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Ive just spent 3 more days at NK but I'm shattered cos we took my mum with us this time.
I sleep in the same double bed with mum as she tends to get lost cos she doesn't know NK very much and as I smoke I snore, not very loud but mum punches me ALL NIGHT and says "Stop snoring!" I get very little sleep. Plus she said she needed 'dark things' for her eyes as the light was keeping her awake, I had a conversation explaining it was dark cos it was night time and she cant wear sunglasses in bed as they would break and hurt her eyes. That conversation took place at 3am!
I was really looking forward to some time with just my hubby and me as we don't seem to have that anymore with him at NK most of the time and me at Melton. Stacy suggested mum to mum that she come with us to NK so I owe Stacy one!
The lambs have been put into a much larger area and are as fat as puddings now and I giving them only 3 bottles per day cos they get creep as well as the grass.
It amazes me how much they actually bite the teats of the bottles and it does make me cringe when I think of the poor ewes feeding the lambs and they bite so hard. Thank dog my babies didn't. ;D
I still haven't wormed the lambs cos with mum deciding to come at the last minute I forgot the scales but I'm going back on Thursday so Ill take them then.
I must remember to buy some Heptovac for the lambs as its about time to inject them.
Osi (short for Oswald) the boar has a very snotty nose and runny eyes so I think he has pneumonia so I'm calling the vet out today for antibiotics. The nearest farm vet is 24 miles away so I'm dreading the cost. I must get some antibiotics so I can inject them myself in the future. Much cheaper that way.
The broken tail (attacked by other gilts) that that gilt has is covered in muck cos she cant move it out of the way to go to the loo and its now raw and bloody cos I suspect she rubs it on the fence so the vet can look at that too. I think the lower part of the tail is dead now.
One of the chickens was being attacked by most of the others and her back end was a bloody mess, she was litterally being eaten alive as chickens get cannibalistic. I went mad at my son for not separating her but he said he had but then put her back with them at night!!!!!! GRRRR!!!!
I separated her and sprayed with sepsis purple spray but it was too late she was dead in the morning.
I am so mad at my son as hes not an idiot and has lived with loads of animals all his life, mainly cats and dogs. but to not realise what was going on was just cruel!
Yes I do know hes busy most of the day with the building work but still????
I had ordered 40 geese from Gulliver Geese and they have been really good and held the geese for me until we are ready for them so I'm getting them much older than most people and at an excellent price, however, Ive had to reduce the order to 20 as 40 seems a lot for our first time with geese.
Les is sectioning a huge grass area off for them today with 2 large sheds to sleep in and to get them out of the rain as I'm told they just stand there and get ill in the rain!
I'm collecting the geese on Thursday so I'm back at NK until they settle in.
These geese are for the Christmas market (and my table) as they sell quite well plus Ill keep a few for next year and eggs.
Two feral cats went off to their new farm on Monday last and the remaining 2 are fine just looking very skinny so Ill get some wormer's for them.
My two GDS are full of fleas so I can only presume its from the cats so Ill deflea the dogs on Thursday. I cant get near the cats to deflea them.
Oh and we are taking the GSD's individually to the animals once per day to get them all used to each other. So far so good.
The huge natural pond we have on the land we have decided to section it off for the newts that it already has plus the newts I'm taking to NK from my own natural wildlife pond. Then add goldfish and grass carp. Les wants to add my good koi but I'm very wary of doing that in case there is anchor worm in the water and my koi get sick cos I wouldn't be able to dose the pond with potassium permanganate.
We will add our own pumps, filters and air bubblers that we now have on our 3 ponds at home so the pond will be much, much better than it is now.
I can see Les's reasoning as he doesn't want to dig another huge pond (at least 4000 gallons plus liner) which the koi will require and it is better for koi to be in a natural pond, usually.
We bought 5 little goldfish and 2 grass carp and dropped them into the pond never to be seen again as the pond is HUGE. ;D
I'm taking some of my own goldfish from my goldfish pond over to NK this week but the koi are very large so will need slightly more specialised transport than a bucket with a lid on. I have 3 large ponds at Melton.
The tree that was set alight has now been chainsawed down and Les has left a 3ft tall stump which hes going to make into a slide for Alfie. The stump will have steps made into it so Alfie can climb up inside the stump as its hollow and then Les will make the slide from planks and tin sheeting which will be tacked onto the planks from underneath so its one large continuous sheet with no spiky bits to hurt Alfie.
We have what used to be a large air raid shelter on the land and its a sort of hill now that we cant mow so Les said hes going to build Alfie a fort on top of it and eventually dig out the inside of the shelter to see if he can make a play house/secret den in there for Alfie.
We have invited Stacy's in laws and their parents up to NK for New Year plus Les's mum and brother are coming so all in all we will have 15 people for NY. We have enough rooms to sleep them but how the heck am I going to seat them for dinner????
I was so mad at Les and Martyn about that chicken that I said "I don't care what else you do but we are moving in to NK in 3 weeks come hell or high water mate!"
the house wont be finished, or even nearly finished but I cant keep going back and forth now that we are getting more and more animals because they are getting a bit lost between us all.
I am picking up 6 more lambs in 3 weeks and these are fully weaned so will go straight out on the land.
My new gilts are ready in 3 weeks too so the pig pen is being got ready by the cade lambs as we speak. lol
That reminds me I must contact Smiffy about when my pedigree breeding gilts will be ready.
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Oh I didnt say but it seems as though we now have a pet pig! :-\
Martyn has fallen for a wild boarX gilt who jumps up and puts her feet on the fence so she can get a cuddle everytime my son goes past and he said "Ill buy her from you so she doesnt got to slaughter cos she has a cuddle just like a dog, and I bet she would follow me around like Rodeye* the chicken does."
She will stay and be a breeding sow and is now called 'Sweetheart'.
*Rodeye is that chicken that has the twisted beak and Martyn makes a fuss of it and feeds its on its own so it always gets loads, now its getting cheeky though as it flaps up to the bucket when Im carrying it to feed the chickens and wont get out and pecks me if I try to move it from the bucket! The chicken is often out of its pen and run and following Martyn around the farm.
One day the cocky little thing will make a mistake and flap into the pig pen as another 1 did the other day and the pigs cornered it to eat it but Martyn leapt the fence to rescue it. ;D
I can just see Martyn walking down the yard with a chicken and the gilt following him!
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Nice quiet life for you then Jackie............. ;D
You seem to be coping well even without sleep :) Good luck to you and here's a "HUG" for your mom. My grandmother had dementia too. I know what you are going through.
Ian
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Not wishin to upset Ian in any way shape or form Jackie But he has a beautiful vivid imagination ent he? Quiet life indeed.Mornin both :wave:
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I think that was friendly sarcasm George ;D
Ian Im busier than Ive ever been and its WONDERFUL ;D :D
Thanks for the hug for mum I do appreciate the understanding cos unless a loved one has or has had dementia no one truly knows how difficult and very emotional it can be. :(
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I'm sure it was Jackie, but there are some very sensatives about! ;D :farmer:
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True ;D
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Good to see that you are still finding time to write on here, I look for an update most days. You seem to have a tremendous amount of work to do and look after your mum, I take my hat off to you, well done.
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My gran had dementia Jackie she passed last July at the grand old age of 92. A good innings but the last 12 months were difficult and ultimately very sad. So big hug to both you and your mom dementia is very cruel.
On a positive note good to hear things are coming along. Once my girl does her gcses in 2 yrs I'm packing in work and going for it. Have to stay here til then so don't disrupt her education.
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Not wishin to upset Ian in any way shape or form Jackie But he has a beautiful vivid imagination ent he? Quiet life indeed.Mornin both :wave:
Not upset at all Wizard...........It's also impossible to offend me anyway.
Happy days everyone.
Ian
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Thank you Daisys Mum but work doesn't seem so much work when you love it and I do (although sometimes it actually hurts to relax in bed) ;D and as for writing on here I love that too as it gets my thoughts into order and acts as a diary for me. Plus I love to talk to you all. ;D
I wish I could post some pictures for you but I don't have a mobile phone to download some. Ill ask hubby if he will lend me his and download some pics, if I can get him at Melton long enough to do that.
With my mum I have no choice but to look after her as my brother and sister had died (accident and illness respectively) so that just left me when dad died. I couldn't place mum in a care home and hopefully I will be able to cope later when the dementia gets really bad. Luckily mum and us have enough money to employ a nurse to help us later plus we have 'allowed' for a bedroom for the nurse in our building plans which at first will be mums sitting room for when she cant cope with the household noise. I can cope with just about anything if I get my sleep.
