H&C

“This week has been sheepish. Jura, our third Ryeland ewe, gave birth to a ewe lamb on Monday night. It’s our only ewe lamb, after the two tup lambs, so our plan is to retain her in our small flock. She has been named Lyra. She and mum seem to be doing fine and she’s very perky – more so than the boys, I think, but I may be biased. I’ve been collecting poo samples from the sheep so that we can have worm egg counts done. We want to use the minimum of chemicals here, so rather than routinely worm, we have regular analysis done of the sheep’s poo to see what the worm burden is. If it gets too high, then we will worm. I also use a herbal wormer once a month. The land that they went on to in 2007 hadn’t had sheep on it for seven years and our ewes were wormed prior to us getting them, so the initial worm burden should have been low – the aim is to keep it that way. We don’t have a lot of land and four ewes will be about our maximum. It also means we have to manage what grazing we have. It was stressing me a bit, but I now have a grazing plan that, if it works in practice, should allow each parcel of land to rest and recover for six months of the year. I had to buy sheep tags for the first time this week. Our new lambs will need to be individually identified, with a tag in each ear. The legislative burden on farmers grows yearly. Although we try to restrict chemical inputs, we have decided to routinely treat all our sheep against clostridial diseases, such as tetanus. So little Bud and Dickie got their first injection this week; a second will be administered in six weeks. It’s then an annual booster, if they are still around. Next sheep tasks are applying the tags; registering the two lambs we are retaining and organizing shearing. We’ve also been busy in the vegetable garden. All the beans that we started in the greenhouse – broad beans, runner beans and dwarf French beans – plus the peas, have been planted out. The cabbages and sweetcorn aren’t quite ready. We have to net everything to prevent hen damage. We’ve constructed new covers with alkathene pipe supports that are much more robust that our previous efforts – but they are very blue. Our plan for winter is to construct a higher fence round the vegetable garden to exclude the hens during the growing season.”

“The changeable weather has persisted this week, but things are growing in the garden – especially the weeds. Dan’s dad has put new nets over the brassica bed, so we’ll be able to get cabbages out this week. We have a real insect problem that is only solved by netting. The broad beans look well, but I’ve sown some poached egg plant to help deter black fly. In the greenhouse, the sweetcorn is almost ready to go out as are the runner beans, “White Lady”. The runner beans, “Czar”, have failed completely so I’ve resown them as a second batch. The main feature this week has been our visit to the Smallholder and Garden Festival at the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells. With a group of friends from Central Scotland Smallholders’ Association, we travelled down to Wales on Friday for the two-day show. I’m a regular at some of the local agricultural shows and, of course, the Royal Highland Show, but this was better - much better. The Highland is geared towards the big farmer; this weekend’s event is for folk like us with a few livestock and small acreage. As well as showing classes for sheep, pigs, poultry, rabbits and hamsters (yes, really!), there were trade stands selling not £500,000 combine harvesters, but incubators and poultry “stuff”, books, craft materials and local food. I bought a peg loom, so watch this space. There was an auction of vintage farm equipment; one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and I hankered after horse-drawn potato harrows that really only needed a wee coat of paint to make them like new. There was loads of stuff that was completely unrecognisable to us, including two “Wufflers”, which we worked out were for “wuffling” the hay to help it dry. If we’re wrong, I’m sure someone will let us know. We were intrigued to see that the folk next to us on the campsite had bought a two furrow plough and had somehow managed to get it on the roof of their Nissan X Trail for the journey home. The best thing about the show was the people. Everyone on the stands was happy to chat with us and discuss their livestock or their food or craft and to offer help and advice. I wish we had taken the two days as there is too much to see in one, but we’re already planning a return visit next year –maybe we’ll see you there!”

“It’s been a quiet week here, mostly due to the inclement weather. On the positive side, the grass is now growing better and the area that we reseeded after the fencing and the new shed were put in is faintly green if you look at it from the correct angle. Herbert, our second lamb, has been renamed Dickie after a well-known TV personality. Can you guess who? With the warmer weather, we’ll be treating the sheep this week to prevent fly strike. This is particularly nasty problem where flies lay their eggs in the wool and the maggots eat into the sheep’s flesh. Jura had it last year, but we noticed it very quickly and were able to treat it promptly. She seems none the worse for it but I’d rather avoid a repeat. The pigs are now on 2lb of food each per day. I’ve taken out the trough and just feed them on the ground. They seem to prefer it that way. They don’t seem to be making much impact on the grass yet, but they are still only young. I inadvertently made them a wallow by forgetting to turn of the hose while filling their water trough. Much fun was had running in and out of the water and blowing snout bubbles. We planted a willow hedge earlier in the year on the riverbank. Partly, this is for shade, for the sheep to browse, for wood and to stabilize the bank. Most seems to have taken really well, despite the rabbits’ best efforts. Dan also planted an apple tree out there. I thought it was past its best and was prepared to dispose of it, but Dan stuck it in with the willow and it’s covered in blossom. Naturally, he never says: “I told you so”. We’re off to the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s Smallholder and Garden Festival this weekend; full report next week.”

"I’m glad to report that our piglets are settling in well. They now recognize that the sound of a rattling bucket and a shout of “Pig, pig, pig” means food, and come running. They will also take apple, pear and banana slices from my hand – very gently – and two of the three will accept a brief scratch. Strawberry, who is a strawberry blonde as opposed to ginger, is playing hard to get, but she’ll give in eventually. Meg, one of our collies, decided to join us in the pen, but the pigs ganged up on her and she soon skedaddled. The lambs are growing well. The long awaited rain has brought the grass on now. We don’t have a lot of ground and have to make the best use of what we have, so the sheep have been grazing the roadside of our track. This means that we have to park at the end of the track and bring the shopping along in a wheelbarrow. Roadside grass is so much tastier than field grass – and you get to browse the hedges too! We’ve managed to get quite a lot of vegetable seeds sown but are now held up until we get more netting in place, otherwise the hens scratch everything up. We may fence the vegetable garden over the winter as putting up nets and so on is a real pain. The fruit trees are in full blossom and are looking lovely – I just hope the bees are in action. I’ve just joined our local beekeeping association and hope to get bees next summer when I’ve done my training. We dispatched the last of our Hubbard meat chickens this weekend. I enjoy the end product immensely, but I don’t relish the killing. As we become more experienced, the process is smoother and our confidence grows – our main priority is to ensure a swift and stress-free end for the birds. So it was roast chicken on Sunday, curry on Monday and my favourite soup - cream of chicken with lemon and tarragon - on Tuesday. The rain has also brought the weeds, so I’m off hoeing now – nice and relaxing before the sun goes over the yardarm and it’s time to relax.”