...well a pathetic, belated Happy New Year to you all. It's been a long time since I've last updated and I have no excuses other than the festive season presenting extra claims on my time choosing outfits, getting hair done, attending various parties and events and that was just DD's social life of which I am, of course, just the chauffeur extrordinaire and lady's maid.
Anyway, on matters land, the past 4 weeks or so have been somewhat a struggle. Though thankful for the no show of frost and snow prior to Xmas it has been pretty wet and we seem to have had over a month of rain appearing sometime each day. The effect this has had on the land is that I have never seen mud like that my pigs are in. I have mentioned this before but it has deteriorated since then! What I have learned though is not to keep weaners over the winter outside. It's seriously messy. My poor Hunters have been turned more fawn than lilac and my white gloves certainly don't like hoiking up disgusting feed bowls that have sunk into the mud. There have been many comedy moments of late, all at my expense (although DH did get literally stuck in the mud which raised a giggle) and I wonder what those people on the number 29 really do think of this crazy lady, fighting to stay glam, entirely inappropriately dressed (and behaved) for sedate Sussex? Especially when I do things (why oh why do I act/speak and think later?) like chuck an old tyre into the mud for 'something to raise the food bowl off the mud on.' What happens? Splat! is what happens and splat! is what goes over my face, hair, coat, hands, trousers....even dripping down the trendy 'v' I had left with the unzipped bit of the top of my coat. I looked like I had been scousebrowed by somebody colour blind.
They are underweight (pigs, not I sadly) as they've been exerting so much energy wading around mud all day so it's highly annoying as it'll mean an extra 4-6 weeks or so before apple sauce day arrives.
Denzil has gone and hopefully left the double D's expecting. April time it'll be. Just keeping them quiet in their own field for now as first 8 weeks the most crucial for developing. The other mob of 5 however are anything but quiet. As if life on the land isn't hard enough at the mo I now have to fight off 5 muggers every day. DH decided to move them into the field where the barn is despite my protestations. Sure enough every time I am walking with food to the pigs or ducks or DD's they are there, right behind me, jumping into the bucket trying to knock me down before callously attacking. Hmm...if ever that happened the number 29 people would get a sight to behold! It's not just the raiding it's also the general pain they present at finding every which way to break into the barn. Last week we found Hiltz and Rosemary in the feeding area of the barn defying gates and fences and somehow getting in but not out. The mess and smell were vile, blinking sheep poo everywhere, buckets and equipment knocked into the mud...grrrr!
So it's all a little frustrating, much work for not much reward right now. the storms of late has left some tidying work and repair work urgently needed, the sheep have given us new mess and the need to jeyes fluid the barn. The ducks are high maintenance for zero eggs currently and the pigs look like enforcing a stay for a bit longer... Roll on spring time and especially the end of animal rounds before dawn and after dusk every single day all of the above in torchlight! At least on Denzils return I persuaded the nice farmer man to trim the feet of them all. One less thing to do...
Personally I think I've earned my hair appointment, facial and nail appointments looming it's just a shame I won't get that sausage barm with brown sauce as a precursor to setting off to Cheltenham festival come March...
Mx
Weather: Mild for January, long may it continue, just a bit drier please! 12 degrees today.
Scouse in the South
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Mud. Glorious Mud!
Mud. Has evolved in uses - from mud huts, to modern construction. From mud pies to mud wrestling to mud baths and mud beauty treatments. I have become as close to mud as I care to get outside of The Sanctuary, Covent Garden, courtesy of Spot and Stripe.
What was their grassy area is now about a foot sunken and is the gloopiest, sloppiest mess you'd ever seen. S&S sure are happy though. It gets everywhere - the electric fencing is caked in it, my boots are caked in it, their water bowl has to be scrubbed out twice daily. I can't even escape it when not on the field as when DD goes to school she's dropped off on the school playing field which is so muddy my winter tyres suck up about half of it before depositing it back onto the main road a la tractor style! Anyway, the pigs are getting really rather big and I really ought to tag them soon and they really do have some biting teeth about them! They are 4 months next week and we (DH) must weigh them soon which I am reliably informed (by my DH from his non muddy desk) is done with a tape measure down their spine then round their shoulders. Apply a quick formula and hey presto! count down to crackling begins!
Denzil is denzilling around though he is out of favour all round as his exuberance appears to have injured Dors who is badly limping at present. He's also quite the brute at feeding times butting the girls out of the way to grab as much food. Still, he clearly has the impact bad boys have on most women as they still moon after him and follow where he leads. Minty in particular from the other field has been outrageously flirting with him, the hussy, and it's led me to question; a) do sheep jump? and b) is impregnation possible through the fence?! I read at the weekend in the Mails You magazine (it wasn't my house I swear!) an article by Kate Humble who informed me that once a ewe is pregnant the ram won't go for her again. My god! This is amazing stuff! A male who is in tune with his females...!! Maybe Denzil does have a softer side after all...