I'm away back to NK today for 3 or 4 days after picking up some geese from Norfolk so its a 300 mile round trip for my hubby with the stock trailer on the back of the van. Stacy is taking me to the A1 at Grantham to meet hubby to save him 40 miles more.
I cant post during that time as we have no internet at NK yet.
I'm sorry to hear about your Gran Helencus. Dementia is wicked disease as the person dies by inches, a little at a time their personality goes and they become your child not your mother/gran/auntie etc.
I'm lucky in that mums GP knows me from the wards when I was working and listens to any concerns and acts quickly, trusting my judgement.
Mum had a fall last November and broke several ribs and the GP said she should go into hospital and I reminded him that in hospital she would have maybe 2 nurses for the whole ward and at my house she would have 1 to 1 nursing so he said "Take her home Jackie, you know what complications to look out for." With extra care mum didn't develop any complications :D
Not every GP acts this way for the carers. Its a pity I cant take mums GP to NK with us.
Two years isn't so long and you will be younger than I am and I'm only just living my dream so for you it will be easier, at least physically. Ooh if I was you right now I would be making so many plans in my head!!!
Keep posting Ian and what, if anything, did you decide about moving?
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Jacky it is a joy to read your posts/news and I wish you much happinness in your new place when you finally get to move in. You should be extremely proud of yourself and your family for the way you have adapted your lives to care for your mum the way you all have. My gran suffered dementia so I know what a wicked and cruel disease it is but she went in to residential care after my grandad died (her husband of 67 years) and I also know that despite the huge amount of money the home charged her estate to look after her there were always issues with the way she was cared for. She died when she was 92 and was fairly fit up until the end but she always knew who we were but I wouldn't wish this disease on any one. Please keep the stories coming and good luck with the new geese. :bouquet: :)
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Hiya Jackie et al :) We are consolidating at the moment. Getting the house in order so that we can sell when the right opportunity comes round. I'm actually building space for chikens at the moment so not totally focused on the house itself ;D
I'm glad you are happy in work.
I have a different perspective on dementia. Somewhat controversial but I think that I would rather lose my mental faculties and keep my body in good shape than lose my ability to get around and be totally aware and frustrated at being restricted...............Dementia is always more cruel to relatives than the sufferer and it is horrible. Sorry to be so morbid...It's not like we have much of a choice about how we go.
Happy days everyone! :) :)
Ian
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Thanks Jackie plans are whirling round my brain. We're lucky to have 4 acres so I can semi live the dream so I'm learning the skills I need to support us with veg growing and animal husbandry now. Just need to wait til we can pack up work and move somewhere cheaper! We will get there soon.
Keep posting I especially liked your creative thoughts on making money from a smallholding food for thought for me ;D
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Thanks James I am very proud of the way my family has adapted but then I would expect them to as we have brought our kids up to say that family comes first ( no one else in this world will look after you, help you and love you the way we do) and so we are very close. And as for me, well, it was no choice really it just had to be done. :) Actually most of the time I enjoy having my mum live with us.
Hubby has accepted the situation because he knows that if his mum needed help we would look after her the same way and I spent a long time nursing his dad through cancer at his house, washing, toileting, feeding him, checking his meds, liaising with the doctors and MacMillan nurses etc and finally washing him and laying him out.
Ian I think you are right in that it is harder for the family of a dementia sufferer than it is for themselves as they really don't realise whats happening. My hope for my mum is that she doesn't ever know shes dieing.
Good luck getting that opportunity but remember sometimes you have to MAKE that opportunity. ;)
4 Acres Helen?? You already have a smallholding. :) There are loads of ways to make money Helen, just think outside the box for a while and I'm sure you will come up with some I haven't. ;)
Les picked me up at the A1 as we planned but it was much, much later than origally planned so we set off for Norfolk at 1.30pm. ;D It was a nice ride down there through Suffolk, beautiful contryside.
We got to where the sat nav said it was and it was down this tiny 1 track lane and Les phoned the people at Gulliver's geese cos he wouldn't listen to me when I said "Its just there Les." The stock man from GG came out and waved at us as we were approx 10 feet away from the gate, AS I HAD SAID!!! Why don't hubby's listen about directions??
We had to wait outside the gate (infection controll) whilst the geese were packaged up for us in egg boxes ( egg boxes are 3ft by 3ft) with a little straw in to keep the geese comfy. Once we had put the boxes into the stock trailer we had room for 5 more so we came home with 25. 3 were in the back of the van.
It was a 3 hour journey back to NK and the geese had settled well all the journey and apart from the odd 'hiss' when we went over a rough patch we didn't even know we had them.
On the journey back to NK we had Ozzi Osbourne as the 'voice', we put in the sat nav that we wanted the quickest route home. I think Ozzie was drunk!!! He sent us up little dirt tracks and we doubled back on ourselves to Grantham way several times.
I shouted at Ozzie at one point cos my bum had gone numb with sitting for so long and he then didn't say anything to us for about 50 miles??? Oh and he sent us right thought the middle of Lincoln so I had agreat view of Lincoln Cathedral!!! Can sat navs get the hump?
We got home about 9.30 and carried the boxes straight to the shed in the goose area and had to tip them out as they liked the boxes so much lol. Son and Smiley had put down fresh water and non additive chicken grower pellets plus lots of deep straw. We left them to settle in for the night locked in the shed.
The next morning after waiting for a few hours for them to come out of the shed i went in and scooted them out amid lots of hissing lol.
I phoned Stacy at Melton to ask more about feeding geese (I did do my research but just couldn't remember) and the Slimbridge website said the give them wheat at the bottom of a water bucket and as we had some for the chickens I did it. So far they haven't eaten any but its done every day for them. We had to give them sharp sand and ground uo shells to help them grind up the grass that they are meant to eat thought the summer. We bought a large builders trug for the outside water as they drink a lot.
The geese are funny creatures, they just stand around in one spot all day and thats all they do, so far.
Before I went to NK this time I picked up from our local (Melton) CWG the heptovac plus, syringes and 24 needles, wormer's for the feral cats, Stronghold for the dogs fleas and non medicated chicken grower pellets as things are cheaper in Melton but the stuff still cost me £68. I forgot the sheep lick. :(
So the cats are worm free and the dogs are flea free. ;D
I was a little worried about injecting the lambs as I didn't know how tough the skin was. I filled the syringe with 2ml and a new needle for each lamb and Les picked up the lambs for me and I grabbed some skin at the side of the neck and injected there. After doing 3 that way and not getting much loose skin easily I decided as these lambs are breeder lambs it didn't matter if the meat was marked with the injection so I injected in the hind leg. Much easier.
After Les being really snotty with me for something that wasn't my fault ( I even once got the blame for him righting a car off when I was 30 miles away as he said he was thinking about me!!!) last week he apologised by buying me 20 tons of topsoil for my raised beds. Now how do I get him to actually make the raised beds? lol
I know Les must be very, very tired as he doesn't and hasn't taken a day off in 8 weeks. As well as doing the building work hes looking after the 'lads' and the making sure the animals are OK and they have enough food etc plus hes ferrying the 'lads' back and forth to Melton, sometimes driving 560 miles in a weekend.
I asked around about builders, electricians etc as I said I would and I found a woman who does up houses for a living same as we do and she has given me a list of her workers and at £10 per hour for skilled guys we wont have to ferry our guys from Melton. ;D
Whilst asking around I also got to know Grimsby's stalker lol. Ill tell you later about that.
The house now has 5 bedrooms and the first fixings (electrics) are going in this week ready for the plaster at the weekend. :D
We went to a car boot near us last week and cos it was so very hot on Sunday we didn't go all the way round.Not many bargains to be had either!
I saw one stall had got a few leaflets cards advertising a handyman and so got talking to him and like an idiot I told him which property we had bought. I took his leaflet but never planned to have him do any work cos he wanted £10 per hour and thats a lot for a guy that can only change plugs! That 'skill' was mentioned on his leaflet lol
Anyway whilst Les was out on Saturday this handy man appeared inside the gate just by my house saying he has come for a look around????
I slowly backed away from where he was standing and opened the house door to let the sheps out and held one in each hand (by their collars).
Both were crouched down ready to spring if I needed defending and growling and barking with their ruffs up all along their backs. The sheps knew I was scared. He took one look at the dogs and asked if they would bite My reply was "They don't only bite they chew!" He left, but it did shake me up and I closed the big gates.
What the hell was he thinking about? Coming for a look around indeed!!!
This Sunday we went to a different car boot at a garden centre near us but again it was too hot to walk around but I did buy a few things and the 'thing' I liked best was a cuddly sheep for Alfie. It was brand new and only a quid. Bargain!
