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!

Maggie, our new egg lady!

Maggie has joined us now to grade and deliver the eggs. First day was Monday and so that was a day of training and Thursday we did some deliveries together as well. We are very lucky because Maggie is our friend and neighbour and is excellent at egg management! Thanks for joining us Maggie!

Sifunda kids!

This week our kids with Sifunda came out to the farm and did a fine job burning up all the gorse they cleared last year. It had been a bit too wet and boggy beforehand but they were pleased to be back! They also started to tidy some hedges for us. Good job!

Lambs vs foxes

The ewes are all now safely housed in the shed and we have set up little pens to look after the new born lambs and ewes to give them the best chance possible. We have found that if we lamb entirely outdoors we lose so many lambs to the fox, even with the alpacas on guard. Fortunately a few people in the area shoot foxes regularly and one of them is particularly effective! He shot a fox running away with a lambs head in its mouth. Foxes are not all cuteness and fluffiness and there are an awful lot of them. They are beautiful animals, but we need the balance to be right.

Cow sorting!

Today we sorted out the cows who were in 3 large groups in or near the shed because of TB testing. The nature of our farm lay out means that we have roads and cross roads to negotiate when moving animals and so we always need help. Help arrived - Nick and Fiona. So once sorted the first mission was to move a gang of young ladies down to the common. Everyone was in place and they were trotting down the lane when one of them decided they would like a picnic in the woods!! Poor Nick was bringing up the rear and was chasing them through the woods - twice! Eventually they went where they were supposed to be going but not without upsetting a car driver who wanted to go down the lane! The world is in such a rush....cows don't get it!

Calf at the pub!

Today we took our little orphan calf, Lily, to The Castle Inn at Corfe Castle. We took her up in our stock trailer and she had a little pen of her own and met some lovely people. We had a fine lunch all made with local produce and a good pint! A splendid few hours on a Sunday afternoon!

TB test results

Well it was a busy morning but the results are all clear! Thank goodness for that!

Found the eggs?!

We hope you are enjoying the eggs back in the shops!

Yesterday was a very long and full day and Farmer Head was thinking about all sorts of things and one of his last jobs was filling up the water trough for the cows and sheep in the shed. Unfortunately he left the tap running in the shed.... all night. Today he now has the extra job (already having a full day planned!) of mucking out the middle of the shed which is nothing short of a bog. Very frustrating - but all part of being a ridiculously busy farmer!! All the animals are fine of course, just requesting wellies!!

TB testing

Morning! Half term is over all too quickly. March already - did we feel the first signs of it in the milder weather?! O I hope so - we are all waiting! Yesterday we did the first part of the TB test for our cattle. Horrendous job - always a worrying time. All the cattle have to come in, go through the crush, have a little bit of hair shaved in two places, close together, have a skin measurement taken in mills at each place and then a jab in each place. They are then let out, left for three days and brought back in. This will be on Saturday. They will be remeasured and if there is a reaction shown then they are kept on their own and re-tested 60 days later. In the meantime there are movement restrictions for the whole herd and we are worried to bits over whether they are ok. Hopefully though, we will get the all clear.

Eggs are here!

We are very happy to finally announce that eggs will be back in the shops at the end of the week! Hooray! Hope you enjoy them - we are!! They are so good - lovely strong shells and bright yellow yolks. The hens are very happy and friendly and doing well.

Lambs arriving!

We have had a couple more lambs now and they are doing well. As it is half term this week - we have help at home - Dan, our son, is going to give Farmer Head a hand setting up the penning in the big shed today, ready for lambing before we get into the full swing of it. We have also got some friends coming up this morning to catch up with farmlife and my brother tomorrow - all good fun - I love school hols!

Holi-noons and lovely lunches!

Been over a week since a bit of wittering - it isn't that we have been doing nothing....except we did treat ourselves to a couple of afternoons away from the farm and lunch out. We had a lovely lunch at Boscombe sea front in the Urban Reef Cafe - fantastic view of a very moody day with big waves and a grey sky. The food was delicious - all well sourced and well presented. Worth checking it out! Service was delightful too! The following day we had lunch at the Salt Pig in Wareham - the best thing to happen in Wareham for a long time. It just never fails to be delicious and with utterly charming service!! If you haven't visited yet - you are missing out!

