Repairing the pond .

The new run for the Jemima Puddleduck  duckling was put up in July 

It needed a small dam across the burn. But we have had sow much heavy bursts of rain  ir has washed away some of the bank

And some nifty work ( and wet gloves) with the stones

 So we shall see if it survives the next load of rain

Vandalism.

We accidentally left on eof the gates open .
And the geese took advantage.
They found their way into the polycrub.

And enjoyed the kale

And enjoyed the carrots

And there is nothing left of the lettuce.

Ao we wont be leaving a gate open again .

The Weigh-in

Some routine FEC-testing of the lambs indicated that there may be a problem with intestinal infestation with worms, so they needed some treatment.
And the  amount they are given depends on their weight - so we need to weoight them before dosing them.
We have a weighing crate so we needed to construct the race to get them lined up to be wieghed

And once weve done that, we need to get some sheep. This lot have been grazing on  one of the more distant fields.  So to bring them down and get thm in the right place we put up some electric fencing, bu without the electricity.  They have (hopefully) learned  not to touch the fence.

And once brought down, they need to be penned to stop them wandering

And once penned , and 'encouraged' to go into the race, they got weighed.

We only needed to dose the lambs, but as all the sheep  were down  , they all got weighed.

At the Ness (again)

Harald (the lamb) didnt react well to his last visit to the Ness and need treatment for a gut infection, so we left him behind this time and took Cato ( age5 ) and Ferdinand( Age2)  

As before  they were clearly delighted to be  going 

And once there, we were in the same spot, overlooking  Loch of Stenness,  with the Hills of Hoy in the distance, and the neolithic pottery-firers  in the background.

If anything there were more people at this open day than the last one, and a constant stream of visitors and groups from 11 until 4

  And as this was part of Viking Week  , it included some viking-spinning with a weighted drop spindle

And one of the first visitors  was a film crew from Estonia.  So we we talked about the sheep, and Vikings and they hopefully got some nice clips of Cato and Ferdinand,   So if you are in Estonia - let us know when the clip from the Ness of Brodgar is shown.

And here we were , between the  drystone waller recreating one of the stone strucutures in the Ness archeology,  the Viking tent and games  by Ragnhild Ljoslandand 

So a successful day , and looking forward to next year.

New additions

So we decided we were a bit short of hens at the moment - we sell eggs  and need a few more chickens .
So we have an incubator an d some eggs and some hatchees.

But without a broody hen to look after them  and keep them warm,  there is a heated plate that they get under

A lump

And we noticed a lump on one of the sheep.
Cuthbert spends a lot of time sitting around

  but when you get closer the lump is more obvious

 And  after the Vet has been , its probably and infection and osteomyelitis in the jaw.

So  2 weeks of antibiotics and we shall see how he does.
But infections in the  jaw ( particularly actinomycosis - called lumpy jaw  )  can be difficult to eradicate .

finding an ex-hen

It wasn't there when I walked up the field.

But it was there when I walked down the field

Closer inspection revealed the injury

And thre is a fractured vertebra and a hole into te abdomen.

 So we think it must have been accidentally trampled by the pony who is in the same field.