Doggy Sick ... and Sheep

Yesterday was a busy day from the start ... and not in a good way.

The day started with Alan going to down to make us a cup of coffee, only to find copious mounds,  splats and puddles of doggy sick.  Christmas presents strewn all over the conservatory ... and the cause of the sickness epidemic ... missing chocolate Santa's bought for the grandchildren!!

So the washer was put straight into service washing dog bed liners and towels, two very guilty looking pooches didn't know where to put themselves and Ginger the cat ... who is the only one who could possibly have knocked the bag over containing the presents ... was his usual 'I'm a good boy aren't I ' self.

Much cleaning, present wrapping and little jobs later we were suddenly distracted by the sight of five sheep running past the conservatory doors, then tucking into our laurel bushes near the shed.  We pulled on our wellies and then spent an hour herding the very energetic sheep this way and that until we managed to get them contained in the paddock.

They had wandered in through our open gates as we were expecting Will the farmer with his gift for Alan .... half a sheep!!

We thought they were Thomas' sheep, the farmer that owns the field opposite so we gave him a ring, he turned up half an hour later with a trailer to collect them.  As it happened they weren't his sheep at all,  the sheep I thought were missing from his field had just been hiding in the trees there.  Will, showed up while Thomas and his brother were chatting to Alan, so three Welsh farmers and a Scottish engineer had a bloody good laugh about things and set the world to rights.  

 Thomas' trailer being there though turned out very useful, as we had our old sofa in the conservatory that we have been trying to find a good home for ... and he has a bunkhouse that needed some seating, so it was loaded up but not in the way we had originally expected.  While the guys were chatting two of the sheep leapt out of our paddock over the fence and had to be chased back in ... not good.  We made good the escape route and hoped for the best.

This morning we were awoken by the sound of Mavis barking, so Alan rushed downstairs only to find the sheep once again passing by the conservatory.  In his dressing gown and wellies he managed to get them round the house but they made for a gap in the hedge and out on to the main road.  He could have herded them back in if it wasn't for a very mean spirited motorist who refused to stop his car, and spooked them into running off up the main road.

So the sheep have gone, hopefully for good.  They are no doubt at this very minute munching on someone else's garden, and for those of you who follow our frequent sheep exploits they are owned by the same farmer who's sheep (including Ethel) are routinely found roaming the area in search of their own grazing.

And just a footnote, the dogs are both fine after their consumption of a chocolate Santa  each, if there hadn't been so much sick everywhere we would have taken them to the vets, chocolate is very poisonous to dogs, they don't realise how lucky they are!!

Sue xx

Mutton Dressed As ....

Is this the best dressed sheep on a Welsh hillside .... well we think so  :-)

After speaking to the vet yesterday our course of treatment for this sad looking sheep is the best and only one open to her, so we were advised to continue to spray her with the antiseptic spray which is suitable for animals.

We were discussing her after the phone call and both agreed it was a shame she was nibbling at her scabs as soon as they form.  Alan said we should put a cone over her head the way the vets do for dogs after an operation so they don't nibble at their stitches, I said not to be so cruel we don't even do that for the dogs, we always get them a little t shirt to wear instead and it has always done the trick.

We looked at each other with grins on our faces!!

In Llandudno a few hours later, we called into one of the charity shops and stood debating what size our foster sheep could possibly be .... we guessed a medium.  Later it took us only a few minutes to catch her, check and re-spray her sore side and then get her dressed, adding the snazzy band of tape so the t shirt doesn't dangle and risk tripping her up or get wet when she 'spends a penny'.

Suky is amazed at her snazzily dressed friend.

And the sheep appears to quite like her new attire, and is not even slightly bothered by the fact that she is now fully clothed   :-)

  We moved the sheep into the Orchard as the grass there is in brilliant condition, and she needs all the nourishment she can get. 

Instead of watching me working in the polytunnel earlier ... Suky was on sheep watching duty, she just can't get over the now dressed sheep living just through the fence

Sue xx

Poorly Sheep

This is what a healthy sheep should look like.  Bright eyed, nicely rounded, inquisitive and in this ones case extremely friendly.

Now this on the other hand is a poorly sheep in every sense of the word.

