Who needs a strimmer ?

Keeping the grass and vegetation down on the bank  is tedious and time-consuming . But there is a different solution !

And as an added bonus, none of them tried to escape

The unkindest cut of all

The time has come . Little do they suspect, lying in the  field, having been fed stuff to get them to come down

meanwhil the inside of the shed has been prepared
Entrance race and then 2 pens - for before and for after

 

And the rams can all be enticed in with  a bit of food

 And afterwards they are all penned , before being released out

But then there is the real problem.


What do i do with bucket that contains 28 sheeps' testicles ?

Greenhouse - Part 1

We had a (Alton) 8'x6' sectional greenhouse, that was dismantled and brought up.
And the time has come for me to erect it.

The problem here is that it can be a bit windy.

The folklore way to build something like this is to concrete in a post at each corner, and then construct the shed/greenhouse inside the footprint, and then fix the structure to the posts .

it might be difficult with the greenhouse.
The base units are like this

 So there will be a gap of about 2 inches between a post on the outside and the section that needs attaching to it.

And the other issue is that the most sheltered spot we can have  is on a bit of a slope.

So the cunning plan :

• Get the base units level 
• Put concreted supporting post at each inside corner and then fix the greenhouse sections  to those posts . 
• Concrete the base units together and to the hardcore 
• See what happens after that 

And then get the rest of the base level. 

 And i need some long fencing posts to be delivered and a bit more timber top frame the base .
And that will have to wait until the lockdown is eased and things can be delivered.

Then there were 2

 We saw 2 of the turkey poults this morning.

We had to have a hunt for the third.
Eventually we found it .
In the pond

It must have fallen in .

Oops

 We had a bit of a wind over the weekend . 50 knots =57.5 mph
I did have a partially built fruit cage to protect the raspberries when they fruit.

Not any more

Goslings

A bit of noise this afternoon - Lily ( female turkey) had managed to get herself separated from the goslings.
So she  is on one side of the fence - and the goslings on the other.

 And once reunited the are back to grazing all together

Harden your heart

The 2 cade lambs (Igor and Isla) are getting older, bigger and are outgrowing the run. So their shelter has been moved out into the big field. And the two of them have been moved as well.

But im not convinced they are entirely happy with the new arrangements  .
They manage to hang round in the corner of the field,  hoping to be allowed back into the nice secluded shed, fed warmed milk regularly.

Moving

The gosling continues to grow, has outgrown the indoor accommodation and so its time to go out into the big wide world - or at least accommodation that isn't inside .

 And that means that the run that is inside the shed has been vacated and the turkey poults can be moved out of their cardboard box.















They don't show up against the hay that has been used as bedding - perhaps that's a good idea in the wild. 

Allowed out

As the 2 cade (pronounced cadee - orphaned in Orcadian) lambs , Igor and Isla - we are on the I's this year  -  are getting bigger , its time to be let out .

The weather was a bit inclement this morning

But by mid afternoon the snow had gone so the 2 cade lambs had their time outside

And then they needed their evening bottle

 And as the weather continues to improve they will be out again tomorrow

Lazarus the turkey

Turkeys

We went down and the nest  had been vacated .

 there are a couple of eggs still left in the nest - probably infertile. And Lily has got out and about with the  poults

 
But not all of them.  A couple have wandered away from the mother and one seems to have fallen down a ditch.

So we have re-instated the warmer and box, brought them in and we shall see how they do

It looks like  one of them isn't going to survive. 

Doing better this time

Last year Tiger the male turkey, had a bit of a problem.

Lily , the female has made a nest again and laid some eggs ,

we have been keeping watch . Anb we think we have seen a broken shell.
So hopefully Tiger has got the hang of it all after last year.

Heres Lily sitting on the nest deep in the rushes

And we think we can see a grament of shell just under her 

May in Orkney

We brought yesterdays' newborn lamb inside overnight . 

The weather forecast wasn't brilliant - "wintry showers" they said . Hypothermia is a risk in the newborn lamb. So we brought mother and lamb inside for the night.

So this morning we had a brisk flurry of hail and snow 

The newborn and mother were returned to the field midafternoon when the sun had come out and melted the snow. Not overly warm though !

Sadly

Another of the ewes went into labour this morning - as expected.  We spotted the foot coming out so recognised promptly the breech  presentation, got her coralled and assisted the lamb out.

When born just after  730 am is was clear that things weren't quite right .
The front leg isn't as straight as the other one, and the lamb was on her side - after a couple of minutes they make attempts to stand.

We left mother and lamb - the mother needs to lick the lamb dry and the lamb needs to feed .

But going back an hour so later things clearly weren't right. The lamb was still in the same place

  even with help , it could not stand.  And there were a few other problems as well - the neck was twisted - but could be straightened , and the bottom  jaw wasn't exactly in line with the top , As well as the twisted front leg.

The vet came and reviewed things and the decision was that this was an unsurvivable combination of problems - so sadly the lamb was put to sleep.

We returned the dead lamb to the mother , who sat by it for an hour or so. And then wandered away.  if you don't return the lamb to the mother she spends  several days calling and walking around looking for it . Spending time with the  unreactive lamb prevents this - perhaps the mother realises the lamb isn't going to respond.

Recycling

With the lockdown, the various builders' merchants aren't delivering. And with the minimum length of timber you can buy here being 5.2m it's a bit difficult transporting that in a car ( how do I know that, you might ask)

And we need another  largish enclosed run for the chicks who are growing , or the latest batch of geese or duck eggs when they hatch.

So its what we have lying around. This started as a crate for roof tiles,then was a lamb shelter, then got shredded by the winds in a winter and has spent some time waiting to contribute to the setup .

And part-way through .

And the finished product - except for some hinges that I will have to get  when the places are opened up .

Isla's afternoon exercise

We have  cade (orphan) lamb.
And she is bottle-fed 5 times a day.
And on the middle feeds  she gets some exercise

The first one ...............

that needed some help .

She had been in labour for about 30 mins and  not really getting on  - we could spot (with binoculors) a nose had appeared but not much else - so time to intervene.

The problem was that instead of both legs pointing forwards, wither side of the head, one was backwards - hence labour was slow.

So a little bit of help - and another lamb ( male ) .
The video is just after the lamb was delivered  so the ewes' attention wasn't on trying to escape