I bought a walking stick too so that I can guide the geese and hook the walking stick handle around their neck if needed.
We went to Morrisons for breakfast after the car boot and while in there I asked if we could have the stale bread and veg for the pigs but the guy said he couldn't cos of the law.( Funnily enough in the local paper this week there was a councillor drinking orange juice made from out of date oranges as part of 'going green and recycling' so i think Ill try the supermarket he was at next week as they cant hide behind the Law after that article.
Les had a sleep when we got back to Nk at about 1.30pm and I woke him at 3pm to drive me home to Melton. Les is drinking so much energy and keep awake drink that its worrying me now. Les stayed at Melton only long enough to have a coffee and a shower before driving back to NK.
We were driving home when the England match was on so Les never did get to watch it and no radio station had coverage either.
The animals are ok and that boar recovered without antibiotics as the vet never rang me back. I tried to get antibiotics from our vet in Melton and he said he couldn't cos he hasn't seen the pigs. This vet usually acts as my pharmacist when I need anything and I dose/inject my fish and dogs. I couldn't even try to fool (lie?) the vet as dogs and koi use Baytril and thats the one pigs DONT use.
The bottom half of that gilts tail has fallen off so I was right in saying that I think the tail was dead. Martyn has sprayed the stump with the purple stuff just in case of fly strike and infection.
Which reminds me, aren't there a lot of flys about this year? There was so many on the ceiling Les wondered if the HARA folk had hidden a body up there. So now we play dodge with fly papers dangling from every ceiling. I must remember to buy that plastic fly thing for doorways.
I'm not going back to NK this weekend but i willget updates daily and keep you all informed. ;D
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That's better Jackie, I was having NK withdrawal :)
I think you are right to worry about Les. I tend to get focused on a project and think that I can spend 24 hours a day doing it when in fact I can't. I'm sure he's in good hands with you tho'.
I love the fact that you just go and get 25 geese.........At the moment, that is so far removed from my life that it's another world. Great stuff. Keep the info coming Jackie and take it easy yourself.
Ian
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Is it the refinery or the Power station Jackie?
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I got a phone call today from Les and the new piglets (6) and lambs (7) are ready for us to pick up so we are collecting them next Tuesday. ;D
This means our 'other' pigs will soon be ready for slaughter I suppose. :-\
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Jackie just think of the bacon ....
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Thats no good Jackie they have all but put it out now.So you will not come home to roast pig or lamb Which is a good thing anyway.We can all manage quite well without these explosions and fires.We all should wait and see what the HSE find before passing judgement. :farmer:
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ooh yeah HM you have a good point about my pigs ;D But still I expect to feel a bit sad the first time. :'(
Im going back to Nk with the new pigs and lambs on Tuesday so I will measure the pigs to see if they are big enough cos Im not sure they are yet. ;D :D
Yeh George, Les says the fire engines have gone now and only the company ones are there although he can still see a little smoke/steam. Ill give you 3 guesses who they will blame for the accident?
I have spent most of the day trying to buy 20 or so Aylesbury ducklings and it seems that they are as rare as hens teeth!!!!!
I have now given up on Aylesburys and left enquiries via e mail for peking ducklings all over the uk. lol
Both are 'eating' ducks as opposed to laying birds. I think I could sell ducks to eat but Im not sure about being able to sell duck eggs.
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Your residence is not the best site for Farm Gate Shopping until word gets round.But lots of people like duck eggs.Steve at the farm shop I often mention sells them.David told me Church Lane was closed yesterday. I am pleased Les has kept you informed on the activity at LOR I think the noise would be deadened because the Cat towers are in the way from your house.Which must be good ;D :farmer:
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Im going to advertise at those refinerys cos Les knows a few people who work there so we will have an ad on the notice board plus a large ad at both ends of the road through NK.
Im also going to advertise at the animal feed place. We get a church notice leaflet once per month that carrys ads too so it will be in there and take a small add in GG ie Christmas orders now taken for........
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Then hopefully I can buy the amount of turkey poults I get orders for plus a few extra.
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Sounds good to me Jackie Church Lane don't go anywhere but Ed Smith's Last house on your side the road he's someone on the parish/ village council if he hasn't retired.Big chap sports a beard and drives a Jimny 4X4 SuzukiWhen are you back in NK? :farmer: :wave:
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Im back at Nk next Tuesday at about 5 - 6pm.
Ill look out for Ed Smith :)
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Advertise duck eggs as being superb for baking (which they are) it may give you a premium on them.
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The 24 year old contractor who died in the LOR fire on Tuesday Jackie, has been named as Robert Greenacre working for Babcocks Contractors and had been working on site for the last 5 years we learn from the Telegraph. Disastrous for his parents as he was their only child
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That's so sad :(
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Hello Ian isn't it just.If you are interested. In the Google box type ThisisGrimsby.net and on the page click Local news.There are pics of the fire and reports of the event and after.There is a mistake though a pal was there and it was on fire before the explosion it didn't explode and catch fire as the Telegraph printed.This of course is of little importance to Robert :( :farmer:
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Guess you never know when your time is up.
It's right what they say, live each day as if it's your last 'cos one day it will be.
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Hey up Ian I've tode iverybody I'm gooin to be awkord an no goo so there ;D :farmer:
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Hey up Ian I've tode iverybody I'm gooin to be awkord an no goo so there ;D :farmer:
Good on you Wizard. Long may you continue :farmer:
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Thanks Ian So pleased you understand the lingo ;D :farmer:
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We went back to NK as stated last Tuesday and picked up my new lambs and piglets. BUT, I'm not amused by the choice the guy made for us, this time I didn't get to choose the stock and I'm not so pleased with them, AT ALL!!
He had sorted 7 Texel lambs for us, they were cade lambs so are very tame. Several were wethers and when I saw them I said I'm not paying £50 each for those as they look like they need a good feed (apparently all sheep are suffering cos of no grass with the heat) so he dropped the price by £10 each. Some of the lambs still have tails which I find quite odd. I wonder if its the wethers that still have the tails??? Ive up ended two to see but I cant tell! Duh! I'm a great farmer I cant even tell the sex of the sheep!!!
I have sprayed the new lambs for fly strike and need to buy some more 'stuff' (crocovet?)for my others as they are due again this week. I must inject the new ones this week too.
Now I'm mad about the piglets and feel as though we have been 'done' but felt I had no option but to take them.
Both the lambs and the piglets were already in his stock trailer ready for us to load into ours so we had no choice.
I looked at the 7 piglets he had sorted for us, (I actually asked for 6 but hey!!) and the mix wasn't so good this time as 4 are commercial looking pink pigs. Anyway I looked and they were very, very small and I asked how old they were and he replied 4 to 5 weeks! I then asked if they were weaned and he said yes. He charged us £30 each for them.
We backed our stock trailer up to his and loaded the animals into ours and bedded them down in deep straw for the journey.
As we were completing the paperwork I forgot my CPH number and said I would phone it through later, I still haven't done it!! Note to self, I must do that today.
Hubby then asked about buying a cow and the farmer said 'You need a Jersey cow in calf for a house cow that is used to people and being handled. It will probably cost £1000.00."
Hubby broke out into a cold sweat and said "Perhaps not this year then."
Farmer then replied "If theres one at a good price maybe then? Ill look around." Les/hubby actually went wobbly at that but nodded.
I don't want a cow this year but I'm really pleased to say that my chatting (nagging?)about cows and all the milk and cheese we could have has filtered through and he is seriously thinking about having one. Now all I have to buy is a milkind stool. lol
It was a clear run up to NK and the animals slept most of the way and were still curled up asleep when we arrived.
When I saw the size of the piglets I phoned ahead for Martyn and Smiley to prepare the puppy kennel with straw and water for them as I wanted to assess them properly before they went out into the pig pen assigned for them.
One by one we carried the lambs down to their pen and fed them some creep with lots of water and they were skittish but OK. My other lambs didn't think much of them so it looked like I had 2 separate mini flocks.
Martyn went in the stock trailer and picked up the piglets by their hind legs to pass them out to Les and Smiley to carry them to the puppy pen. I had controll of the stock trailer gate so had to open the gate as a piglet was passed through.
We had passed though 4 piglets when one panicked and got through Martyn's legs I quickly shut the gates and trapped Martyn's hand as he was reaching for the piglet that was disappearing under the side panel of the trailer. Martyn managed to grab one leg and I said "Hang on tight Martyn I'm coming round to get the other leg."
Martyn was wearing gloves and I was an inch away from grabbing the piglets leg when he lost his grip (it was very hot and Martyn's hands were sweaty inside the gloves) The piglet hared off up the yard with all of us in hot persuite but he/she has 4 legs and we only have 2. The last we saw of it was in next doors field.
