Thank you!!

Well!  What a lovely surprise I had just now!  Took me a while, due to the amount of mud around, to sort out all the animals - third field can only be accessed by foot at the moment.  After a quick trip to the vet to pick up a few lambing essentials I got home to find the post man had been and left a parcel.  Thank you so much Willie!  Willie had told me all about an alpaca scarf he had seen in Blandford - and he sent it to me!  It is beautiful and lovely and soft, certainly will not be ruining it by wearing it in the field.  I had to hang it up quickly as the cat was eyeing it up thinking it would make a lovely warm bed on such a grey, damp day!

 

You are a star Willie!!

A pile of cats!

The cats have sense - best place to be!

Poor Gracie

 With only three weeks to go until lambing, preparations are well underway.  The ewes are beginning to get a bit grumpy and like their own personal space with old black welsh mountain 47 being the worst.  She does not want any other ewe any where near her and waddles around, head own, butting any other sheep that ges get in her way.  The three ancient, toothless sheep are still a bit on the thin side and are having extra rations which they love hopefully, they will only have a single lamb each as I don't think they will cope well with twins.  Apart from that everyone is looking good with the exception of poor Gracie.  On Thursday I was greeted by Gracie with a huge prolapse - as this is not a topic all will want to read about I will put the next bit in a separate paragraph (feel free to skip!!)

So - Gracie is the daughter of one of my favourite sheep who sadly died a couple of  years ago.  Last year Gracie lambed for the first time and it was not an easy lambing and ended up with her having a caesarean.  Now, technically, after such a problem birth Gracie should not really have been put in lamb again and should have gone on but, being rather a favourite I decided to give her another year and that may have been a mistake.  Why she has prolapsed I do not know but putting it back in on your own in the middle of a field is not the easiest of tasks!!  After a lot of lubricating and pushing we were finally back in and she then had a spoon in to keep it in place and a harness to keep that all in and she now does not look too bad.  Now got to keep fingers crossed it does not pop out again and that I can get the lambs out when they are ready.  She will be going in a pen when she is closer to lambing so I can keep a very close eye on her.

Win is getting up again now and I am about to go and brave the mud to take hay an water round  There are murmurings of snow on the weather forecast but, although it does now seem to be getting cooler it only looks like yet more rain to me.....I may be wrong!

Alpaca weekend

It has been so wet I am now struggling to get around third field - so glad there is not long now until the sheep come back down.  Thee weatherman says a colder snap is on the way and, as long as it is dry, that will be no bad thing.

This weekend is a busy alpaca time as all the alpacas need their extra shots of vitamin D on Saturday, two girls - Belinda and Zara - need to be checked over to make sure they are good to go to their new home the following weekend.  Belinda has been here for a long time so it will be sad to see her go and Zara, although she has not been here as long, is a gentle sweet girl who will also be missed.  Then on Sunday it is off to the other side of Winchester to check on the herd we look after there.

1st January 2018

Well, another new year!  New Year's Eve passed fairly quietly here as we had spent all day getting sheep ready for lambing in February.  They needed their annual booster to guard against various diseases and protect the unborn lambs.  This meant gathering everyone which is not always a simple task but this time it went fairly smoothly with only the badger faced ewes refusing to cooperate.  Carl, Sam and Kristy were in charge of rounding everyone up whilst I ran in front with the bucket but they ended up with little to do but lounge on the quad as all 84 ewes chased me and the bucket down the hill perfectly (except the badgers!).

 

The Dorpers have been temporarily corralled in the barn as it was too wet to do their feet properly but they are quite happy there

So now it is back to normality - tree and decorations coming down tomorrow, alpacas need halter training, lambing supplies to organise and church to clean!!

 

Christmas is nearly over

As usual, Christmas is flying by!  A nice Chrismas Day where sadly far too much food was eaten was followed by a good Boxing Day where even more food was eaten!  I have got to train myself to make less as I think the left overs will last us well into January.  Photos are of poor quality and I really must address the camera issue next year.

And mother just after dinner!

 

 

In the evening we had a quick trip out to see Sam who was having dinner at his house with Kristy's parents and various others.  It was really nice to see them sitting together playing Farm Monopoly which I had never heard of.

 

 

 

Boxing Day we managed to stir ourselves enough to visit a friend whose other half is away in Scotland farm sitting until the New Year.  They are having a bit of snow up there but so far there has only been a light dusting on the hill in our neck of the woods.  Yesterday, we had to go over to the other side of Bath to collect Leaf, the ram, who has been on his holidays with some ladies and we were surprised at the amount of snow there.

 

And now for a random festive sheep!!

Happy Christmas!

Almost every card is delivered, almost every present is wrapped, most definitely every bit of shopping is done and it isn't even Christmas Eve yet - that is a nice feeling!  Of course I still have the trifle to make, turkey to stuff, table to lay . . . . but I quite enjoy doing that on Christmas Eve.  The tree has remained intact despite it periodically being attacked by the cats and the presents are still wrapped under the tree despite the dog snuffling around them at every opportunity. 

The Carol singers arrived and I had forgotten they were coming so I was in the bath and Carl did the honours - I just hope he put something worthwhile in their pot as their carolling sounded very good in the bath and he gets flustered with things like that and is just as likely to have accidentally insulted them with a handful of coppers!

Weather is really too mild for Christmas but the weather man is giving hints that maybe colder times are on the way.  I would like a bit of a cold snap but will be glad when things look more like this

 

Mind you - this was quite fun!!

 

 

 

 

I did mean to do an alpaca Christmas photo but time has run out so here is one from a few years ago -  that little girl is now in Italy where they have had a bit of snow this year.

 

 

 

I shall enjoy Christmas I am sure but what I am really looking forward to now is lambing and there is not too long to wait as the first are due on 4th February - the countdown begins!

 

 

A very, very Happy Christmas to you all - may your dreams come true and your days be contented and fulfilling!!