This half term has flown by....i can't believe we had our last day yesterday with the students for the next five weeks or so...although we will be doing summer activities during the holidays for school age children (look on the website for details)
We have had an awful month losing two lambs to pneumonia, and one ewe to a twisted gut - i think it's the weather...so much rain and not enough sun - until this last week or so
We have another bantam hatch 6 hens (she was sitting squashed down between one of the raised beds in the poly tunnel) and we have one sitting on eggs in the middle of the straw stack in the yard!
The lambs look fantastic - and we will be weaning them next month hopefully. we sent off two of last year's lambs last week - they will be delicious mutton as they are over a year old now
We have our end of term lunch next week, where we give out certificates to all the students. Sadly we say good bye to 3 of them this term, but will be welcoming 3 new students in September.
Sandy is looking forward to her 6 piglets being 'weaned' next week - she is getting a bit fed up with them eating her food! They look great and weigh in at around 14 kilos each.....
We have started selling our veg boxes this week - beetroot, chard, potatoes & salad bags with fresh herbs
Friday, 8 July 2016
Saturday, 11 June 2016
SANDY HAS FARROWED!!
At last ...we thought it was never going to happen - we even found a specialist pig scanner to come round and check! Sandy farrowed last week - 6 piglets only this time - but at least they are all healthy!
Hazel is also pregnant - although she has been very off colour last week - refusing to eat anything / drink....we had to get a specialist pig vet to see her. Richard, the vet, gave her a thorough examination, but couldn't be sure what was wrong. He suggested buying a box of cereal and some milk, and putting cider vinegar in her water (she didn't seem to like that!) but ate all the cereal. Thankfully she is now back to eating and drinking - although she KEEPS throwing her water containers over which is a real pain!
We have also had our final lamb....Scarlet one of our shearlings lambed late last month (she had unfortunately been covered by one of the rams on the farm by mistake!) so now we have a lovely ewe lamb.
We had a really successful OPEN FARM SUNDAY last weekend - nearly 40 visitors and fantastic sunshine all morning. We are planning two more Open Days next week for prospective commissioners and students.
We took two ewes (Alice and Mo) to Oxtalls Tennis Centre during half term for a BIG HEALTH CHECK DAY to raise the profile of the Care Farm - it was bitterly cold outside, but hopefully we will get some referrals!
Last night Gerry and i gave a talk to the senior British Legion group in Cirencester.....rather frustratingly we couldn't get the projector to 'focus'quite right so our lovely photographs of the Care Farm were slightly hazy - although no-one seemed to mind much and they all appeared to enjoy the evening!
Everything is growing like mad in the raised beds which is great, and we should have lots of veg
for our boxes before long
Hazel is also pregnant - although she has been very off colour last week - refusing to eat anything / drink....we had to get a specialist pig vet to see her. Richard, the vet, gave her a thorough examination, but couldn't be sure what was wrong. He suggested buying a box of cereal and some milk, and putting cider vinegar in her water (she didn't seem to like that!) but ate all the cereal. Thankfully she is now back to eating and drinking - although she KEEPS throwing her water containers over which is a real pain!We have also had our final lamb....Scarlet one of our shearlings lambed late last month (she had unfortunately been covered by one of the rams on the farm by mistake!) so now we have a lovely ewe lamb.
We had a really successful OPEN FARM SUNDAY last weekend - nearly 40 visitors and fantastic sunshine all morning. We are planning two more Open Days next week for prospective commissioners and students.
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| Scarlet with her lamb! |
We took two ewes (Alice and Mo) to Oxtalls Tennis Centre during half term for a BIG HEALTH CHECK DAY to raise the profile of the Care Farm - it was bitterly cold outside, but hopefully we will get some referrals!
Last night Gerry and i gave a talk to the senior British Legion group in Cirencester.....rather frustratingly we couldn't get the projector to 'focus'quite right so our lovely photographs of the Care Farm were slightly hazy - although no-one seemed to mind much and they all appeared to enjoy the evening!
Everything is growing like mad in the raised beds which is great, and we should have lots of veg
for our boxes before long
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Getting ready for farrowing!