She was found by Alan two weeks ago wandering on the road, he wondered why all the traffic was slowing right down so he walked down to the edge of our driveway and spotted this sorry sight.  She meekly followed him up the drive and into the paddock where the other sheep were quick to let her know to keep away from them.  She got stuck into eating the grass immediately and settled down.

We had an idea who she belonged to, but first Alan phoned Will who has his sheep in our field to make sure it was okay for her to mingle with them. 

He came round within 10 minutes and gave her a good look over.  She has been badly shorn after a severe case of fly-strike, but Will said he could see she had been treated for it and that he was happy for her to stay in the same field as his girls.

He confirmed whose sheep she was, so next we gave the owner a ring.  He said he would be round as soon as possible to pick her up.  That was two weeks ago!!  These photos were taken after she had been on our good grazing for a week, so I'm sure you can imagine how bad she looked prior to this.

We've sprayed her a few times with antiseptic spray over the open wound as recommended by the vet, but she's still not healing well as she nibbles at the scabs as soon as they form, so we are waiting to hear back from the vet about any other treatment she might need.

In the meantime Suky is getting very peeved that this sheep will not make friends with her. 

She's tried standing as close as she can, tucking into grass to prove that she can eat as much grass as any sheep and even tried to give her a Pug kiss, nose to nose ..... but the sheep will have none of it, although she has stopped walking off as soon as Suky walks over, which is enough to give a little Pug a vestige of hope :-)

Sue xx

Sheep, Lambs ... and a Sheep Coloured Pug

Sheep

We've had three of Will's ewes and their twin lambs (nine sheep) in our fields for months now, moving them from one field to the other alternately as the grass has needed time to recover.  Yesterday it was that awful day when the lambs were taken from their Mums, they were gently separated and before the ewes had even realised what had happened were driven away in the back of Will's van.

At first the ewes mooched about, ate a bit of grass and wandered around, then they realised that something was really amiss and started to get upset.  They ran from one end of the paddock to the other looking through the fences thinking that their lambs could not be far away. 

As a trio they checked under and around bushes, behind the manure heap, they looked in places no large lamb would ever fit, in much the same way that we search in ridiculous places when we have mislaid something.

When I went into the paddock with the dogs for our evening perambulation they came running over baa'ing at me as though asking me if had I seen their babies, or noticed anything untoward.  I petted them all on the head, something I can only usually do to one of them, the other two younger ewes being much more wary of anyone.  I apologised for the way of the world and the loss of their youngsters and I walked the dogs around the field as is our usual way. 

Pug

They followed for a few moments, paying even more attention to Suky than they usually do .... she is after all small and almost sheep coloured.  But they soon lost interest and went away mournfully chewing on the wet grass with the occasional glance in our direction.

Most definitely a Pug.

This morning however it was a different story, they had decided that Suky would do in the absence of their boisterous lambs and as soon as we stepped into the field they charged over like a pack of maternal maniacs focusing in on Suky who ran as fast as her little legs would carry her to the other end of the paddock.  The sheep followed and soon Suky was cowering while all three ewes gave her a very detailed once over before deciding that no, she wasn't going to drink their milk and they might just as well go back to eating grass and leave this very confused little sheep coloured animal alone.

We'll be back over there later, I think I'll take them a slice of bread each, it's a poor consolation for the loss of your babies, but at least they'll realise that someone cares ... and maybe they'll leave poor Suky in peace.

Sue xx

Crop Top and Woolly Shorts

The sheep in the field across the road from our house are a funny bunch.  I think Thomas, the farmer that owns the land uses this particular bit of scrubby, rush filled land for his waifs, strays and odds and sods.  We thought they were all barren sheep until he dropped off a mother and her chunky little lamb the other day,  now it looks even more of an odd assortment.

They have obviously all had different treatments, hence the splodges of blue, red and orange and thanks to them pushing their way into the trees and bushes to get to the stream for water or just under the bushes for shade or shelter, they are all slowly but surely losing their woolly coats.  There will be little need for clippers in a few months if they keep losing wool at the rate they have been over this last week or so.

They are starting to take on the look of the freshly clipped collie dog in the Specsavers advert!!

