Fencing, fencing, fencing...

One of the major jobs on the farm is to make the fences stock proof. We are slowly working our way around and getting this done. The Sifunda kids are being a great help with this and seem to be enjoying it. It is quite satisfying to see the long line of metres of fencing all looking neat and effective! The next big job to finish is putting in the water troughs so that once all the fields are fenced, each field has water.

Fences with holes in lead to wandering cattle and sheep! Early one morning this week, Andrew called me having only just left the house, to say we had some cattle on a road trip! So I nipped out and we put them back in their field. Couldn't see a hole in the fence. Mmmm? Later on that day, a lady very kindly called at the farm - our cows and Eddie the bull had broken out of their field again and wondered back down to the barn! Bless! So we put them in the field at the back of the barn and have had another look for a hole in the fence. We think we have found it now!! All good fun!

Last of the lambs...for now!

Well we have had a busy week. What fantastic weather! Followed by a bit of rain - all good grass growing ingredients! The stock are happy! We now only have a few ewes to left to lamb. We have a little group still in the shed who have feet issues and so we are keeping a close eye on them and they are doing well. As they lamb we give their feet a thorough check and bit of tlc just before we turn them out. We will do this again when we get them all in, in the near future. We have a couple of lambs who lost their mums and we are bottle feeding them 3 times a day. We did try and keep a few others, but they didn't all make it. I don't like that bit.

The ewes we put out to lamb outside have done really well and Mr and Mrs Fox have not been very successful which is good news for us! All the other older lambs are looking chubby and gorgeous and we just love to see them bounce about like nutcases, generally enjoying life!

The Importance of Shutting Gates!

Ok - prepare for a soap box rant! We worked long hours over the weekend - lambs don't stop arriving just because it is the weekend. It's ok - it's not for long. However, we could do without ramblers being so completely inconsiderate - SHUT GATES - THEY HAVE A PURPOSE! On two separate checks of his at least five daily checks in the fields, Andrew found two different gates left open. We have turned our lambs and ewes out into adjoining fields. They have a footpath going through them - there is a stile to get over the fence. Next to the stile there are two gates. One is tied up with very strong baler twine as it has not yet been hung properly and so it is like a piece of fencing - this is not a right of way - the stile is. The gate beside works normally, as does the one at right angles to that, which leads to the same place as if you went over the stile. Not complicated and relatively easy to see, for most people. We don't mind people using the gates - BUT SHUT THEM! One of these ramblers untied the tied gate and left it open - ewes and lambs got muddled and lost - this can lead to lambs starving if they can't find their mothers. The other rambler left the gate that works open - letting all the ewes and lambs through on to a fresh field which we were keeping as clean grazing for when lambing has finished. This is part of rotation and is an important management tool in organic farming. Why do people not see the importance of gates? I can almost understand it if there is not stock in there, but this I can't. It is downright rude - these people should not be allowed to walk through the countryside. These lambs are our paycheck. If we went into these office dwellers offices and mucked up all their filing cabinets and moved their desks around, creating extra work for them and cancelled their pay for a few weeks - they wouldn't like it! But apparently it is ok for us? Unbelievable. Time for a cup of tea. Rant over.

Calf weaning

Another job Andrew managed to achieve this week, was weaning the big calves that are nearly as big as their mummys, off their mummys!! We do this by simply having a fence or in this particular case, shed gate, between them so that they can see eachother and talk to eachother but just not access the milk. It is low stress for the cows and calves doing it this way. The cows are due with their next calves very soon and to be honest are probably pleased to be having a break!!

Eggs are in the shops!

Maggie has started delivering eggs to the shops. If you look at our news section on the website you will see where they are!

School visit from Tooting

On Wednesday we had a school visit from Graveney School, Tooting. Jane, their tutor, brought a group last year too but that was a lot wetter visit - this year the weather was kind. Normally Andrew does visits as he has all the knowledge on everything to do with the farm, facts, figures and info on environmental stewardship and so on in his head and I just don't have the confidence. However, we were so snowed under with the lambing, that I did it - my first visit. They were a lovely group of kids (lower 6th I think!) and we did a walking tour, including visiting the lamb shed. It was very rewarding and not as scary as I thought it would be. It is always encouraging when the kids ask lots of interesting and intelligent questions, showing a real interest in what we do. Thanks Tooting crowd! All the best with your studies!

Lambing in full swing

Sorry for the gap in info - we have been a little bit manic on the lambing front! All is going well but it adds an extra intensity to the workload. Lambs cannot wait for it to be convenient to arrive! Once each ewe lambs we move her with her lambs to a little pen where they can get used to feeding their lambs without being hassled by the other ewes, as this leads to confusion for the lambs and mothers! After 24 to 48 hours they then move to a bigger pen, with others and then, depending on how strong and well they are doing, we turn them out in to the field and they love it! So far we have got a few little lambs that we are bottle feeding. We do have an 'adopter' which helps a ewe who may have lost her own lambs, but has plenty of milk, to take on another's lambs. As soon as the lambs have drunk enough to smell like her own lambs, she accepts them. It is really great when it works!