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| ewes and lambs scampering down the hill for their feed! |
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| Emma (the vet) and Alan drenching the ewe |
Sandy is looking 'imminent'....i reckon she will farrow within the next 48 hours - i'm really hoping she doesn't start till Monday, when Gerry is back! We have her in the nursery all ready, and the heat lamp is rigged up just in case....
We have another bantam sitting on eggs in the poly tunnel - the other one is out with the hens in the main run - unfortunately 3 of her 5 chicks are cockerels...!
We have had 4 chicks hatch over the last 24 hours in the incubator - let's hope they aren't all cockerels!
We have loads of seeds coming up in the poly tunnel, and have been planting out broad beans, and onions and getting the pots ready for sweet peas. We have planted carrot, beetroot, and pea seeds out, and sown more salads inside the poly tunnel.
we were really lucky to be given funding for two new pig arcs that arrived from Devon on Thursday....our others were inherited second hand, and very delapidated, and definitely wouldn't do another winter, so we are really thankful to The Cotswold Primrose Trust for their help, and to 'Traditional Pig Arks'.
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| preparing woodland for the new pig arks |
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| all the buckets cleaned out after lambing! |
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Nearly finished!
Lambing has nearly finished.... 13 of our ewes have lambed and we have 9 ram lambs and 9 ewe lambs! They are a cracking bunch of lambs, and are all out in the field next to the Care Farm. There is a real shortage of grass though, so we are going to move them back down to the bank field next week. We still have two left to lamb so they will stay up here, and we will (if she will come to call) catch Alice up again, and bring her back, so we can continue to halter train her with the students.
The students all helped today to catch the lambs, and separate them so we could worm their mothers....it was a great team effort.
We brought Sandy down to the Nursery on Monday ....it's all ready for her to farrow at the end of this month. She is certainly looking pregnant again - so fingers crossed they will arrive the last week of April (if not before) Hazel is with Perry, and so she should be pregnant too....we will wait and see for a few more weeks, before moving him out.
We have two lots of eggs in incubators at the moment; one lot are due to hatch this weekend. We are trying a new method as we had such bad luck with hatching them last year ....no water in the incubator until 4 days before hatching, when you take out the racks. Who knows whether it will be a success...i will keep you posted on that!
All our seeds are coming along brilliantly in the poly tunnel, and we planted out beetroot and pea seeds today, in the raised beds. Each week, the students have been turning over the beds, and adding compost where needed - it all looks very professional, and hopefully we will get a really good cropping of vegetables for our veg boxes.
This weather is a real pain....really warm one minute, then pouring down with rain the next - and then freezing at night - nothing is growing quick enough for us. Apparently we may even get snow on Saturday!
The students all helped today to catch the lambs, and separate them so we could worm their mothers....it was a great team effort.
We brought Sandy down to the Nursery on Monday ....it's all ready for her to farrow at the end of this month. She is certainly looking pregnant again - so fingers crossed they will arrive the last week of April (if not before) Hazel is with Perry, and so she should be pregnant too....we will wait and see for a few more weeks, before moving him out.
We have two lots of eggs in incubators at the moment; one lot are due to hatch this weekend. We are trying a new method as we had such bad luck with hatching them last year ....no water in the incubator until 4 days before hatching, when you take out the racks. Who knows whether it will be a success...i will keep you posted on that!
All our seeds are coming along brilliantly in the poly tunnel, and we planted out beetroot and pea seeds today, in the raised beds. Each week, the students have been turning over the beds, and adding compost where needed - it all looks very professional, and hopefully we will get a really good cropping of vegetables for our veg boxes.
This weather is a real pain....really warm one minute, then pouring down with rain the next - and then freezing at night - nothing is growing quick enough for us. Apparently we may even get snow on Saturday!
Thursday, 31 March 2016
LAMBING HAS STARTED!
We had our first set of twins at around 2am Tuesday 29th March! I came out to check the ewes in the yard (we bring them in each night now so it's easier to keep an eye on them / keep them warm) and there they were...clever mum! We have had a lovely big single ewe lamb, and one other set of twins so far....two or three others look very close and with the lovely sunny days we are having they should arrive soon (I hope, as it's exhausting getting up in the night twice for days on end)
Sad news, a good friend, and former volunteer passed away recently; Mike Hyams. He was one of our first volunteers here at the Care Farm, and will be sorely missed. He also helped out at the RDA at Coates, nr Cirencestser, and was the most gentle of men, and always got on so well with everybody.