But one in particular is looking very fetching this morning.  I stood at our office window and watched as she had a tussle for about twenty minutes with what must have been a particularly prickly bush.  I was on the verge of thinking about phoning Thomas to let him know he had a well and truly stuck sheep ... when lo and behold she tugged herself free and sashayed out of the trees wearing a crop top and a pair of woolly shorts.

Sue xx

Keeping Things Going

I've been a bit of an intermittent blogger this week, sorry but I've been busy just keeping things going. 

Busy with just the day to day of living,  of visiting family, of family visiting me ... but mostly trying to keep things thawed out so that the things that have to live outdoors on our property have water to drink.  By things I mean our chickens, the resident sheep and the wild birds ... thank goodness that for now we have no other animal demands.

It's been so cold that I have needed to go over to the drinkers during the course of the day to refill them with warm water as once again they have iced up after the mornings defrosting.  I  keep a watering can near the house and fill it from the hot tap so that each time I let the dogs out for a toilet break I can check that everyone has thawed water available to drink.

They appreciate it, and drink their fill while the water is still warm.

Someone asked me the other day if chickens drink a lot of water, and the answer is yes.  Eggs are composed of lots of water and the laying girls especially need to drink even more than they need to eat, but all of them appreciate some warming water on these cold and frosty days.

Yesterday when we got back from Mum's with my younger son Jason, everything was green again.  All nicely thawed out,  the sheep were making the most of having lots of grass to nibble at and I went to bed thinking that I would have a morning off from the hot water rounds,  but this morning the hard white frost was back and once again it was -3 inside the polytunnel and no doubt a degree or so colder outside, so I donned scarves, extra socks and gloves and did the rounds.

Now it's time to do the rounds again before me and Jason head for an afternoon at the cinema, not a bad way to spend a frosty December day, it's a good way to keep me going   :-)

Sue xx

You Should Be Eating the Grass ....

The sheep are back in the big paddock. 

When Will, their owner first brought them back they were here in the paddock, then he moved them to the triangular field at the end of our land for a few weeks.  They munched on the grass in there until it was short and neat, and then last weekend he came and moved them back into the paddock where the grass has recovered from their last grazing.

Only they have decided that they will not live on grass alone and are happily grazing away on anything that overhangs the fence.  Brambles, gorse, trees .... you name it and they will eat it, the only thing they wouldn't eat in the end field was all the tasty fresh new shoots of nettles that Will promised us they would see as a treat and that are driving Lovely Hubby to distraction with their manic proliferation.

Oh well, once the sheep stop nibbling around the edges of the paddock they do do a brilliant job of keeping the grass down and fertilising the ground.  It's surprising how much they have grown on this lush grazing, these are all this years lambs.

Sue xx

Chickens and Sheep

" Look I think Mum's got some food."

"Oooh is the grass nice ....

... I think I'll try some."

" Come over here everyone .... this is lovely."

This post is brought to you by sheep and chickens ..... and ooops did you notice in the first photo that I've left my bucket on the far gate post ... I'll just go and retrieve it, have a nice day  :-)

Sue xx

The Sheep Along the Fence

I always know when it's going to be a cooler or wet day as the sheep stay in their favourite spot and overnight sleeping area at the top of the hill much, much later than usual.  If it starts to rain heavily they also make for this cover as the bare earth along the fence line shows.

They sit with one front leg tucked up and one splayed out,  mother and son ....

... mother and daughter ....

... and oops, it looks as though this mother and daughter are not on speaking terms today  ;-)

They've gotten very friendly just lately and let me rub them on the nose when they are in a sociable mood.  It's a shame that we've only just become friends because the little boy, who's really not so little anymore, will be going to market soon along with one of the girl lambs.  The other one is being kept as seemingly she is a very good potential breeder from a good mum.  The little ram lamb has faulty back legs and was lucky to survive birth, his twin did not.  He's also very unlucky as he pulled out one of his little baby horns the other day on the fence.

Lovely Hubby is pleased that they are still here as the lambs are keeping the brambles in check, poking their heads through the fence to get at the tasty new shoots .... hence the horn loss when he got his head stuck.

It's now 7pm and they have all gone to bed early and are in almost exactly the same places as on these photos taken this morning.

Sue xx

Keeping Cool, and Cuddling Together ... on a Hot Day

'Hello', this ewe seems to be saying to me, 'have you got anything tasty to eat' ... they ask me this everytime I go over to the chickens, and yes they get the occasional cabbage leaf.