Monday...

Today we have a new lamb! This is a bit earlier than planned .... but it is fit and healthy so no problem. PDing in the rain was ...well...wet! The results were not as good as we had hoped, but as our lovely vet, Andy, said, at least we know early and can deal with this before it has an impact. There are lots of reasons why this could be the case and we are investigating them all to see what is going on. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks Tom!

Morning! How lovely it is to see the sun after all that rain! We did the usual checking and a bit of feeding at the weekend. Sunday, unfortunately, we had to return Tom to his parents in Devon! He has been a fantastic help to us all week and is no doubt going to be a great farmer of the future. We are going to need them! Thanks Tom for putting up with us for a week!

Busy!

Afternoon! Been a busy few days - the boys finally finished sorting out the white fluffys and Farmer Head was showing his age by complaining about muscles he had forgotten he had! The egg numbers are steadily rising - 40 the other day! Last night one of our beautiful Hereford Cows unfortunately appeared to be calving rather early and having gone out a couple of times during the night to check she is ok, we brought her in this morning and she has lost her calf which is a great shame. She is fine now, after a bit of tlc. Although pelting rain does not help cheer anyone up, nevermind the poor cows! Digby doesn't mind though....all the more mud for him to get covered in on our walks! This afternoon's project is moving the cattle handling down the road so that we can PD (pregnancy diagnose) the cows (ie to see if Eddy the bull is earning his keep!!) which is first thing tomorrow morning. For those of you who don't know what cattle handling equipment is - for us it is a lot of heavy metal high sided pieces of fence, with gates and a thing called a cattle crush - which is not as bad as it sounds - it just encloses the cow in a small gated section so that they can't hurt themselves while we look after them.

Today I had the pleasure of the traditional farmhouse kitchen experience - a fellow farming friend turned up for a cup of tea (putting off feeding his cows in the glorious rain!) and we put the world to rights. Marvellous! Contrary to popular belief - this is a rare treat not an everyday occurrence! Unfortunately there was no cake - that had been demolished at breakfast....!

Forests for sale?!

Just got to ask - why on earth are the government even considering selling off one of our most important assets? Talk about short term gain for long term loss....madness! Who came up with that one?!

This week we have help - Tom, on work experience with us. Today Farmer Head and Tom have brought the ewes in to check them over and to particularly look after their feet which involves turning over every one! They just had lunch and were half way through so hopefully all will be done by dark.

windy!

My word been a bit windy round here -blowing an absolute hooley! Fortunately Farmer Head had the forethought to make sure he had pegged down the poly tunnel to stop the hens being blown away. In fact this morning it was sooo windy he opened up only one side of the shed (normally two doors either side of the shed are opened - known as pop holes - to give the hens maximum access to the outside). We thought they might get blown about in the shed and really the shed needed to be shelter for them. All is well though. 20 eggs today! Fortunately no trees down and all the rest of the animals were where they should be this morning.

Outdoor learning!

During the last year we have been really privileged to be involved with a brilliant new initiative run by Sifunda, giving kids who benefit from learning out of the classroom the chance to do just that! They come out on the farm and help us out and they do the same with Studland Stables down the road. It is all very new at the moment and we just met with Os from Sifunda to plan this year and what we are all hoping to achieve. It is really exciting to be involved with such a positive initiative. Keep an eye on the blog - more news will follow soon! Check out their website www.sifunda.com.

More eggs!

Sunday and Monday we had 10 eggs, but today we have a 20% increase with 12! O yes ...they are on their way!

Today we fed the chickens, started dismantling the fence the cows trashed and then the really interesting bit...paperwork. Farming generates a lot of this. O joy! And we did a bit of planning - always a good start to anything actually happening!