Interesting visit last week from Defra/Trading Standards who rang up out of the blue (allegedly) and turned up the next day. DH and I didn't get off to a good start when we were told we were being visited as we were 'high risk' HIGH RISK?? It then came to light that the reason we were high risk was simply because as a 'new' smallholder (only had the land 18months+...) we hadn't been visited yet. Now I know what you're thinking, we thought it too. Wouldn't it be more sensible, efficient and fairer to the smallholder to click 'add column' into their spreadsheet and title it 'Not yet visited?' It could even be shortened to 'NYV.' Apparently not. There was form filling, tickboxes and flow charts galore. Checks of licenses and all sorts of paper pushing. No visit to the actual land mind you, maybe that's not their division... Through the post a few days afterwards appeared reams of booklets and paper records. Seriously. In this day and age of the computer, email, online access etc and in times of saving money and costcutting none of it was necessary had they put the information online. I'm not going to start a political hot potato on the public sector (moi? Trouble maker? Noooo!) but anyone with half a mind on organising and time management and budgeting could see the obvious improvements here.
Well, off now to consider pig feed costs (Guards Chapel Westminster yesterday, pig feeds today) do a spot of xmas wrapping and diarise the 72 hour slot I'll need to read through the literature received from Trading Standards... Oh, for anyone wondering, we are, of course, A-OK!
Take care all - last minute xmas shopping can turn nasty, ugly and not done with much 'goodwill!" Or maybe I can look into opening the outdoor mud treatment experience...
Mx
Weather: Cold but better than most of the UK. Preparing for gales - not as bad as most of the UK. Can't complain really, just hating the dark! 13 degrees and sunny currently.
What was their grassy area is now about a foot sunken and is the gloopiest, sloppiest mess you'd ever seen. S&S sure are happy though. It gets everywhere - the electric fencing is caked in it, my boots are caked in it, their water bowl has to be scrubbed out twice daily. I can't even escape it when not on the field as when DD goes to school she's dropped off on the school playing field which is so muddy my winter tyres suck up about half of it before depositing it back onto the main road a la tractor style! Anyway, the pigs are getting really rather big and I really ought to tag them soon and they really do have some biting teeth about them! They are 4 months next week and we (DH) must weigh them soon which I am reliably informed (by my DH from his non muddy desk) is done with a tape measure down their spine then round their shoulders. Apply a quick formula and hey presto! count down to crackling begins!
Denzil is denzilling around though he is out of favour all round as his exuberance appears to have injured Dors who is badly limping at present. He's also quite the brute at feeding times butting the girls out of the way to grab as much food. Still, he clearly has the impact bad boys have on most women as they still moon after him and follow where he leads. Minty in particular from the other field has been outrageously flirting with him, the hussy, and it's led me to question; a) do sheep jump? and b) is impregnation possible through the fence?! I read at the weekend in the Mails You magazine (it wasn't my house I swear!) an article by Kate Humble who informed me that once a ewe is pregnant the ram won't go for her again. My god! This is amazing stuff! A male who is in tune with his females...!! Maybe Denzil does have a softer side after all...
Interesting visit last week from Defra/Trading Standards who rang up out of the blue (allegedly) and turned up the next day. DH and I didn't get off to a good start when we were told we were being visited as we were 'high risk' HIGH RISK?? It then came to light that the reason we were high risk was simply because as a 'new' smallholder (only had the land 18months+...) we hadn't been visited yet. Now I know what you're thinking, we thought it too. Wouldn't it be more sensible, efficient and fairer to the smallholder to click 'add column' into their spreadsheet and title it 'Not yet visited?' It could even be shortened to 'NYV.' Apparently not. There was form filling, tickboxes and flow charts galore. Checks of licenses and all sorts of paper pushing. No visit to the actual land mind you, maybe that's not their division... Through the post a few days afterwards appeared reams of booklets and paper records. Seriously. In this day and age of the computer, email, online access etc and in times of saving money and costcutting none of it was necessary had they put the information online. I'm not going to start a political hot potato on the public sector (moi? Trouble maker? Noooo!) but anyone with half a mind on organising and time management and budgeting could see the obvious improvements here.
Well, off now to consider pig feed costs (Guards Chapel Westminster yesterday, pig feeds today) do a spot of xmas wrapping and diarise the 72 hour slot I'll need to read through the literature received from Trading Standards... Oh, for anyone wondering, we are, of course, A-OK!
Take care all - last minute xmas shopping can turn nasty, ugly and not done with much 'goodwill!" Or maybe I can look into opening the outdoor mud treatment experience...
Mx
Weather: Cold but better than most of the UK. Preparing for gales - not as bad as most of the UK. Can't complain really, just hating the dark! 13 degrees and sunny currently.
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