The others were being sensible and were in the shade at the top of the hill, soon the limited shade will be gone and the paddock will be in full sun, so it makes sense to keep cool while you can.  The one that looks a bit pink has just been treated after am attack of fly strike, I'm  glad Will caught it before it got too bad.

The chickens were hiding from the sun under their wet weather/sun shade, it's just a piece of wood leaning on and attached to the fence.  It's their favourite place to be whatever the weather, and seems to be their meeting and preening place after breakfast and then throughout the day.

I put the little plastic drinker in the other day as I was giving them some Apple Cider Vinegar and I can't put it into the galvanised drinkers as it reacts with the metal, so when I want to dose them with this all the plastic drinkers are called into action.  Chickens are funny creatures they love anything red, so this is currently the place to go for your drink, so I am spending a lot of time topping up this diddy little drinker while they ignore the big one right next to it..

Keeping cool in the henhouse, but still cuddling up together are new best mates Ebony, the Black Pekin bantam and Jill, the Lavender Pekin bantam.  

I put them in one nest box together the other week out of frustration, as all four nest boxes were full of broody birds, so putting the two littlest in together while frequently chucking out the large Black Marans was the only way to have any room for the layers to get on with laying their eggs in peace everyday.  They've really hit it off and when they do get up and go out to stretch their legs and have something to eat and drink they do it together, and then make their way back to a nesting box ... they don't mind which one as long as they can sit together, and inside the henhouse with both the front door and the window open it is lovely and cool all day.

Sue xx

Sheep, Chippings and Scaredy Cats and Dogs

Another load of chippings was dropped off  by the tree surgeons the other day and straight away the sheep were all over the pile.  Picking out tasty titbits and enjoying the warmth that generates from it as it quickly starts to rot down.  

Rosy is standing well back from the sheep and just watching them while I take the photo, because like the other dogs she has been 'told off' by the head sheep just once too often and has now developed an aversion to all woolly white things that live with us.

They are a lovely friendly bunch to me and come over for a head scratch when they see me but they don't like the dogs, and I think they quickly realised that if they got the upper hand early they would be left in peace.  They have told both Rosy and Mavis off in no uncertain terms, and little Suky who was desperate to make friends and stood staring at them for a long time, was head butted and flipped over ... she hasn't gone anywhere near them since.

I was walking with the dogs at one end of the paddock the other day and all the sheep took off towards the gate near the polytunnel at great speed, I wondered what on earth they were up to and then I spotted Ginger sat just inside the gate .... he was very soon sat on top of the gate post with a fearful expression on his face!!  All the sheep could do was to sniff at his twitching tale dangling down.  They were very interested to meet him but he wanted none of it ... well I suppose there is quite a size and number differential!!

Each new delivery keeps the sheep entertained for a while, and then the dogs get to have a good sniffing session, it also means that there is more for us to put around the place, I think making paths through the woodland will be one of our next jobs with these chippings as Nut Wood and the front flower bed are now full to capacity.

Sue xx

Mountain Sheep

Just as it was going dark last night we walked over to put the chickens to bed for the night ... not that we have to do much, they get themselves in the henhouse, bustling and fussing to claim their favourite spot on the perches and all we do is have a glance inside, check for any late laid eggs and then close up the window and the door.  There that's them safe for the night, walking back down the hill we glanced over to the paddock only to see all the sheep, the lambs and their Mums playing on the soil pile.

Much running up and down the mini 'mountain' ensued and a good game was had by all.  It looked like they were having great fun, and luckily I had my phone in my pocket to capture them all looking surprised that we had caught them playing   :-)

Sue xx

Saving a Life

After walking the dogs around the paddock this morning I went back to top up the sheep's two water buckets.  There's no running water in the field so this is the only way they can get a supply.  It doesn't take long, I just turn on the hosepipe to the polytunnel and carry over two watering cans full of fresh water.

I always check before I pour into the buckets, indeed I check the buckets every time we walk past them, for any little insects trying not to drown.  Usually I put a stick or a rock in every bucket or any standing water so that anything that falls in can climb out but we can't do it in the sheep's buckets or they'll poke an eye out or not drink out of the bucket at all.  Today there was a bee, floating totally still on the surface of the water.  I found a flat stone and carefully lifted him out.  Leaving him on the warm stone I watched for a minute and sure enough he started to move around.

