News
2012
April/May
Just WHERE did April go??? All I can remember is that it was a tad damp to say the least, but wet weather or not, the farm has to keep going regardless, as there are now lots of lambs to keep an eye on, a new litter of piglets and the last of the goat kids born.
All the lambs are growing fast and furious and their poor Mums get bashed from underneath by such an extent that their back legs come off the ground, although amazingly they never seem to mind and instantly go into their cudding mode whilst the 'children' are feeding.
Two Ryeland Ewes and their lambs at foot went off to a new home near Pencader early this month and four more ewe lambs will be making their way to the same farm at weaning time in July.
Belle the Berkshire farrowed mid April and had 10 bouncing babies as always. She and her litter were eventually moved from the farrowing barn to outside during a lovely warm dry spell at the beginning of this month.
We're off to collect Heather Pig's hubby tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing this young chap in the flesh as he looks a stunner in his photos.
Mollie the Middle White certainly looks to have a belly full of piglets there, but she's such a HUGE sow that it's not always easy to tell - but I'm fairly confident.
We collected 100 Day Old Sasso chicks at the beginning of May, and all bar 15 have now gone off to their respective new homes to be reared on for the table. These birds prove to be a fantastic meat bird every time and a lot of local fellow smallholders are now sharing in the experience of rearing them for themselves; and I'm sure they won't be disappointed.
Hebe, my home bred Anglo Nubian has had her first kidding this year and produced two gorgeous black kids on the last day of April. The male has already been booked to go to a fabulous home not far away and to a new breeder who along with some other local AN owners decided it made sense to keep their own male to cover all those in that area. The female is staying put as she's the image of my lovely 'late' Della. I've named her 'Faithmead Deutzia' but I think she'll probably become known as 'Dolly' as her stable name.
The polytunnel is way, way behind schedule. However, it has had a good clearout thanks to the help of my lovely Mum and her gardening buddy Trish who made their annual visit here from Broadstairs in Kent to see us. We actually managed a day out and all went to Aberglasney Gardens which is a stunning place and we can highly recommend it.
On the craft front (yes I do still manage the odd bit of crafting inbetween other jobs) I managed to get to a Guild Workshop a couple of weeks ago and made a truly wacky felted scarf (see photo on Crafts page ...... )
More of these will appear in due course.......says she!!!!
All for now folks - keep coming back to visit us.
Late February/March
Well ....... that has got to be the busiest Spring ever. We were lambing, farrowing and kidding all at the same time, but if you've kept tabs on the photos page, you'll have seen a LOT of the results. Here we are now right at the end of March and the clocks have gone forward to Summertime and the weather ......... well, the weather has been blissfully warm, dry, sunny and just glorious, and a bit too good to be true.
All the kids have now gone to their new homes across the country (including Yorkshire and Berkshire) and just one more goat to kid, who is due at the beginning of May. All the current weaner piglets have also gone to their new homes and all the lambs are bouncing around in the sunshine. We've just got two Zwarble xbreds to lamb, who aren't due until mid April time. Otherwise our crop of Ryeland and Greyface Dartmoors has been very good this year. We've got a bit more length of leg in the White Ryelands which is what we wanted, although not enough with dark ears ...... so that's the next challenge. The Darts are ....... just ...... gorgeous in every way and nothing to adjust on them as far as I can tell, although I haven't as yet checked mouths.
The garden has been ablaze with yellow daffodils and Derek has been busy attempting to do some hedgelaying ..... looks good so far. Lots and lots of work to do out there and so when we're bored we'll go and attack it. "Bored"? Did I say bored????? As if!
During all of the above, Wesley has once more gone on holiday to yet another 'wife'!
Late January/February
Late January saw about 4" snow which stayed with us for a number of days, and also coincided with Jemini, one of our Anglo-Nubian goats, producing a very large male kid, which was somewhat disappointing as I was really hoping for a female.
However, this kid is a stunner, has excellent breed lines and milking line figures and so once he was disbudded, advertised him as a future buck. He was snapped up almost immediately by someone not far away and who happened to be looking for just the chap. Therefore 'Orpheus' has found a wonderful new home although he won't be moving until about mid March due to the fact that I just don't have time to take over milking his mother until then. A very happy outcome.
