Week 9

The Oxford & Sandy Brown Litter

This week has been full of ups and downs....!  Ups being the arrival of our two piglets on Monday afternoon - we all (our Monday group) went to pick up our weaners from Chedworth.  A lovely small holding, with a large flock of Wiltshire Horns, and a litter of Oxford & Sandy Browns.  (See attached photos)  It was great to see them both, and get an idea of what our lambs will look like when they arrive next month!  No. 1 and No. 2 piglets have settled in really well to their new surroundings. 

One of the Wiltshire Horn Ewes
with their lamb!

However, on a sad note, we had moved all the hens & ducks into the field with their houses, and i forgot to shut them in properly on monday night and Mr (or Mrs) Fox had Jake our drake, and one of our best laying hens and one of the bantam cockerels....just shows you can't take any chances.  The foxes are always out and about at this time of year, as we are lambing in earnest on the other side of the track.  See photo of the chedworth Wiltshire who's lamb is wearing a red 'coat' made of plastic that 'rustles' in order to ward off any predators - it also doubles as some protection from the rain!

Week 8

We've been really busy this week - exciting news....we have two piglets arriving!! They are 'Oxford & Sandy Browns' - weaners, that we are going to bring on and sell for pork!  We've been busy moving the hens and ducks into the field and moving an arc into their 'spot'! - a very good suggestion from Karen, on of our volunteers! 
Next - Chicks...we have 5 chicks, arrived on Thursday,  from our incubator - not sure if we will get any more...not a particularly good strike rate from 15 but....never mind - the 5 look very healthy!
As we were busy getting ready for the weaner arrivals, we didn't make it up to the 'Owl Barn', but the Art students decided to come and give us a hand instead! Thank you to John & Emily (and Nick) we really appreciated it! 
On a sad note, Lavinia one of the ducks, was really poorly and we had to make a horrid decision to have her put down on Monday evening - she looked as if she had a horrid virus, and wasn't moving about at all - we will miss her.  Still, hopefully we will get a replacement before long.

We have also started feeding the ewe lambs this week - they are getting really big, and they stop eating as much grass & hay, so we need to give them more protein by way of sheep nuts, to safe guard the twins.

May have found another arc....! We mended the ancient one in the field that our Ewes like hiding in when it's wet - they have short fleeces and do not like rain - but have just heard about another one going;  locally...

Weeks 6 and 7

Well, at last the weather has improved!   We have had a busy couple of weeks - Ben and William worked really hard on Mondays, making us some lambing shelters out of pallets - ready for April!  We are hoping to lamb the ewes outside - weather permitting, as they definately prefer it.  'Lamby, Mary Jane, March & June' are all looking blooming!  We had to give them their first dose of Heptavac (flu/tetnus) jab yesterday - Alan our new volunteer is proving extremely useful, having worked on a farm for years previously!

  Last Wednesday we were very fortunate to have a private tour of a special garden at Winstone 'Cotswold Farm Gardens'.  Their snowdrops are amazing - whilst we were being shown round, the owner was taking a well known local gardener round, checking snow drop names; making sure they were all correct - ready for Open Gardens!  We have been given some lovely dogwood plants that were being thrown out, and yesterday Bob & Mike, helped by Simon, planted them all out on our very stony back - we are hoping they will survive and make a lovely 'Dogwood Bank'!

With the lovely sun yesterday, and more forecast along with some rain, we took the bull by the horns and planted out our sweet pea plants, that  we grew from seed last Autumn....we'll see if they survive!

Up at the 'Owl Barn'

At half term, Ella and i put 16 eggs in Sally Ann's incubator - we've been checking them regularly, and on Monday, Curtis helped us 'candle' them to see if they are fertile!  They are due to start hatching next week so....watch this space!! 

We were very sad to say goodbye to 2 of our volunteers this week - Ben and Bob.  They have been with us from the beginning, and we will really miss their valuable input.  Ben, particularly for his woodwork skills, and Bob for his gardening, and wild life knowledge.  We wish them both well, and hope they will keep in touch.

4th Week!

Bitterly cold weather - but a good week...!  Fiver (who's been laying a blue egg every day) has gone off with Curtis for a little holiday to Coln House School!  She's gone to meet a boyfriend, so that her eggs will be fertile!!  We've been lent an incubator again, by Sally Ann, and we are going to fill it up this week, with Rhode island, and Lahman eggs (hopefully all fertile from Mr Legbar!)  Meanwhile, talking of Mr Legbar, he may have to go to the Poultry sale this week, as he's getting really viscious...

The ewes are all doing well, and will be coming in again shortly, to have their flu jabs, so that they can pass on the antibodies to their lambs.

On our visit to the Art Barn, we gathered outside in the nearby wood, in freezing temperatures to do some 'live art sculptures' - having spent all morning freezing working outside, the students didn't last too long, and so we went back to the barn, where they all had a go at hand clay modelling.
I can't decide who gets more out of the Art; the students or my volunteers...but it's great fun all the same!

Unfortunately i had to cancel my Monday students, as it was just too icy and slippery for them.

3rd week!

Well, we've had the most exciting week...!  Firstly Fiver our lovely tame bantam, that nearly died as a chick last year (she was badly pecked by a jealous mum!) laid her first egg!!  Now we have two, and they're both blue - and nearly the same size as a hen egg

Graham the Sheep Scanner

Our clever girls!

Then, we had our four ewes scanned today - AND, they're all having twins!  Helen came in especially to watch the scanning, with our other students - they were all SO excited...Graham the mobile scanner, was really helpful, showing the students the scanning diagrams on the monitor, and very patient - he said it was the most fun he'd had in ages!!

Danny 'throwing a pot' with Rose

This week we have also been out and about!  Some friends have opened an 'Art Barn' nearby at Calmsden, and they invited us to go along and join in with their 'Artists in Residence'.   Everyone had such a good time - yesterday morning we painted, and today we did some charcoal drawing.  We are hoping to plan our murals for the porta cabins, while we are there, and then start painting the outsides when the weather improves (we've had some snow tonight!)

Back on site, the students have been taking cuttings, and planting seeds to grow on for our next sale - in the Spring hopefully.

The 'markers' for the ewes
red for singles, green for triplets
 and blue for no lamb...

First week back!

Well, the cold weather's here again!  About time, we've all had far too many colds and viruses - we need something to kill them all off!

We were very sorry not to see our two students from Dursley this time - apparently their funding has changed or something - such a shame, they were both so enjoying their time here.

Our other students got stuck straight in again, it's lovely to have them back again.  They have been working on a chicken house we have been given, and general maintenance around the site. 

I was thrilled to see my friend Rob Rees has opened his cafe at The Star College - it's run by students from the college, and promises to be a real treat - we will have to take our students up there for a coffee.

We are waiting to see when the 'mobile scanning man' can come out to look at our lambs - he is due before the end of the month - the students will love that!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I just wanted to say a Happy New Year to you all and welcome back our students at the start of our Spring Session this week!

We had some very exciting news over the Christmas Holidays....Gerry one of my special volunteer helpers had a baby girl - 8lbs 4ozs; called Annie May!!  (photo to follow!)  We wish them all well, and hope she will bring Annie over to meet us all, when they have recovered!

I have put the dates for the next two sessions, up opposite, and any new students that would like to join us please ring and come visit!