Clever little bee had expended as little energy as possible and floated calmly on the surface for I don't know how long.  I realised he would be short of energy even though he had been clever enough to stay so still in the water, so I went over to a bush that was full of blossom and pulled off a sprig.

Sure enough after a few minutes of drying in the weak morning sunshine the bee started to feel around inside the flowers.  I don't know how much nourishment it would have got from a bit of blossom but it seemed to help.

I left Mr Bee to his own devices and went back to fetching water for the chickens having replenished the sheep's buckets.

It's always nice to start the day saving a life.

Tidying Up and Chasing Sheep

It's been a weekend of tidying up.  Cutting grass, strimming edges, cutting hedges and weeding.  There's lots more still to do but the old place is starting to look a bit neater around the edges now.

You can see on this picture that the trees to the right of the polytunnel are starting to grow and the Laurel hedge that is along the fence line is also starting to really put on some growth.  The trees and the Laurels, were what we had to put in place if we wanted to get the permission for the polytunnels granted.  Although if the council think that they are going to shield the polytunnel from roadside view anytime in the next few years they are very much mistaken!!

Yesterday Lovely Hubby was playing working with his tractor, after much messing about he got the grass mowing deck on for the first time this year, and chugged along to the end field that the sheep were in, he needed to cut down the nettles which were filling the centre section.  

Ironically a couple of hours after he had been chasing the sheep around the field (not really ... the sheep soon got used to what he was doing and settled into one of the corners), Will their owner, turned up to move them into the main paddock for a couple of weeks.  They had eaten their way through the grass in the end field.

I picked Rosy up from the vets just after teatime on Friday.  

The x-rays showed absolutely no problems with any of her bones so the vet thinks she has some deep muscle damage or a stretched or torn tendon.  She is on anti-inflammatories and pain relief, and she is supposed to rest for two weeks.  After the general anaesthetic she was very docile yesterday and very quiet after having the tube down her throat ... it's not like our Rosy to be quiet, she can bark more than any dog I have ever known.  So we had a day of peaceful  doggy silence, which felt very unusual, but gradually she's finding her voice again and letting the neighbourhood know that once again she's in charge of this property!!

It's nice to have her back, it's not the same on the old homestead with one of the family members missing.

I hope your weekend has been as productive and enjoyable as ours has.

Sue xx

Meet A, B and C

Meet A, B and C and their babies ... a, b and c  :-)

Will, the owner of the sheep currently in our little end triangular field admitted to forgetting what numbers he was up to in the numbering of the mums and lambs in his lambing shed, and wanting to get these three out of the shed and into our field to catch the glorious sunshine of last Sunday afternoon decided that A, B and C would do for recognition purposes.

They are already turning into a friendly little bunch. 

The ewes quite rightly were a bit perturbed by me and the dogs approaching on Monday morning, slightly less so on Monday afternoon and then by this morning ....

... they waited at the fence to get a closer look at my motley crew of  little canine friends.

Once the dogs had been sussed out and given the once over the ewes and their lambs retreated to the far side of the field where I think the  mums could relax a bit more while we continued our lap of the paddock.

What I will have to remember to do if Will either brings some more sheep and puts them into the paddock, or just moves this little gang over as the grass in the end field is eaten, is to snip off and move my Bramble pots.  

We have lots of wild brambles (blackberries) growing alongside the paddock on the edge of our woodland, including in this corner (which had especially large and juicy blackberries last year) and as Lovely Hubby at some stage wants to clear a metre long clear strip behind the fence I was loathe to lose a source of free wild food, so I filled some pots with the earth from the mole hills and where the brambles were reaching over to root themselves in the grass of the paddock instead pushed the ends into the pots.

This is similar to how strawberries throw out runners and give you new strawberry plants for next season, so my plan is that once they have rooted I will transplant them to a permanent site alongside the fence separating the paddock from the orchard, and then we will be able to keep them small enough to be able to pick from both sides and interweave them along the fenceline to create a  prickly hedge.

We'll just have to wait and see if this little plan works out ... but it's worth a try!!

Sue xx