We couldn't catch the piglet and we still don't know where it is. We took our dogs out as trackers and looked for 3 days solid but no sign of it anywhere.
I was hoping that the sound of our other pigs would draw it in and have left water and food in several places around the farm but nothing!
In my dreams I'm hoping the little pig has survived by eating roots in the woods near us and we will hear about the feral pig when its grown up but the realistic side of me says that a fox will have had it by now.
How the hell am I going to tell DEFRA about that!! Its bad enough that I buried a cade lamb and didn't take the tag off because I didn't know what to do and it doesn't say in the paperwork what to do.
Anyway after 3 days of being reassured that the piglets were eating properly we decided to put them outside but get them in a shed at night until they are big enough to fight off a fox, which I hear every night trying to get my chickens and geese.
We had to move Princess and Ozi the boar to a new pig pen cos I wanted the babies near the house so I could keep a very close eye on them.
Well, I got a bucket of food and slices of bread to walk in front of Princess but she was interested in everything else on the way to the new pig pen but not my food. lol We sort of herded her with a beach windbreak, very slowly so as not to start her running and it worked fine. Two of us behind her with this windbreak and me walking in front with the bucket and 2 on some stock netting in front barring her way leaving her no option but to go into the new pen.
We repeated the process with Ozi and he was much easier to move as he liked my bread.
Once they were installed I filled up the wallow with water and Princess actually dived into it with a satisfied sigh, Ozi looking on jealously as Princess wouldn't let him in the wallow.
Now the 'old' pig pen was free Les and the lads put some stock fencing along the wooden fence as the babies would get through the wooden fence and its right next to our other pigs.
The babies settled in 'reet nice' and started rooting straight away which gave me time to really look at them and assess them. We have 3 boars and 3 gilts.
The 3 boars are a big black boar we now call Big Boy, a smaller black boar which has pink front legs we now call Boots and a very small pink boar that is so odd looking I just call him Runt. This piglet has no fat on him anywhere and I can see his muscles plus he has a fat/pot belly. He obviously needs worming which I will do this week.
The gilts are a cross GOS which I call Dapple, it was called Muldoon, as in Spotty Muldoon until I saw it was a gilt. lol The other 2 gilts look like commercial pink pigs but one does look like Babe as it looks at you from the corner of its eye as if assessing you, so thats what its called and funnily enough after naming it we turned around and saw a spider web in the corner of the pig shed, very Charlotte's Web!
Now it seems that the babies are cleverer than us as the big pigs have been digging one side of the fence and the babies the other and two of the babies regularly visit the big pigs!
Its Big Boy and Dapple that visit and they walk around the edge of the big pigs pen and squeak and run back under the fence if the big ones come over to them. Les is going to put scaff boards along the bottom of the fence to stop them.
Oh I haven't said yet but we have another worker on the farm his name is Nin (Nin works for us in Melton on our houses there) and he comes complete with his Labrador bitch, a very sweet little thing who is gun trained as they often work beating at shoots. My Sheps hate her so we are juggling the dogs all the time.
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Oh dear Jackie that don't sound good. Shall send you an Email Will Les relay it? :farmer:
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Oh dear not so good Jackie. Why is it when they get a whiff of inexperience some folk totally take advantage. Well look on the positive side, with a bit of grub in them lambs and pigglets may well do fine, you won't ever get stock from him again so his loss in the end (assume so). Also you learned a valuable lesson when contacting someone about stock insist on picking for yourself. All lessons learned make valuable experience so chin up ;) lastly sharing your experiences helps us learn too so thanks :)
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Hi George ;D Send the e mail to me please, Ill pass on any info to Les.
Hi Helencus ;D Yes it seems as though this time the farmer figured out we were new at this and took advantage as last time we got to pick our own, I thought we would pick our own this time too. And yes its his loss in the long run.
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As we had 4 grown men now needing to eat properly I took back with us a George Forman grill and chip pan, and a slow cooker to make good filling meals for them.
We already have a double oven installed but no hob.
I decided to finally try one of our chickens and the lads said they wanted a roast dinner but I wimped out of killing it this time and asked Smiley to kill it as he had worked at a chicken place before.
Remember I was worried about the last chicken being in pain so I asked Les to tighten the Humane Killer so when Smiley pulled the leaver this time the whole head came off! Smiley was shocked so he dropped the chicken and it ran around litterally like a headless chicken. Now theres blood all over the barn!
I put the chicken in very hot water then plucked and cleaned it. It was huge and not the biggest by far in the hen house so I weighed it and it was 8.5 lbs. It tasted great!
Last week Martyn and Les got in the geese at night but didn't count them as they went in the house but just assumed tjhat as they flock so much that they were all together, they werent and they left one out and a fox got it.
To be fair half the pen the geese are in is a wooded area so if the geese are in the trees and undergrowth they are not easy to see but I still told Les and Martyn off.
Geese are dirty creatures and mess in their own food and water and the shed needs cleaning everyday!
I have a builders trug with water for them and they drink it all.
Remember I wormed the feral cats last week and when I went back to NK the oldest cat was looking very, very skinny so I 'upped' the food they had but he was still getting thinner.
Then on Sunday the cat didn't eat solid food so I put some milk out for it and hunched down nearby (as near as he would allow as hes feral) and watched it lap then I noticed green gunge from its nose and his abdomen was swollen. I was obvious that his kidneys and liver had failed and there was fluid in his abdomen so I called a woman (Janet) in the village who used to be involved with HARA to loan me a cat cage to take it to the vet.
Janet brought the cat gage and with one flick of her wrist got the cat into the cage. It was a crusher cage so the cat could be pulled close to the wire for the vet to inject it. Janet took it to the vet and he affirmed that its liver and kidneys had failed but took a blood test in case it had been poisoned, then put the cat to sleep.
Now I am worrying that the worming stuff I gave it could have made its kidneys and liver fail although it was the right doseage for the cat. The other cat is fine and he was wormed too!
Oh Ive just noticed that Smiffy has said she now has some piglets, Ill contact her later about them as hers are going to be my pedigree breeders.
We now have 5 bedrooms in the house and the plasterers have been so now we have to put back the skirting board and paint the rooms.
I have chosen the doors for the house to fit in with its age. They are 4 panelled white, Victorian design doors, the doors downstairs will have glass in the top two panels but upstairs they wont.
The windows over most of the house only have an opening light at the top of the frame so you cant get out in case of fire, these windows are illegal if put in now cos of fire regs, however, we have put in a new window in Martyn's room with an opening light we can climb through and will have a fire door (guaranteed 30 Min's fire proof) on that room so we can escape if there is a fire. Les is going to build a shed under the window to jump down onto if needed.
The only bedroom that will be completely finished by the time we move in will be Mums as we don't want to move her more than necessary. We can move everyone else around into various rooms whilst we paint and finish the rooms off.
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hi Jacky may I respectfully suggest you give that "breeder" a very wide birth, piglets should never be weaned before 6 weeks min. and he should have made damn sure they were wormed as well. He obviously does not value either his customers or his reputation.
The little escapee may well survive quite well, may well be holed up not far from the other pigs. :-[ I speak from experience here :-[
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Oh yes Hillarysmum Im certainly not going back there again and what makes it worse I actually think he went to Melton Cattle Market and bought the stock in to sell to us as he was dressed up in a clean shirt and trousers as if he went to the market and not been working on the farm. Melton market is on Tuesday.
I asked if the animals had been wormed and he replied "Yes once." Id take bets they havent.
Now I have to worm ALL the animals plus inject the lambs cos I cant trust they have been done.
You lost a piglet? Did you get it back?
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Yes, 2 months later, having alerted the local Mayor (its what you do if anything goes wrong here) and the hunt and my neighbours. I thought he would have been in someone's freezer the same day. 2 months later he was seen about 200 metres away in a field. He had survived very well on whatever was growing in the area, and had been living on the edge of a field of oil seed rape. He must have been within 2 metres of home at times as the stream which would have supplied his water is at the bottom of our boundary.
Dont give up hope, keep leaving small amounts of food around and water. Piglet will probably be attracted by the other pigs. If as you think it had come from a market as well, it must have had a spectacularly traumatic day. I hope that farmer tries to pull the same trick on someone else gives him what he truly deserves !!!
At least now the piglets have a really decent home. :)
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Im glad you got the piglet back safe and sound. ;D
I havent informed anyone about the piglet but telling the neighbours is a good idea.
I really hope we get ours back cos I worry about it all the time. Poor little thing!
Im a true believer in what goes around, comes around and that farmer will get his eventually.
