The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Shropshirelass on December 28, 2019, 10:47:15 pm
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Hello all! I'm sorry I haven't been online for quite some time, so what's new with everybody? What've I missed?
Me where to start I fell off my bike & broke my wrist & sadly & suddenly lost my old dog in my profile pic to a Gastric torsion :-\ but I've since bought myself a little Wire Fox Terrier bitch puppy who with the help of a couple of top breeders have won lots of prizes showing her & on her 1st proper show we qualified for Crufts -Twice!!! Then I became an Aunty rather unexpectedly for the 1st time ( He he mini farmer in the making lol) & I finally bought myself a 4x4 now I've just got plenty of projects to keep me going until lambing....
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Good luck. That pup looks stunning. I'm a championship show Judge - judged my breed (Brittanys) there in 2007, and I've judged most breeds including WFTs
Lovely to have a wee nephew to spoil too. He'll be digging alongside you in no time.
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Ah nice to know your familiar with the breed will have to pm you sometime when I get the chance x
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I've not been on for ages either - must be a Shropshire thing.
I'm still missing my goats and finding it hard being around smallholders, goat keepers, etc.
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Me too - not been on for ages - I think its an 'Sh' thing - Shropshire/Shetland :roflanim:
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I've not been on for ages either - must be a Shropshire thing.
I'm still missing my goats and finding it hard being around smallholders, goat keepers, etc.
When I lost my cow to TB in 2008, it coincided with losing a dog. 2 more died in the following months. When the last of the cows (not to TB) went a few years later I looked around.
To see the place with NO CATTLE, it was a shock and talk about grief. The thought of the work, for me, didn't even come into it. There were no cattle on the place and I hated it. When I couldn't lamb 2016/2017, I actually didn't mind and the following lambing, it made me realise, I DONT want to do it. So I sold quite a few off. I lambed last year, sold more off and 3 lambed in December just gone. The 2 that weren't interested in the tup, they are still here, but to be honest, I don't know whether or not I'm depressed or in pain (knackered my foot in November) but I am seriously considering get rid of the 2 of them and just stick with the 6, 3 lambers, 3 non lambers and my beloved cattle.
And there's the thing, I can honestly say, I have NEVER said I LOVE sheep. I don't. I like sheep. Theres a difference. I love cattle, I love their quirkiness and the fact they use me as a scratching post even though I could have throttled Jennifer last year. (She's now really improved, she was close though, very close!).
People, I can give or take, but my animals, I truly grieve for them. If its your choice if you stop dealing with them then its different then if the choice is taken out of your hands and I truly feel for anybody who has to give up their beloved animals for whatever reasons.
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My health forced me to give them up. It got to the stage where all I did for them was take their food to them and cuddle them. My OH (who had said he didn't mind me having the goats so long as he didn't have to get involved) had to carry the water to them twice a day and hold them while their hooves were trimmed or the vet needed to look at them. When it got to the stage one winter that I was nearly crying with the pain in my hands when I was milking, I realised that I had to stop milking them. I have thumb splints which help but I couldn't wear them to do the milking as they are plastic coated metal. I decided that when the old lady died, I would rehome the young one. Pom lasted until she was twelve when she died one night. Caldi went to live with a friend's goats where she is very happy and has produced twins.