Tutti and Spring are due early March and so all those fingers are crossed once again for a female....or two.....or three..
Wesley the boar continues to travel the county and is currently serving a gilt near Cilgerran. At the time of writing (mid Feb), all but 2 or 3 of the piglets (currently 17 in total) are booked either as weaners or for meat order. All are now outdoors having great fun chasing each other up and down the enclosures and generally getting up to mischief!
Mollie the Middle White is once more ensconsed inthe barn and has her old flame 'Bill' come to stay for a few weeks. Mollie is the only pig who actually prefers to be in the barn in this weather, than outside.
All the in-lamb ewes are in the barn and currently 3 of the Greyface Dartmoors have lambed 2 ram lambs and 2 gimmer lambs between them and so we're very pleased with that result so far. The Ryelands are taking their time though and although huge, are happily just sitting around, cudding!
January
January has started as wet as the last two months, and still very mild. However, on the second day we actually have some sun and blue skies appearing, and to add to this, Jeni, one of our Anglo-Nubian goats has produced 2 stunning male kids.
Blue skies and frosty mornings have greeted us for a few days now, which makes a huge difference to us and the animals. Ground hardened up reasonably and so much better to be able to walk on top rather than slop through mud.
Spotty farrowed mid month and had a wonderful litter of 14 although 3 are rather on the small side, but she's an excellent Mum as always and the piglets are thriving. The litter was so large that we had to put up two lamps in order for them all to be able to fit underneath, otherwise they were building themselves into a pyramid shape which wasn't good for the ones on the bottom of the stack. We have several bookings for Old Spot weaners in March but there are still about 5 that will be available (see For Sale page).
Belle one of our Berkshire Sows is coming home this week (19th) and is in pig to one of the 'FairOaks' boars again. Mollie the Middle White is due to have her hubby come stay in a couple of weeks too and Wesley our Old Spot Boar is due home at the end of the month too, so we're going to have a Full House for a few weeks.
Jeni's two male kids have been disbudded and castrated and are doing really well. Jeni's mother Jemini is due to kid next around 23rd Jan.
2012
April/May
Just WHERE did April go??? All I can remember is that it was a tad damp to say the least, but wet weather or not, the farm has to keep going regardless, as there are now lots of lambs to keep an eye on, a new litter of piglets and the last of the goat kids born.
All the lambs are growing fast and furious and their poor Mums get bashed from underneath by such an extent that their back legs come off the ground, although amazingly they never seem to mind and instantly go into their cudding mode whilst the 'children' are feeding.
Two Ryeland Ewes and their lambs at foot went off to a new home near Pencader early this month and four more ewe lambs will be making their way to the same farm at weaning time in July.
Belle the Berkshire farrowed mid April and had 10 bouncing babies as always. She and her litter were eventually moved from the farrowing barn to outside during a lovely warm dry spell at the beginning of this month.
We're off to collect Heather Pig's hubby tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing this young chap in the flesh as he looks a stunner in his photos.
Mollie the Middle White certainly looks to have a belly full of piglets there, but she's such a HUGE sow that it's not always easy to tell - but I'm fairly confident.
We collected 100 Day Old Sasso chicks at the beginning of May, and all bar 15 have now gone off to their respective new homes to be reared on for the table. These birds prove to be a fantastic meat bird every time and a lot of local fellow smallholders are now sharing in the experience of rearing them for themselves; and I'm sure they won't be disappointed.
Hebe, my home bred Anglo Nubian has had her first kidding this year and produced two gorgeous black kids on the last day of April. The male has already been booked to go to a fabulous home not far away and to a new breeder who along with some other local AN owners decided it made sense to keep their own male to cover all those in that area. The female is staying put as she's the image of my lovely 'late' Della. I've named her 'Faithmead Deutzia' but I think she'll probably become known as 'Dolly' as her stable name.
The polytunnel is way, way behind schedule. However, it has had a good clearout thanks to the help of my lovely Mum and her gardening buddy Trish who made their annual visit here from Broadstairs in Kent to see us. We actually managed a day out and all went to Aberglasney Gardens which is a stunning place and we can highly recommend it.