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I don't know Jackie there some about that it seems to me a long time coming ??? :farmer:
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Yes a 12 bore and kneecaps is much quicker I agree. ;D
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Not sure about shot guns Jackie they do make an awful mess used up close.Still I wouldn't be cleaning up after. ;D :farmer:
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Whilst I was at NK last week I approached a supermarket to get some out of date fruit and veg and they said "Its against the rules." I asked which rules and they didnt know so today I have phoned DEFRA, the Food Standard Agency and am now awaiting a call back from our local on call vet at Animal Health.
In the Grimsby paper last week there was a councillor drinking orange juice stating that it was made from out of date oranges in the spirit of recylcing and green issues. This was the supermarket that I approached and they said that he BOUGHT IN DATE ORANGES, so he lied!!!!!!
Ill let you know the outcome.
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Oh Jackie You are going to get a nasty shock if and when DEFRA reply it is absolutely ridiculous. You can have it for your dinner but you cannot legally give the leftovers to your pigs.
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No George you are quite wrong this time I can indeed feed the pigs with out of date fruit and veg from the local supermarkets as there is no legislation saying I cant, according to the Animal Health guy. :) With the proviso that it must be 'fit for purpose' (his quote not mine) and not rotten otherwise that comes under animal abuse
He is sending me a letter to say that so I can again aproach the supermarket. :)
This is the run around I got today trying to sort this out;
Food Standards Agency -- DEFRA -- Food Standards Agency -- DEFRA -- Leeds Animal Health -- Lincolnshire Animal Health on call vet --North Lincolnshire council Animal Health -- Answer at last!!!
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Sorry Jackie you are being ill advised by someone who should know better
In the search engine box print DEFRA rules for feeding waste to pigs click
On the page that comes up go to the first article below the dotted line and its DEFRA UK Animal health and by products click.
when you have read this direction read the next one down River Cottage The title box tells you much ??? :pig: :farmer: :wave:
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Surely vegetables that are past their sell by date aren't considered to be catering waste? Isn't that cooked food?
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I only know a chap that had a severe reprimand for doing just that and it was mainly bread.I think its each and every officers interpretation of the rules ??? :D :farmer:
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I think you're right there George.
Ian
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Well if I get the letter saying I can feed out of date fruit and veg then Im covered and cant get into trouble.
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Jackie if France comes under the same ruling you can feed out of date veg as long as it hasnt been in the kitchen.
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Jackie if France comes under the same ruling you can feed out of date veg as long as it hasnt been in the kitchen.
That sounds fair to me.
I have this vision though of someone bringing this food home, through the front door, into the hallway and OH NO! Can't go in the kitchen. Got to post it through the dining room window lol
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As I understand the rules you can't feed anything that's been near a kitchen. Cross contamination with meat is the worry. That being said it probably is down to someone interpretation so I'd clarify. I personally give me girls stuff out the garden but nothing else.
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I'll go along with that Jackie but I thought I should share with you what I knew as a fact as I have said when we kept pigs they had all the kitchen waste and garden surplus as well.I did post a story about the WW2 Where Newark Council provided proper galvanized dust bins in the street and all householders were obliged to put the kitchen waste in then Pig Farmers were given streets to collect the bins from and the waste was boiled/steamed/pressure cooked allowed to go cold then fed to the pigs.This practise died away after the war ended.Probably not really cost effective I have never researched it to find out.Can you imagine it now what would be in it ugh! ??? :D
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I remember the pig bin, Grandfather kept a pig on the allotment.
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That's nice corroboration at last Thanks Hilarysmum ;D ;D ;D
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Im heading back to NK today knowing I have a pig with a lump that has seen the vet and been given antibiotics plus a routine first visit from Animal Health. Oh joy!
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We hope Piggy is all right after its treatment Jackie Is it one of THEM? G & K
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jackie
just got to page 4!!!! i havent been on tas much recently!!!
lol i am really enjoying it, i intend to finish reading tonight!!! ;D
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jackies pigs having a swim!!!
(http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn95/doncasterr1/jackiespigs.jpg)
lops on the run!!
(http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn95/doncasterr1/jackiespigs2.jpg)
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Are those blonde mangalitsas? Am extremely envious ....
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they were blonde once HM ;D
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Waiting for an update ;D i still remember our 1st year
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Thanks for the reminder Tracie. ;D
Ive been twice to the farm since I have posted so Ill go back and write it in order, if I remember properly lol
This time I went back I was worried because we had the intial visit from our Animal Health person so we scooted around tidying up the farmyard. God alone knows how many bits of string we picked up!!
As it happened we had to go out to get some food for us the day of the proposed visit and she was waiting for us when we got back. I signalled to my son to make sure the baby pigs had water cos they turn the bowl over and she walked with us and caught us doing that but she understood we dont really keep the piggies short of water.
She walked slowly with us round the farm asking questions and with me gabbing away about anything and everything as I do when Im nervous (hubby says I vomit information) but I needent have worried Stacy (thats her name) was lovely. In fact she was so sweet I could have sat her on my lap and patted her back like you do with young kids. ;D
After the walk round we went into what passes for the kitchen where my son made us all a coffee and we sat and went over the paper work which I hadnt filled in so she showed me how to.
I also told her that we had buried a lamb and the reasons why we had, she said that she didnt think there would be any action taken against me but that it wasnt her decision. She also gave me the knacker mans phone number.
Stacy stayed chatting for over 3 hours, she is lovely and I was encouraging her to go to university and getting DEFRA to pay for it.
On leaving Stacy said the she visits each farm once every year and I said "Oh no you must call in when passing to have some coffee and cake." she was THAT nice.
She wrote on my inspection form 'I am impressed with the set up and the owner is very knowlegable about the needs of her animals.' Yay!! Go Us!!!
1 week later we got a letter saying that 'due to my honesty being refreshing' about telling her that I buried the lamb and as I didnt know any better there was no further action but dont do it again.' Phew!
Ah and now back to that little escaped pig. It has been seen loads of times. We get phone calls about it, our neighbours get phone calls about it. We had 2 articulated lorry drivers that skidded to a halt by the refinery and tried to catch it come and tell us. We have had the security lady in full uniform come tell us about it, BUT WE CANT CATCH IT!!!
I have taken a bucket of pig pooh and another of pig food to lead it onto our land as its only in the next field munching on peas. Oh yeh the tractor driver that was ploughing the field came and told us too!
We wondered if we should advertise a 'Pig Hunt' to get this dam pig back!!
Seriously 7 of us are going out to get this pig with beach wind breaks with the poles removed between each of us to funnel the pig into a dog crate, so if you can imagine how we will look a sort of circle closing in that will only leave the pig one way to go. Wish us luck!!!
The geese had been gradually let into an area that is approx 1/2 acre as they eat the grass the area gets bigger and last week I saw them take a run up to fly out of that area but they are too heavy to take off, so now they wriggle under the fence and usually to be found loose over the whole 5 acres. Im not worried as they do come back when I shout 'bedtime' or if Im late and its getting dark they are in bed waiting for me to lock the door. Clever little goosies!
The kenells and cattery are now just about finished and next week we will ask for the inspection for the licence. Hoorah some money coming in!
We had a letter from the council saying that we had locked the gate to the public footpath through our land and without even checking they sent us that nasty letter accompanied by photos of 2 months before we even owned the place!!! I asked for the council woman to come out and actually see and that next time she should check not rely on a complaint that was untrue.
Now we have gates either side of the footpath cos our lambs are loose, she tried to tell us we couldnt have gates even if we had livestock!! Yeh right!! Im not as green as Im cabbage looking Mrs!!!
Oh and I lock these gates at 10pm although she doesnt like that cos noone walks their dogs at 10pm over a field unless they are up to trouble and my place has been broken into several times before we got it. I have the backing of the police for this and have many incident/crime numbers to back me up.
As my husband now says 'Jackies got a battle to fight and is girding her loins and sharpening her talons.' He knows me well as I love to be told 'No' when someone is wrong so I go into battle.
My most famous 'battle' was to make Tesco change their wages policy throughout the whole group which cost them mega bucks.
We had one thing happen that actually turned my stomach and made me think hard about owning chickens.
I know chickens are carivores and sometimes peck each others vents but we had been out for most of the day after feeding and watering the animals and when we got back we saw something in the middle of the field so one of the lads hopped the fence and borught it to us. It was a dead chicken that had ALL of its inards eaten out!! Everything was gone and the cavity was clean.
Poor, poor chicken. I wonder at what point in being eaten alive did it die?
The chickens are fed well and are in a half acre area so not over crowded for 33 chickens, why?
My son pointed out that chickens are actually the nearest living thing to dinosaurs we have now, as if that helped! It didnt.