Knoll Beach Event

Well, as always with any occasion when we need to be out of the house at a certain time, the day always starts with various things going wrong on the farm. This was no different and some of the sheep had broken through a fence, a ewe needed attention and a calf had got through another fence!! We eventually left for the 10 minute journey to Knoll Beach Cafe in the nick of time and managed to set up just about by 11 (as always timing by the skin of our teeth!). There was only a couple of people there and one of the cafe peeps said that it had not been busy this month and we thought we may not be required to do our little presentation at all.....but not so fast! Soon people began to arrive and sit down and start enjoying a nice quiet cuppa. So we just kind of ....went for it, put the slides on and started talking!! Lots of people seemed to enjoy it and I don't think anyone felt like their peace was shattered! We did a slide show and just talked along side it and then cooked up some of our tasty tasters - some gorgeous ruby red rump steak and lamb sausage. We even got clapped at the end of the talkybit! It was a really positive day and thank you to everyone who came and supported us, whether you were expecting us to be there or not! As always with this sort of thing, we end up meeting some lovely people. It was great fun and I think we are even brave enough to say we would do it again! Shirley and all the cafe crew were so good to us and kept us plied with tea all day. Splendid!

Yum Yum! Eggs for breakfast from our lovely new hens! A double yoker pullets egg with a splash of pepper - gorgeous! Bit of plate sunshine in the morning....good start to the day: thanks little hens!

On the rest of the farm...

In case you are bored of hearing about the hens (sorry - I do get a bit excited about these things!) I thought I'd better just let you know what is going on everywhere else on the farm. The cows continue to chomp their way through regularly renewed bales of silage and hay. Two groups who were hanging out in next door fields decided they don't like fencing and trashed it and now are having one big party! They thought we were bored and wanted to do more fencing.....! Nick and Fiona have continued to do hedging for us which is work we are doing under our stewardship agreement (more about that another day!). Andrew and Jo (a lovely friend of ours) have been putting up the rest of the hen fence. The sheep continue to baaa their way through life in a fairly happy way. All is well.

Training complete?

Wednesday night - perch training. Farmer Head and Grandma Keating went up to the shed ready to move them all again, but no .. all the clever little chucks had roosted on their own! Training complete? We'll let you know.....

We got two more eggs though!

Happy rangers!

Wednesday morning - doors were open on the sheds and they all ranged outside and explored their new field. Loving it!

Hen training continues

Tuesday night we went up to the shed and all the hens were sat in the corners again. So this time the lights worked and we 'shoood' them up the ramp and on to their perches, quickly turned the lights off and waited for them to settle. There were a few wanderers and we put them in a nice spot next to some of their mates and they settled. All was well.

Eggs!

O yes! Tuesday morning - two little diddy eggs! They are on their way...

Hens are here!

O how fantastic! 450 little fluffy brown 18 week old hens arrived this morning from Ben & Cathy Wetherden in Devon. They look very happy in their sparkling clean shed. Unfortunately in our excitement a gate got left open by Farmer Head and our sheep escaped but thanks to Ben, we got them all back in!!

Hens arriving!

The hens travel in crates on a trailer, with a tarp over the top to protect them from the elements.

We then unload the crates into the shed, shut the door, open the crates and they jump out themselves and those that don't get a helping hand!

Hen training!

So Monday the hens arrived. We don't let them out for a day so that they can get used to their new house and know where to come home to! Hens naturally like to 'perch' and we provide perches for them in a smart mezzanine area of the shed (!), near the next boxes where they will soon be laying their eggs! But did you know - they need to be 'trained' to go on their perches? They don't get an NVQ or anything formal but nevertheless they have to put in a bit of hard work - or should I say,we do!! Monday night Andrew had to lift nearly every bird out of the dark corners of the shed floor on to their perches! Hens naturally come in at dusk and then 'roost' and become quiet in the dark. However, if you turn lights on they wake up and become busy again. Andrew had taken a light with him, but it didn't work and so it made it a long winded job! So more training tomorrow..

Shed moving pictures.

It always amazes me how easily it moves. A bar is attached across the end of the shed and then chains attached either side and then to the tractor. Then as the tractor slowly moves, the shed follows.

Hen shed moving!

Today we have continued with preparation for the new laying hens to arrive! We moved the big shed into the field which meant taking down part of the fence so that it could fit through - all good fun! It is surprising how easily it pulls along on. Now Andrew and Nick just have to put up the fence to keep the hens in!