Gerry and i represented the Care Farm at his funeral this week.
Gerry and i went to a very interesting talk and presentation last weekend, on the history of Oxford Sandy & Black pigs...so we now know how the breed was started,and all the finer points on 'breed standards'! We also picked up some 'Vorwerk' eggs for our incubator - let's hope we have better luck this year than previous years....watch this space!
Off to check on those ewes again now.....
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| Mike at one of our Easter Parties |
Sad news, a good friend, and former volunteer passed away recently; Mike Hyams. He was one of our first volunteers here at the Care Farm, and will be sorely missed. He also helped out at the RDA at Coates, nr Cirencestser, and was the most gentle of men, and always got on so well with everybody.
Gerry and i represented the Care Farm at his funeral this week.
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| Mike working with Mark fixing our recycled hay rack |
Gerry and i went to a very interesting talk and presentation last weekend, on the history of Oxford Sandy & Black pigs...so we now know how the breed was started,and all the finer points on 'breed standards'! We also picked up some 'Vorwerk' eggs for our incubator - let's hope we have better luck this year than previous years....watch this space!
Off to check on those ewes again now.....
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Happy Easter!
We have had a really busy couple of weeks, starting with our Open days last week. The students were great showing our visitors around ...they are really proud of what they accomplish.
This week, we have been moving our livestock around - firstly, we moved Perry the boar in with Hazel...she was thrilled (not so sure about him...) although they seem very settled now. Sandy is having a lovely time on her own and putting on weight - so hopefully piglets towards the end of April. We will leave Perry in with Hazel for at least six weeks, to make sure she is covered.
We then brought the 14 lambing ewes back up to the farm. They are amazing....coming to call and walking back across the fields with the students; straight down the track and into the field here!
Yesterday, we took the Annabel and Alice to a 'transition event' at the National Star College for the day, along with 4 hens and the bantam and her chicks...! Gerry, and Alan were on duty with two regular students - they all behaved beautifully!
The other two ewe lambs that we are training have gone down to join their friends at Perrotts Brook for a week or so and then we will move them back to the bank.
The ewes should start lambing this weekend, so we will bring them in each night from now onwards. They are having two hard feeds per day (approximately 1 1/2 lbs each) and hopefully that means they get enough to support the growth of their lambs.
Today to end the term we all had a picnic....in the poly tunnel! It was the largest space inside and warm - we are thinking of loaning it out as a venue now....all the tables and chairs down the centre and a 'pick your own' salad each side! Thank you to all our staff, volunteers and students that supplied cakes and salads.
When we start back again on 11 April, we should have lambs! Happy Easter everyone!
This week, we have been moving our livestock around - firstly, we moved Perry the boar in with Hazel...she was thrilled (not so sure about him...) although they seem very settled now. Sandy is having a lovely time on her own and putting on weight - so hopefully piglets towards the end of April. We will leave Perry in with Hazel for at least six weeks, to make sure she is covered.
We then brought the 14 lambing ewes back up to the farm. They are amazing....coming to call and walking back across the fields with the students; straight down the track and into the field here!
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| Sunset at the Care Farm |
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| Alan on duty! |
The other two ewe lambs that we are training have gone down to join their friends at Perrotts Brook for a week or so and then we will move them back to the bank.
The ewes should start lambing this weekend, so we will bring them in each night from now onwards. They are having two hard feeds per day (approximately 1 1/2 lbs each) and hopefully that means they get enough to support the growth of their lambs.
Today to end the term we all had a picnic....in the poly tunnel! It was the largest space inside and warm - we are thinking of loaning it out as a venue now....all the tables and chairs down the centre and a 'pick your own' salad each side! Thank you to all our staff, volunteers and students that supplied cakes and salads.
When we start back again on 11 April, we should have lambs! Happy Easter everyone!
Monday, 7 March 2016
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