HAPPY DAYS!

SANDY farrowed two weeks ago - she had 9, but unfortunately squashed one....she wasn't very well when she farrowed, so we had the vet out to her....and she reckoned she could have had a mild infection that meant she had a very long labour and didn't recover quite as quickly as usual.  we now have 8 piglets - one is tiny, and not feeding well, so we are giving her some goats milk and cereal to try and get the weight on.  Hopefully we will sell most of them at 6 - 8 weeks - some of the boars and gilts are huge already!
Scrubditch Alison went off to the Netherlands and has arrived safely - we got a lovely photo of her today - very exciting to have sold one of our pedigree gilts for breeding.

we have 2 ducklings under a heat lamp - actually we've had them out in the day time in a run but inside at night - they are four weeks old.  We also have 2 lots of hens with chicks - 12 chicks in total .....sadly i think quite a few are 'cockerel' looking...not good for increasing our egg production!
Jolly Nice at Frampton Mansell are still selling our duck eggs and bantam eggs - we can only just keep up with production!

some of our lovely game bantams!

first week back!

We have all had a great first week back - it's been a very happy week!  The lambing's all finished and on Monday, we took the last 3 ewes and lambs down to the bank to join the rest of the flock.  There is loads of grass down there, so we are going to fence off half of it to hopefully get a cut of hay later on in the summer. Total lambs 23, so a good crowd down there!

The two weaners went off before Easter, and we still have some chops, joints and a few packs of sausages left in the freezer.  The other gilt is off abroad next week!  She is going to the Netherlands to breed!

Kate with the gilt who's off abroad
next week!

Sandy is due to farrow within the next couple of weeks and really looks fantastic.  We are going to move her back to the nursery on monday in readiness!

Kate has been frantically planting seeds with the students - we will need lots of volunteer pickers later on in the summer ....will be nearly a full time job!  Potatoes have been planted out, broad beans are up, and carrot seeds went in today.  We have some lovely salad coming up in the poly tunnel (as long as those naughty bantams keep out!)

We bought another 3 laying ducks - Buff Orpingtons - and they have settled straight in, and are laying brilliantly.  We are supplying JOLLY NICE with ducks eggs each week, along with our lovely Bantam eggs too.  If you haven't been there  do call in as it's the most amazing place off the road to Stroud at Frampton Mansell.  They do the best burgers too!

Bantams are going broody everywhere, and we managed to put two into little arks and they should be hatching next week.  We have also put some duck eggs in the incubator....just to see if we can hatch some ducklings (our track record is not good with the incubator..... but!)

Little and large.....a bantam egg with an enormous hen egg!!

lambing is in full swing!

We have had 9 ewes lamb so far....2 lots of singles and 9 lots of twins...more ram lambs than anything else, and some of them are very large!
The weather has just about started to improve....thank goodness - the sun should really help.

Our hens are all back in their run, having weeded our fruit cage beautifully, and the nets are off the ducks too.

We are just about to finish term for a short Easter Break, when we will be doing one day of EASTER ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN on THURSDAY 20 APRIL. It's almost fully booked already!

we have started selling duck and bantam eggs to Jolly Nice - their shop is at Frampton Mansell (off the Stroud road) and incredibly busy...we may have to buy a few more ducks to keep up with demand!

The students have been busy with Kate, planting lots of seeds out in the poly tunnel, and some straight out into the raised beds

lambing due to start in a week or so!

we brought the ewes back from the bank; first day back!  They all came to Mark's call, and are now very happily settled in the field by the Care Farm, ready for lambing.   We have cleared out the yard and are just sorting out / disinfecting all the hurdles ready to make lambing pens up.

Last year's lambs are still very happy in Woodmancote and we will shortly be sending some of the weathers off...for Easter Mutton!

the lambs nearby

At last after ....time we have managed
to get the topper out of the yard!

Perry has moved on to a happy retirement, not far away.  The students were sad to see him go, but he was not able to perform any more, so we had to make a difficult situation.  On a brighter note, Sandy who went off to a boar locally, is definitely in pig now.  She should be due around 2nd week of May.

