You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2009.
Well Mollie and I walked slowly and carefully around a few waterlogged fields today after the blacksmith replaced her lost shoe and we tried out our sheep gathering skills of a few lambs at walking pace. The lambs moved well into a corner of the field and Mollie seemed relaxed. All good, as I work to rebuild confidence in both of us after the shattering motor bike incident 10 days ago. The horse and I remained totally calm despite startling a muntjack deer in the hedge and the many pheasants were obviously loudly announcing that from Saturday they will be safe until next season.
Ruby, Jethro’s dairy heifer, gets bigger and bigger, and I begin to think she may have twins, although this is unusual for a heifer [first timer]. She ran with the bull from April 1st last year and was due anytime from 9th Jan, however it may have been during the second cycle that she conceived. We keep watching and waiting but she lies around more and continues to eat well. The phrase ‘a watched pot never boils’, certainly comes to mind.
It is often said out loud regarding the frequency of London busses [or even men when single] , when you need one there are none, and then all of a sudden three come at once. We have now had more Policeman than you can possibly imagine in the locality however I cannot go into all the details. Except to say that on the matter of the motor bikers everyone is working together from Parish to County level, the Police and the landowners. Gates, ditches and signs will all be tried in a combined effort to educate and restrict. I doubt they can be stopped but the frequency may be lessened. I will get off next time I meet scrambler bikes or else take off across the fields, Jethro’s potential wrath over his crops will be easier to take than another fall.
I have some more pigs to view asap as I’ve had a call to say two Gloucester Old Spots are looking for an outdoor home and are about ready for the boar at 11 months old. We seem to be developing a real mix of rare breeds now and as we only have one boar crossing them should be interesting and fun. I have just received a box load of Jamie Oliver recipes already to send out with my pork boxes from Jamie’s new series on pork.
We are so confident that what we do with our pigs is right. They live outdoors all year with wooden arks with wooden floors and a large patch of ground each except for when they farrow. Just as they are due to give birth they come back to the farm and are in large old stables near the house with a warming lamp for the piglets. After 3 – 4 weeks depending on the time of year the whole family is back outside. Weaning is at around 8 weeks [ in a commercial unit weaning is often at 3 weeks] and the piglets stay in their home and on the same food and we put the sow back with all her friends and the boar. We have one sow to wean on Friday.
Weather forecasters are predicting another very cold spell soon in from the East but at least we may be able to stop swimming. Time will tell if they are right, one of my best friends in America always made me laugh by calling the forecasters ‘the weather guessers’.
Well I went to get the horse in for a bit of a spruce up as I was fed up with office work and when I got out in the yard I had to change my mind. The noise in the farm yard was deafening. The steam cleaner and other noisy equipment including a heavy duty drill are in use all around the yard and right beside Mollie’s stable. The sound was far too reminiscent of the recent episode of the roaring bikes to risk another incident just as she is recovering.
The old brick range of horse boxes are being steam cleaned and disinfected ready for the next 2 pigs to farrow, one due from this week and another in 2 weeks, and also the new cattle crush is being cemented in to its permanent position and new access gates have been put in the race for the safety of the vet and everyone who works with these large animals. This race has been specifically designed for our horned cattle and has just come back from the galvanising works. A cattle crush is not the feeling you get when you really like cows, it is the means of holding them still and preventing them from crushing you while weighing or administering routine veterinary treatments for worms and parasites.
The saddler is coming at 4pm to check the fitting of an almost new saddle I have got on sale or return. If it turns out not to be right [ but I think it will be] I must send it back this week for a refund.
The blacksmith is returning on Wednesday after shoeing the horse with a full new set of shoes on Friday and she lost one immediately… luckily I’ve never had that happen before but the loss of the shoe and the ever present threat of the bikers does rather curtail what and where we can go. However support is increasing in an attempt to keep the countryside safe with many locals and various parish councils now joining together to try to stop this menace.
In the meantime I have been selling very rare gilts for breeding and possibly a few sheep too, to some smallholders who are just starting out. It is good fun and quite the opposite to selling thousands of tons of grain which of course Jethro does all the time.
I simply don’t know where the days go!
Christmas came and went and the daily work on the farm simply carried on. We had a pig with mastitis on Christmas Eve [now cured], and a shortage of electricity causing the bore hole to stop working.
16 days of hard frost followed on Boxing Day leading to huge water problems with the outdoor livestock. Thousands of gallons of water have been carried out to cattle, pigs and sheep.
The frost thawed and then the rains came [ still falling] and the pond and the fields are now almost overflowing with excess water..
The younger generation are returned to their seats of learning and even Jethro has had a week away this month studying for his MSC. While he was away we had a burst radiator in a bedroom which nearly brought down the ceiling of the farm office, thanks to the NFU insurance for their swift response in drying us out [ the fans are still whirring] and a very poorly pig who was sadly and swiftly put down. This pig was one of our absolute favourites owing to her lovely nature, she was 18 months old and had just been weaned from her litter of 10 at 8 weeks old. Customers are queuing to buy our breeding stock and I have already pre-sold 4 out of the 5 gilts, we will keep the best one to be her replacement, in due course.
The horse has come and is settling slowly, our progress has not been helped by either the terrible weather nor a terrifying experience for both of us with some trespassing motor-cross riders who all revved their engines at once causing her to frantically rear again and again and me to be thrown. Steps are being taken to restrict access on the bridle paths to those who are entitled. I am the third serious accident that I know of in this locality and sadly I fear a tragedy if nothing is done.
I missed blogging but the days were not long enough. However the nights are lighter now and we have Spring to look forward to.
I am back and will do my best to post often. Camera still not sorted.