As some of us do on here I chat on Facebook too so decided to advertise my meat for sale and I sold 3 chickens in Melton. Each one was 8.5lbs when cleaned, 12lbs before being defeathered etc. Not bad weights and they taste great, or they did.
I really ought to get on finding buyers for my meat or Im gonna be stuck with loads of animals lol or freezers!
Les has made me a fantastic bathroom and because I have been a bit short tempered with him he thought I would moan at him for it but I just went 'WOW' when I saw it.
I have a sunken extra large whirlpool bath that whizzes out water AND air. On the wall by the bath is a glass shelf for my wine glass and book and over the bath is 3 ceiling lights that work on a dimmer switch. OH heaven!!
We have a huge shower cubicle that could fit a rugby team in, the idea sounds good but I think hubby may moan with them there, I wouldnt.:)
Anyway that was that visit.
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Hi Jackie, lovely update. Re the escaped piglet. It may be that leaving food and water and plenty of straw in the cage (possibly covering part of the cage to "disguise it " allowing the piglet to find the food and to visit regularly. Once you know it is feeding, perhaps take a book and a chair and sit some distance away until it goes in for the food? Its just a thought.
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I can certainly try that HM Ill try anything because hubby is starting to say that if it causes a car/van/lorry accident we are liable for the costs :(( My son did ask if we could get a vet in with a dart gun to anaesthetise it but it would cost way to much. Eventually it will have to be a man with a gun.
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If the cage doesnt work or is too unwealdy, then a bucket containing pig nuts (they love the smell) moved a little each time to get him closer to where your pigs are. Please dont give up George disappeared for exactly 2 months and came home in the back of my friend's brand new car (what a friend :D )
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Ok I have been asked to continue posting about Nk so here goes guys. You asked for it! lol
We had a visit from Animal health as the lost pig had been reported to them but when he came out we had a god chat and told him all that we had been doing to get the pig and he was ok about it all. However, the lost pig really is lost now as we have been back to the field it was in and there is no sign of it. I guess someone must have shot it when it got big enough to eat. I hope they enjoyed it. :)
My turkeys are all grown now and just about ready for slaughter for Christmas. They have been on finisher pellets for the last month and are still kept inside to make for bigger birds.
The geese have now been confined to a much smaller area with access to food 24/7 to gain weight for Christmas. They are looking good and Ive enjoyed having geese so may keep a few for eggs in the spring. I certainly will be going to Norfolk to get more next year. They are mucky creatures but once you accept that they are easy to look after and great grass - meat converters.
The pigs are doing ok except with those last 6 (7 with the lost pig)) pigs we bought there was a runty one that never thrived and eventually I fed her separately from the others so she would actually eat. unfortunately Martyn went out to feed them one morning and the runty one had been kicked out of the pig house and had spent the night in the cold. She lay there shivering and couldn't stand so we put her in the puppy pen with a heat lamp and a deep straw bed. Every day I would go in and feed her off a fork and give her fluid via an oral syringe as she still couldn't stand or keep her head up. As soon as the vets opened on the Monday I ordered some antibiotics and gave then to her over a course of 3 days. She didn't survive.
Can you remember when I told you about Ozzie the pigs and his abscess? Well after that Ozzie was never any good or particularly healthy and 2 weeks ago started to go down again and eventually off his back legs. This time I didn't even try antibiotics because he was never really well so we called the knacker man, Ozzie died before he could get to us.
Tracy (Smiffy) has been very good cos I wondered if we were doing anything wrong with our pigs to have lost 2 like that but she reassured us that as we didn't know what mix was in the pigs the chances are that they were never 'right' from the word go. I did remember we got the last lot of pigs when they were 4-5 weeks ld and very tiny and a very diverse mixed bunch they were too!
The sheep are all doing ok and I'm looking to send the wethers to slaughter before Christmas plus a couple of boars we have that are big enough to go. lol We have 2 kune kunes that should have gone months ago but as they jump up on the fence to say hello everyday it looks like they are now staying to breed from.
Because the weather has been so bad I have opened up the chicken house (its a hugehexagonal shaped building with 24 chicken pens in plus a large area in the middle) and made a deep straw bed for the sheep to shelter in cos I'm a slop where animals are concerned lol
We have now relocated both adult cats to the farm now and Charlie the older one is fine and lives in the house but Enzo the half feral lives in the shed where we keep some straw, although Martyn said he saw him inside the cattery early one morning as it must have been too cold outside for him. We now deliberately prop the door of the cattery open for him.
As I'm back at Melton with no animals with them all being transfered to the farm I bought a lovely little female kitten. She is black and white and I was hoping going to be fluffy but she isn't. Martyn names her Gypsy which I like so kept. Alfie my grandson thinks we got her just for him and they play hide and seek around the furniture.
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I really enjoyed reading that, thanks for taking the time. Looking forward to the next posting.
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wizard would have been so proud of what you have acheived. do keep us posted. It's facinating reading about your venture.
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Funny I was just thinking of him and how much he would've enjoyed the update. Keep us posted thanks Jackie.
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I miss George loads as everytime we do something major towards getting NK finished I wish he could see it. George was one of the most entertaining, kindly gentlemen I have ever met and I will never forget him.
Ok Ill start now on telling you about the kennels and the footpath right of way.
The lady from the council sent letter to the parish council about our proposed move of the footpath and apparently the parish council has a meeting about us and we weren't told about this meeting so didn't attend!!! Grrrr!
We heard about the meeting afterwards from a guy who was there and was walking his dog through our land and Les got chatting to him.
What really annoyed me was that he said that a parish councillor had said at the meeting "We didn't move the footpath for HARA so why should we for them!" That is soo biased. >:(
I reported what the guy told us to the council woman and the upshot is that she has told the parish council that there will be an on-site meeting because it seems as though they are saying the new proposed route floods. It doesn't!!!
Prior to my phone call to the council and after I heard what was said at the meeting I stormed around to the chairman of the parish councils house initially I was going to be calm and nice. You know more flies caught with honey than vinegar etc. But I was as subtle as a sledgehammer and my voice rose higher and higher and got louder and louder as I spoke to him and he looked down his nose at me. Les kept saying "lets go Jackie" as he could see me getting really angry. In the end I finally got my point across that I wanted a copy of the minutes of the parish council meeting and if that nasty comment about not closing the footpath for us cos they didn't do it for HARA isn't in there I shall report them for inaccuracy and false minutes which can mean that the parish council is forced to disband!!! That'll teach the buggers!!! ;lol
Right by the side of our land used to be an old footpath but the people in the houses backing on to it have pinched it and it is now part of about 8 gardens. The council went nuts at them and demanded it back but the people fought it and they have been allowed to keep the land and the footpath has been rerouted. 3 parish councillors live along that footpath!!! One rule for them and a different one for us it seems!!!!
So thats that until after the site meeting and right now we have no idea when that is going to be scheduled but I don't want to push it in case I annoy the council woman cos so far shes on our side.
The kennels are finished and look great! However with everything else thats going on and it being so near Christmas we haven't applied for the licence again.
I'm not too fussed about the cattery licence until after Christmas as we need the cattery kitchen for the licence to kill and dress the geese for sale. We have to have a separate kitchen to dress the geese which is away from the slaughter and plucking area. I have to apply to the Animal health dept for this licence and I'm selling them at Melton Mowbray Christmas market, hopefully they will fetch £50 each as we need some money back from the animals cos we haven't sold much.
The first stage of the house is almost finished now and the upstairs is carpeted. Les has bought new beds for each room and I'm told it looks great. Les has bought a mahogany sleigh bed for us and cos it cost such a lot he sent me a pic via his phone to Stacy's phone so i could say yay or nay about it. I would have preferred a walnut bed but there wasn't one and the bedroom is big enough to take the dark wood.
I don't know if I have said but I ordered a wing chair in pink white and gold for my mums bedroom so that she can retreat when she cant cope and it has now been made so we need to pick that up. Mum has a reading area within her bedroom which has a table, lamp and chair plus she has a TV on the wall. She also has a walk in wardrobe to die for!!!
Martyn has already moved into his new bedroom along with his computer and world of warcraft so Les doesn't see him at anytime in the evening.
The front room/sitting room carpet is being laid next week along with the hall stairs and landing carpet.
The downstairs guest bedroom had been walled off from the bathroom there and has been carpeted but the bed we are putting in there is a daybed and is still in Melton.
The living room carpet is being laid next week too and the kitchen cabinets are being moved nearer the outside door so we can put up a safety gate so that Alfie (grandson) cant get out.
