[plumseverywhere]

So, just 2 days ago I was leant over the fence enjoying the sunshine and watching the goats skipping about having fun, the chickens were dustbathing and the sheep were laid down chewing and doing that smiley thing that they do when they are content. Snowball the errant cat had returned from the 'mad cat lady' who borrows her for a few days on the trot and everything felt cosy and good.

Today, 10 year old daughter shouts "muuuuuuuuuum...what does it mean when a sheep is laying down and a crow is pecking it..." and so started our day.  Young ewe had died over night, apparantly suffered an aborted pregnancy.
Newest pregnant goat has decided her shed is too 'scary' since a white star chicken decided to nest in there yesterday and it shouted at Puffin when she tried to go in. Goat legged it and has been peering in too scared to enter despite chook being removed by my daughter back to her own house. So, when it started raining ice cubes tonihgt I was out there in my lovely waterproofs trying to coax the goat into her shed and convince her that scary hen has gone. 
other female goat in season and being very noisy and trying to escape and a load of fencing blew down.

hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, maybe I'm just shattered today (header tank over flowed from 3am aaaaaagh!!)

[Anke]

Yes tomorrow will be better... but for tonight: a large glass of (mulled) wine, some chokkies left from Xmas, fire on...

Goat being frightened by chicken actually sounds quite funny.... but I have seen them jump at really silly things too... my BT tried today to eat my hair/pony tail...

[plumseverywhere]

Goat being frightened by chicken actually sounds quite funny.... but I have seen them jump at really silly things too... my BT tried today to eat my hair/pony tail...

   it is really I think it was just the final straw though lol. if anyone could have seen me out there absolutely drenched and freezing and saying "its ok puffin, the chickens gone now..." .  It was the same reaction I got when I bought Vanna a new brush, old one was brown new one was pink - took it in to groom her and she was off like a rocket, scared by a new brush   
Thanks Anke 

[Brucklay]

I'm sure tomorrow will be better Plums - re the pony tails chewing goats - mine did that till last week when I braved the hairdresser, made and appointment before last christmas but was snowed in - made it this year and all chopped off short so they can't chew my ponytail any more so now the jacket is suffering more!!

[jaykay]

What are they like  I can just see you and hear you reassuring her that the chicken had gone 

My geese wouldn't go to bed last night -  when I looked there was a young rabbit sheltering in their house. It bolted of course - poor thing, I expect that it thought it had found somewhere safe out of the rain - don't suppose it would have liked sharing with the gander any more than they liked the look of it 

Hope tomorrow is more like the day previously, that you described 

[plumseverywhere]

My wether has a habit of eating ponytails too, he's upset a few toddlers    he steals stuff out of my pocket mostly - barn keys, mobile phone, lip balm...must invest in zipped pocket outerware 

Thanks for cheering me back up everyone with your funny stories 

[Sylvia]

I hope all goes better tomorrow

[princesspiggy]

thats life on the farm so u have to appreciate the good stuff while u can.
im sure our farm has its own spirit and will try and prove us wrong if everything is going too well - or if ur planning on going away etc. then something is bound to happen! anyone else find that?
ie our cows have never escaped until the day the bull arrived to serve them, and that was the day they crossed the river and walked 1/4 mile down old railway line and jumped in with neighbours bullocks. and they have never escaped since either! gremlins??? lol

[SallyintNorth]

if ur planning on going away etc. then something is bound to happen! anyone else find that?

Oh yes, all the time.  Non-farming friends get fed up of hearing, "We'll see nearer the time", and "Let's just play it by ear"!  And my parents cannot understand why I can't tell them "when things will be quiet" so they can come up for a visit! 

[Lesley Silvester]

Every night when I Take Pom into the same place to milk her, she has to stand in the open doorway letting all the heat out while she inspects the whole room to make sure the bogey man isn't in there. (He never is!)

I used to have a problem with Flo eating my pony tail while I was milking her until I realised is was only on the day I washed my hair.  Answer?  I changed my shampoo.  She was very partial to Boots Tea Tree and MInt but doesn't like Alberto Balsam Tea Tree.   

[little blue]

here's hoping for a better day for you
never dull though is it?!

[ellied]

I know what you mean - I was delighted to have new chooks but then started getting attacked by the cockerel.  I was relieved to put a pony out who'd been on and off lame and the next day I hear the Fife hunt is planning to come this way tomorrow so I start worrying about him, the last pregnant mare due in 3 months (the other aborted), the youngsters galloping in all the deep mud, ponies through fences, the stallion getting upset.. and instead of going to see friends and celebrate Hogmanay I will be here on my own for about the 7th day in a row standing out by the field gates to see the fireworks don't upset them either/further after the hunting earlier   I hardly spent anything in December and earned maybe £200 but still have a £400 credit card bill from a £200 vet bill, one tank of diesel and one tyre for a car that needs another asap..

There are days I feel blessed pottering about picking veg I have grown, making things from fruit in the garden, eating omelettes from eggs laid just feet from the kitchen door.. and days I wonder how much longer I can cope before it all gets too much..  I am currently wondering if I am being selfish hanging on to this lifestyle dream when it is beyond my physical and financial capacity to really do more than "just cope" most of the time.. 

Maybe 2012 is the time to think hard about letting the dream go.. but I know it will only take that one foal being born in late March, a sign of grass growing and longer days, and a few more customers for eggs and felt and preserves,  a couple of workshops and maybe a few 1-1 clients, and I'll be all optimistic again so I don't know which is real and which is the illusion, both seem so real in their seasons, or on their days..

All I can say is hang in there - I think it's all swings, up and down, back and forward, and the roundabout bits are just about being too dizzy to walk away..

[plumseverywhere]

Oh no EllieD you are having a worse time of it than me, don't give up on your dream too quickly though. I think we have to weigh up a lot of what we do, why we do it and what we get from doing it (satisfaction I mean as we all know the financial rewards are not quite as great as other lifestyles may be!)

I'll be stood watching for fireworks too. One of our neighbours fired rockets directly at our sheep (not intentionally but its how it happened) on 6th November so will be waiting to see him do it again and deal with it...again. It so worrying when you have pregnant stock and people act so irresponsibly around them.  We'll look back on this thread late march and smile 

[ellied]

Ach it's just a day..  

I look at this £400 bill and think how a couple of years ago I'd have spent that easily in a day without even thinking twice, so it's a good sign of how life can be lived far more economically and there are 11 lovely hens out there even if George is a pain in the you know where.. I guess it's a matter of looking on the bright side.. and finding a large bucket to see if someone else's solution will get George in line   And if the hunt come tomorrow then hopefully they won't be back for a while and at least it's a day I'm here with nothing else planned..

Sorry, I just let off steam a bit here.. I am doing some clearing out and have plums on the stove defrosting and turning into something for later, and my mid afternoon snack is a piece of shortbread made with custard powder which I heard about on here a few months back, so it's all got potential for a reasonable day and tomorrow will just have to be whatever it is

[plumseverywhere]

   sounds like some nice things planned for you today.   Things looking better here today too - so far all sheep are still alive, no goats have tried to escape and the fencing stayed up all night (i was awake much of the night reliving what I saw in the knackerman's lorry    and worrying that the fencing that keeps the goats out of the plum orchard might have fallen down due to the really bad winds we had last night ) so all in all a better day! x