Stuck in the mud

It’s been another week of progress and challenges on the farm. The renovations are going really well, with buildings brought up to the standard required for the welfare of livestock. The goat building is taking shape nicely and will be warm and dry for them. I’m also thinking ahead to lambing time, identifying spaces where lambing can take place with minimal stress to the sheep. The pigs have a perfect set up – a clean yard, a dedicated night time pen with fresh straw that they keep really clean and then a large area for them to forage and roam during the day.

Making Space For The Dogs

A priority for me is obviously creating good kennelling facilities for my own dogs and the dogs of my clients. I am converting a former stables into kennels –  this is already divided into large stall areas. We are building raised platforms within each of these areas for the dogs to sleep on. These kennels will be warm and dry for winter, easy to keep clean and have access straight out into the farmyard and my training fields.

Rescuing a stranded sheep

The land itself continues to be a work in progress. All the external boundaries of my 60+ acres have stock-proof fencing. However, the internal fences and hedges are not secure. I am spending a lot of time moving livestock back to where they should be. The sheep can find holes that I don’t know are there! At times it is just an inconvenience but this weekend it caused a serious problem.

On Sunday, one of the sheep wondered away from her grazing and into a clay bog where she got completely stuck in the mud. Luckily, I found her in time and was able to rescue her. She was looking very sorry for herself and I wasn’t sure whether to bring her in to dry off. However, she may be in-lamb and I didn’t want to stress her so I decided to leave her out with plenty of dry straw. The vet confirmed I had done the right thing and with light medication, she should make a full recovery without undue intervention.

In other sheep news, the tup has been doing his work and is now fancying a change. After 17 days of orange reddle, Mr Lover Lover is now having a bit of blue – let’s see how that suits the ladies.

We are looking forward to a dry spell this week and will be taking advantage of the good weather to get lots of outside jobs done around the farm – as always, I will keep you updated.

Posted: November 16, 2021