We have opened up the poly tunnel doors into the fruit cage for the hens!  They were SO PLEASED to be able to scratch around for worms finally, having been shut in for so long.  It is still 'wild bird' proof as it is fully netted.  They are laying like mad, and some of the bantams are even going broody!

So it's full steam ahead for lambing now......watch this space!

catch up!

The hens are still in our polytunnel and wow do they love it - they are laying like mad!  The students have been busy health checking them each week; scaly leg treatments, being on the their favourite - they look fantastic, and hopefully we can let them all out again at the end of the month.  If not, we are going to organise a tunnel roof between the poly tunnel and the fruit cage, where they can scratch round our soft fruit....saving us too much weeding!

Perry continues to cause us problems - he just doesn't seem to be coming sound enough.  We moved him into the yard, in order to keep a better eye on him.  He seems very happy there, but still holds up a foot when feeding.....Meanwhile we wait to see if Sandy was properly 'covered' when she went off to a boar near Brinkworth for a holiday!  Hopefully the scanner will be able to come within the next two weeks.  We still have 3 gilts ready to sell, so are advertising them locally....fingers crossed they will go within the next few weeks too.  Then the woodland can have a rest and recover from all this wet weather.

The ewes look fantastic on the bank, and they will soon be coming back for lambing.  We are due to bring them back at the end of the month.

The students have a two week break now, but for us....there's still all the animals to feed each day, and training to catch up on and of course the mounds of paperwork!

IT'S LOVELY AND COLD AGAIN!

AT LAST SOME BEAUTIFUL SUNNY COLD WEATHER!

The students are all back and wrapping up warm (most of them!) and we are all working hard.  There's lots to do with the animals.  We had the sheep scanner coming last week, so we had to bring all the ewes and Gerrhalt (the magnificent ram we borrowed) back to the farm.  They are so good and all came running up to the gate when we called them and we all walked them back across the fields to the farm.  They have been up at the farm for a week, and a very successful scanning - 9 sets of twins, 6 singles and two sadly 'barren'....but one is an old ewe anyway.   We walked them back to the bank on wednesday - they were thrilled to be back in their favourite field again.

Sandy our favourite sow has been off on holiday for a couple of weeks - she has gone visiting another boar, as sadly our boar, Perry, has had a sore foot, and so was unable to get married this time.  She has been having a wonderful time, and we are due to pick her up again tomorrow!
The other pigs are all looking great, and we hope to sell at least two of the 6 month old gilts on shortly.

 We have moved all our hens to the end of the poly tunnel due to the avian flu trouble....they love it in there and are laying many more eggs as a result - our salad beds are looking rather bare...but they are doing a great job weeding them!

NEARLY CHRISTMAS!

Yet again i am starting the blog with an apology....!  We have had such a busy time since i last wrote
and now it's the Christmas Break already

The students finished this week, but we will be seeing most of them again on Monday as we are having our Christmas Lunch at the Village Hall - this is a great occasion and everyone dresses up in a Festive jumper (or hat!)

Back at the Care Farm, the animals are all ok - we still have 3 gilts for sale, and Sandy has moved back in with her boyfriend Perry (just as well as Perry had already broken down the fence and tried to force his way through the gate to her!) Let's hope this time she gets pregnant, as sadly that wasn't the case earlier on - if she is that will mean piglets in March / April time

Gerrhalt has worked his magic on the ewes down on the bank, and most of them have orange bottoms, aside from three that must have cycled the second time, and they have green bottoms!

Our lambs are up in Woodmancote, having a lovely time and being very well looked after by Ron who checks them every day for us

This week, we heard on the news about the threat of Avian Flu so, we have reduced the size of the hen run, and are netting the tops, to try and stop wild birds flying down and eating their food - we are doing the same with the ducks too....we will do this for 30 days, and hopefully this will keep a lid on it - i was on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on Thursday morning at 7.45am discussing our plans!

Our Christmas cards have been selling really well this year - we keep having to order more - do look at the website

Sadly we had to cancel our Christmas Fair at Daglingworth Village Hall this time....for all sorts of reasons, but we will be organising a much better one next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!