On the craft front (yes I do still manage the odd bit of crafting inbetween other jobs) I managed to get to a Guild Workshop a couple of weeks ago and made a truly wacky felted scarf (see photo on Crafts page ...... )
More of these will appear in due course.......says she!!!!
All for now folks - keep coming back to visit us.
Late February/March
Well ....... that has got to be the busiest Spring ever. We were lambing, farrowing and kidding all at the same time, but if you've kept tabs on the photos page, you'll have seen a LOT of the results. Here we are now right at the end of March and the clocks have gone forward to Summertime and the weather ......... well, the weather has been blissfully warm, dry, sunny and just glorious, and a bit too good to be true.
All the kids have now gone to their new homes across the country (including Yorkshire and Berkshire) and just one more goat to kid, who is due at the beginning of May. All the current weaner piglets have also gone to their new homes and all the lambs are bouncing around in the sunshine. We've just got two Zwarble xbreds to lamb, who aren't due until mid April time. Otherwise our crop of Ryeland and Greyface Dartmoors has been very good this year. We've got a bit more length of leg in the White Ryelands which is what we wanted, although not enough with dark ears ...... so that's the next challenge. The Darts are ....... just ...... gorgeous in every way and nothing to adjust on them as far as I can tell, although I haven't as yet checked mouths.
The garden has been ablaze with yellow daffodils and Derek has been busy attempting to do some hedgelaying ..... looks good so far. Lots and lots of work to do out there and so when we're bored we'll go and attack it. "Bored"? Did I say bored????? As if!
During all of the above, Wesley has once more gone on holiday to yet another 'wife'!
Late January/February
Late January saw about 4" snow which stayed with us for a number of days, and also coincided with Jemini, one of our Anglo-Nubian goats, producing a very large male kid, which was somewhat disappointing as I was really hoping for a female.
However, this kid is a stunner, has excellent breed lines and milking line figures and so once he was disbudded, advertised him as a future buck. He was snapped up almost immediately by someone not far away and who happened to be looking for just the chap. Therefore 'Orpheus' has found a wonderful new home although he won't be moving until about mid March due to the fact that I just don't have time to take over milking his mother until then. A very happy outcome.
Tutti and Spring are due early March and so all those fingers are crossed once again for a female....or two.....or three..
Wesley the boar continues to travel the county and is currently serving a gilt near Cilgerran. At the time of writing (mid Feb), all but 2 or 3 of the piglets (currently 17 in total) are booked either as weaners or for meat order. All are now outdoors having great fun chasing each other up and down the enclosures and generally getting up to mischief!
Mollie the Middle White is once more ensconsed inthe barn and has her old flame 'Bill' come to stay for a few weeks. Mollie is the only pig who actually prefers to be in the barn in this weather, than outside.
All the in-lamb ewes are in the barn and currently 3 of the Greyface Dartmoors have lambed 2 ram lambs and 2 gimmer lambs between them and so we're very pleased with that result so far. The Ryelands are taking their time though and although huge, are happily just sitting around, cudding!
January
January has started as wet as the last two months, and still very mild. However, on the second day we actually have some sun and blue skies appearing, and to add to this, Jeni, one of our Anglo-Nubian goats has produced 2 stunning male kids.
Blue skies and frosty mornings have greeted us for a few days now, which makes a huge difference to us and the animals. Ground hardened up reasonably and so much better to be able to walk on top rather than slop through mud.
Spotty farrowed mid month and had a wonderful litter of 14 although 3 are rather on the small side, but she's an excellent Mum as always and the piglets are thriving. The litter was so large that we had to put up two lamps in order for them all to be able to fit underneath, otherwise they were building themselves into a pyramid shape which wasn't good for the ones on the bottom of the stack. We have several bookings for Old Spot weaners in March but there are still about 5 that will be available (see For Sale page).
Belle one of our Berkshire Sows is coming home this week (19th) and is in pig to one of the 'FairOaks' boars again. Mollie the Middle White is due to have her hubby come stay in a couple of weeks too and Wesley our Old Spot Boar is due home at the end of the month too, so we're going to have a Full House for a few weeks.
Jeni's two male kids have been disbudded and castrated and are doing really well. Jeni's mother Jemini is due to kid next around 23rd Jan.