The offices are being converted into bedrooms for our guests at New year. This will be temporary as when we get to stage 2 in the building work they are being converted into a huge kitchen and play room and sitting room.
Enjoy!
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Keep the updates coming Jackie. It's great to hear all about how someone starts and builds up a smallholding especially as it's unlikely that we'll start one. What energy that we have left will be chanelled through to you in your endeavours.
All the best,
Ian
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Thank Jackie, good luck with the fight to move the footpath but don't let it ruin your enjoyment of NK. We found our battle with neighbours and council over the stables planning nearly took over our lives and started to ruin our enjoyment of our smallholding, dont let them grind you down.
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Thanks Ian I will remember that you are sending some energy to me when Im trudging through the snow to feed and water the animals. lol
Why wont you start a smallholding?
Yes Helen you are right the hassle is starting to get me down and considering we have owned NK for 7 or 8 months I dont know anyone in the village despite invited people around for coffee when I see them. They are soo very insular and Im very outgoing so Im worried about even making one friend.
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It's the same here Jackie but I have made 1 good friend who thinks what we are doing embracing country living is brilliant given most folks move from the city but want to carry on as if they're still in the city. Sadly she's moving in the spring. We've accepted that the others just don't get us and frankly that's their problem. Luckily I have friends from where we used to live not far away so it's ok.
I hope you have better luck than we have, best way is usually to go to the local pub every Saturday night til they get curious enough to talk to you.. They will eventually.. I just couldn't be arsed with them in the end but you may want to try harder than I did. Good luck keep your chin up x
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Jackie, please join the Womens Institute. They were a life saver for me when I first left the big city to move to the country. I have dozens of friends now. good luck to you.
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I wouldn't worry about the locals Jackie. If they need you, they'll soon come running. Until then just be courteous and the afore mentioned pub idea is great too. I'm in the 'couldn't be arsed' camp though to be honest ;D
Jackie, I don't think that we'll have a smallholding for two reasons. One is that my wife thinks she's too old to start one and the second is that I don't think that with what's going on with our shop at the moment, I've got the energy to talk her in to it :-\ We've built our shop into a good little business but it's been bloody hard work. I'm not complaining about that but we are coping and we are proud of our little shop and we've done it ourselves! We now employ two people but that is part of running a business.
All this is ok but on the flip side, a shop keeper about half a mile from ours got stabbed to death for a packet of cigaretts last weekend..............maybe we're too comfortable?
Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread and waffling on..............sending a little energy your way now Jackie........................ it's good to talk.
Ian
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Hi Jacke its lovely to see you so full of positive energy. People in villages do take a long time to become friendly. Eventually they will come around.
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I think I'm going to take your advice and go to the pub plus join the womens institute.
We moved permanently into NK the day before Christmas eve as the carpets are now all down and it looks a little more homely. The house isn't finished but it is now livable.
Martyn is feeding and watering the animals and I dint go out much so I'm incredibly bored. I must make more of an effort to 'do the rounds' so to speak but my boots have holes in so I'm wondering around in my mums slippers as they have a good non slip sole.
I have noticed that the two boar babies are not so much babies now and are trying to hump everything so they must go to slaughter as soon as we can. The kune kunes have got an incredible coat you could shave it and weave it! lol So too have the mangaliztas.
We seem to have gained 3 extra cats over the holidays and they are living in the cattery unill they get used to being with us then we will let them out. 1 cat used to belong to one of our workers who when he came to work for us and live here to do the work he brought his dog and cat. The cat, he says, is better off with us so shes staying, her name is Splodge!
The other two belonged to my daughter who came for Christmas dinner and left her cats. To be fair, one of them used to be mine but when Lianne left home she took the ginger one called keo with her. Keo suffers from a form of OCD and continually licks his fur off and makes himself raw so I'm going to get him something to calm him down to stop it. The other one she left is an entire male kitten she has called Boots. I understand why she got him as he looks exactly like our cat called Charlie which Lianne got us when she was 15 (Lianne is now 28)and I wouldn't let her take him when she left home.
So as well as Charlie cat, the part feral Enzo who has gone walk about again, and the new kitten we have called Gypsy, we now have 3 more cats to keep vermin down.
Please god no one else decides their cat would be better of with us lol. Enough is enough me thinks!!!
Mum hasn't settled in very well yet as she takes herself off to bed most of the day only coming down for meals. I'm a bit worried about her doing this but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. Mums bedroom is the most 'finished' room in the house as it has all her things in and pictures on the wall etc so its very nice.
To help with me losing weight I have bought a running machine from a cash converters in grimsby. It now sits alongside my cross trainer, the bike and a side stepper and I AM using them often. lol Its Martyn's joke that Mum isn't drinking cos she the designanted bike rider!!! I'm a real lightweight drinker and 1 glass and I'm ratted so thats why I don't drink much!!! I did have champagne with Christmas lunch though it was diluted with mango juice and i still got squiffy.
OOOH talking about Christmas lunch. The goose was amazing!!!!!! We all loved it and I'm so pleased we have 17 more to eat lol.
I only managed to sell 1 goose and 3 turkeys. People are just so stupid sometimes as my stock was much much cheaper than a supermarkets and much much tastier too!!!
Ah well more for us then!!!! :)
I'm missing my grandson and eldest daughter as it was the 'other' set of grandparents turn to have them for Christmas so we are going to celebrate New year more. lol We haven't even got any decorations up and if you knew me that is so very out of character for me as my house is usually something like Santa's grotto and low flying aircraft try to land in my garden we have so many lights!!! It really hasn't felt like Christmas at all.
One thing has really surprised me, I don't want to be here. I miss Melton and still class that as home as I have lived there since I was 14 and in my house for over 20 years. I am having to think very hard about why I wanted NK, did I want it cos it was a hobby? Did I want it cos it was very hard to get and I hate being told 'no'?
Am I feeling like this cos its winter?
I felt very guilty when Les proposed a toast to 'Jackie's farm' on Christmas morning as I cant tell him how I am feeling because it has cost us mega bucks and months of hard work.
I really don't know why I am feeling like this I just am.
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Hiya Jackie, thanks for the update :)
You probably feel the way you do because it's all new. You've also had difficult times and a bit of a health scare so the last few months have been a bit 'pants' so to speak.
At least you can come on here and tell us how you feel so that you can get other peoples input too.
Keep the updates coming and I hope you have a fantastic 2011.
Same goes for you all on here too! :) :)
Ian
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sorry to hear you're feeling "down" about the move .... yes, its winter and its very new & far from "home" so give it time. Its been a long, hard road for you, and its not like Farmville really is it?! ;)
Your mum will take some settling too. my (late) father-in-law had dementia, he lived in just one room eventually, he wouldnt eat if we didnt take it in to him & wouldnt eat in front of us (we spied to make sure he actually ate!). your mum's condition will make it so much harder to know what stems from it, and what comes from the move... but I'm sure you know that.
there are days I'm sure all of us want to jack it in, especially in wintertime, just remember you're not alone. Les sounds like a good 'un for all he does. and we are here if you need to talk / moan / laugh / cry. :)
try not to let it get you too down - its hard to see into the future, but hopefully you'll be able to look back & realise you were right all along!
take care of yourself
and I love the cat story - we have 4 now, one (found as a stray) is the spitting image of the old boy who died at 16, and out of the kittens, one looks just my Claude (he just never came home :( ) and the other behaves just like him (soppy!)
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Hi Jackie, its really great to have your updates. I doubt you really need to lose weight, you must burn it off with all the work.
Looking foward to hearing how things go now you are permanently there. HM
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Chin up Jackie. I know how you feel sometimes it gets on top of you especially when the neighbours aren't friendly. My mortgage is massive and I have to work full-time long hours as I've told you in the past and then get up early and do the animals then come home and do the animals...in the winter it seems never ending and sometimes I think what the hell have I done.. but you will settle and the spring will come and things will seem better honestly. Big hug x
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Jackie your posts are important to us so I am sorry you are missing your old life. It will get better as you begin to get to know more people. Chin up love things will improve and we have had the shortest day. I will be away for a couple of months but as your nearest neighbour (I think) We could meet up sometime and have a good old moan!
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Thank you so much for all your inspirational replies they have helped me. :) I'm still feeling unsettled but have decided to grasp this life and instead of it just happening to me I will direct this life to be what I want.
To that end I have contacted the local Slimming World consultant and am going tomorrow for the first class. Today I'm gong into Grimsby to look for two sofas for our living room and I have seen a dress in a shop window in a sale I want so I'm going to buy that in a size 12. Its a red cocktail dress in satin, a totally frivolous nonsense for a farm but at £20 its gonna make me feel good, or it will when I can get into it!!! Its my target dress.
This morning whilst feeding the sheep we saw a carcase that had been stripped by foxes. The bones were not there yesterday so the sheep/lamb died in the night and all that was left this morning was the spine, some of the rib cage and the head. Do foxes actually attack? Badgers maybe?
The rest of the sheep had forced their way through a fence into the rest of the land away from the carcase and/or attacking creatures..
The sheep are well fed and have lots of shelter plus the weather was warmer last night so I cant understand why it died unless it was some sort of animal attack?
We have decided to move the remaining 11 sheep/lambs into the quad area in front of the house and house them at night in the puppy kennels where we kept the baby lambs and baby turkeys.
One of my bitches has come into season and now categorically hates the other bitch, so we are playing musical bitches to keep them apart. We have also got extra bits of carpets all over the floor to catch any blood drips and Ive taught the bitches to clean up after themselves.
Im starting on the offices today with cleaning and getting rid of the rubbish so we can make a 'proper' gym in an area which has a small kitchen, shower and loo. We have had a delivery of heating oil so can put some heating on in there too.
The offices is where we have made 2 temporary bedrooms for our guests over New Year. The offices are 45 feet or 15 meters long so there is 5 seperate rooms.
I did think that in the future this could be made into a seperate home, a 2 bed bungelow as it is big enough to do that and will get us extra money should we sell the farm.
We bought Martyn an Ibenez accoustic guitar for Christmas (he also has an Ibenez electic guitar and a Spanish accousitic guitar) and the pre amp doesnt work so that has to go back. Im annoyed!!!
Martyn started to go to guitar lessons ages ago but the guy who was teaching him said that he was doing very well without the lessons as he has a sort of 'feel' for the guitar and plays it by ear. Im impressed with him as he can play almost anything and at one point hearing Martyn play was the only way we could get Alfie to sleep!!!
Mum has decided not to change her clothes ever again as I have been encouraging her (come on Mum lets get you into something nice today as its Christmas, lets get changed for Christmas dinner, The waters hot Mum you will enjoy a shower etc) to change the ones she has now been wearing for nearly a month!!!! Ive told her that unless she gets changed and has a shower Im not feeding her!!!! Mums reply is; I had a shower yesterday and these clothes are clean you cheeky bugger!!!
The only reality is the reality of dementia..... and I hate it!!!!
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Hi Jackie
I have only just caught up with all your posts as I stopped reading it when George died, I just couldn't face it. I miss him too and I never even met him. He would no doubt have something amusing to say about your Mum, and perhaps some sound advice too - does it really matter if she doesn't change her clothes? Maybe she smells? I remember a friend said to me when John died - who cares or even knows if you don't change your knickers for three weeks! Well, I think they WOULD notice after three weeks but it made me laugh, and that was what I needed! Something will be a trigger for her to have a wash and change her clothes sometime - maybe even a pretty new top left lying on her bed? If she is anything like you she will rebel against being told to do anything, won't she?
I moved here almost three years ago now, 150 miles form the area i had been brought up in - no friends down here at all, just my kids about half an hour from here. For the first year did nothing to the house, just couldn't settle at all. Was always out somewhere with the dogs, cursed the place because I was paranoid about not letting them off lead where they could get anywhere near roads. But since that first year has passed I have now realised that in fact this is an excellent home for me, so near to all the facilities I need as I get older, made loads of new friends, including Sandy and Steve,and being their Matron of Honour yesterday, found safe, fenced off walks for the dogs, and started to make this house the way I want it, and the garden roughened up to look more like a smallholding. Very little money left now, and at present no water or drainage, but very positive. So things will feel better for you, I can assure you of that. I will keep an eye on this thread all the time now. xx
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and again Jackie, I can sympathise from experience about your mum and her clothes.
my father-in-law was never good for washing or changing even before dementia struck....
and when it did - it was a constant battle & usually only a threat from a good family friend that she would strip & scrub him was the only solution!!
sometimes he even rotated his clothes, keeping a much worn jumper over clean unders or vice versa.
there is no easy solution, the best advice I can offer is "dont sweat the small stuff" - the advice Annie was given sounds good to me!
:)
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Would anyone like me to start this blog again? :eyelashes:
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Absolutely Jackie!!
Must admit, seeing a post 'started' by George brought back loads of happy memories just now, I think we all still miss him!
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George blackmailed me to start this too hence he started the thread rather than me hahaha
Wiley old bugger was George! I certainly do still miss him.
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Ok now where are we with this?
If you have any questions about what has happened in the meantime please ask but Ill carry on from now.
Hubby bought 10 lambs back from market one day last spring and they are awful!!! First they had foot rot (had it when they were sold) so had to treat and bring them in to allow the land to be disease free and despite being nurtured they are dying one by one. Yes I do inject with antis as needed but I think they were/are just a poor flock.
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One stuck her head through the stock fencing right into the pond and drowned herself!!! Sheep can really be stupid!
The ground is now very wet here and I dont like my sheep in the wet so have moved them to a small area which is high ground and dry underfoot. Im supplementing feed with creep and hay. I only have 6 of the 10 left so will be looking for cades soon.
Gypsy the kitten got killed last year so looked for another kitten, I found one and bought it for £20 and hubby picked it up 3 weeks later when I was visiting my daughter, when I got home I looked in the box at the kitten and it seems to have become two!
Now hubby loves a bargain and it seems the kittens were a bog off deal so we now have two male kittens called Dave and Edd.
They are doing well and at 6 months are starting to catch rats, they've gone through the voles/mouse stage and have scaled up!
The kittens are meant to be farm cats and live outside, HUH!! tell that to the kittens!!
Next week they are booked in to be done so perhaps then they may not WANT to be around me!!
Oh and after looking for a whole year I have finally got a Jack Russel pup, shes brown and white and so cute. God alone knows if she will ever catch a rat as my kittens are bigger than she is but what the hell shes lovely.
She steals food from the sheps but she gets away with it being a pup lets see what happens when she is older?? Bad girl!!
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:wave: jackie sounds like you have a eventful time ahead.
if you struggle to find cades i might be able to point you in the right direction we usually buy in 8 - 12 but are taking a rest from lambs this year.
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This year we have bought 2 hatcheries from Ebay, always liking a good deal we offered the guy £250 for them both and got them £50 off :)
Each hatchery will hatch 48 chickens and duck eggs and 24 goose eggs, fully automatic thank goodness.
Hubby bought 48 mixed farmyard layer eggs from Ebay and day 21 is today and so far 4 have hatched, Im not holding out much hope for many more.
In the second hatcher is a mix of 25 duck eggs (Alebury and Pekin) and 20 mixed layer chicken eggs (bought from Melton cattle market) and Im really looking forward to having some ducks. I will house them in the hen house at the side of the hens. The hen house is a huge brick built things for those who dont know.
I already have a solid plastic kids paddling pool for the ducks, the geese use the lake on the land but as ducks pooh as they swim and Im planning on trying some trout fry in the lake I dont want the water polluted by the ducks.
Im going out every 2 days to collect the goose eggs from my flock and so far have collected 20, 4 more and 3 days we can reuse the 1st hatchery as the baby chicks come out.
The chicks will go into a box with a heat lamp until they are a little bigger and have bought some chick crumb from a local guy.
This year we are trying some veg crops as I used to have 2 allotments prior to the smallholding and have missed growing stuff.
We have erected a polytunnel (40ft x 12) and have dug some beds for tender crops, ie toms, aubergine and melons plus underplanting with salad crops.
The main stuff is being planted in approx half an acre which we are setting up an electric fence around so some pigs will rotovate it and get out the nettle roots which my land is infested with :(
So far its cost a bloody fortune so I hope I can get some good crops and may even try selling the excess.
My fruit cage is going to be 24ft by 24ft and have already bought the soft fruit to go in it. Early mid and late raspberries, logan berries, blue berries and gooseberries, my strawbs are planted near my polytunnel.
Id love to grow some grapes for wine making and eating but I think we are too far north, I know we are for peaches :(
We are also planning an orchard and have bought a few apples pears, cherry and plum trees. I have to make sure that the trees can polinate each other so am learning all I can about which goes with which.
In the next few days we are going to cut the established fruit trees here down to a manageable height and hopefully get a good crop this year as last year was terrible.
Oh and talking about fruit trees, last year someone stole all my greengages, plums and sloes!!!!! I was so dam angry!! I didnt have any sloe gin for Christmas!!!
This year someone has been digging up my bulbs and taking them!! I should just let my sheps out and see how fast the thieves can run eh?
Ive finally stopped the chest infection in my sheep with injections of anti's, so far we've lost 3 sheep. Sheep are expensive business!
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Thanks Kja :)