Friendly help

Of course I didn't have my camera the other day when I was at the barn. Cute and funny things always happen when my camera is in the house.

I was walking by the pregnant ewe corral and saw one of the Muscovy ducks close to a ewe's mouth. The ewe had bits of grain on her chin and the duck was gently reaching up to clean them off (and eat them). The ewe seemed perfectly content to have the duck do this and so the duck continued until she felt the task was finished.

I've seen chickens get rides on the backs of ewes but that was the first time I've seen one of the feathered friends do something like that.

 

North Country Chevior Mules

We bought a Blue Faced Leicester ram a year ago and bred him to ten NCC ewe lambs.   The rest of our new acquired ewe lambs were still too small to breed but the ten were over 120 lbs so we felt they were okay for breeding.

When they lambed in May I was amazed at the size of the lambs.  They were lovely, very vigorous lambs and in minutes were up and nursing.  In no time they were bounding around.  They went out to the pasture sooner than the Clun Forest lambs mainly due to the fact we had the NCC lamb 6 weeks later so the weather was much warmer.

Spring Babies

On May 7th we had our first baby pigs born here at Wind 'n' Woolly.  I always said I wouldn't have pigs but after going to Ranfurly Farm in Chase B.C. to pick up a BFL ram I changed my mind.  they have Berkshire pigs and I saw them roto-tilling their market garden plot.  This plot is about half an acre and is surrounded with electric wire.  The pigs were busy rooting around and had the ground totally worked up beautifully.  So next thing I knew I had phoned a fellow and ordered three weaned piglets.  Two gilts and one boar.  They came home in dog kennels and when they got here were quite impressed with their new digs...literally digs.  Since then my husband, Worker Boy, has built them lovely pig pens and we even had a water hydrant installed so I don't have to haul water from the barn.

     We weren't sure when the girls were due to deliver so moved them into the barn in plenty of time and set up an area with heat lamps for the babies to get under.  I was amazed to go out to the barn one night and find my husband (I had woken up and he was gone and after a quick search realized he was at the barn) standing by Bess's stall watching her with her babies.  They were all wandering back and forth across her belly looking for "their spot" and it was quite frustrating for me to see one that had no sense of direction.  Finally they all had their fill and headed under the heat lamps.  I can't believe how fast they have grown.  Once the weather is nicer they will go out to the pen with lots more room for them to run around and play tag.

Three Little Pigs

We got three pigs last summer (Winston is not shown) and they are quite happy here. They are very tidy animals and keep their sleeping area very clean. Next time someone tells you your room looks like a pig sty take it as a compliment. Pigs are very clean and keep their bathroom area seperate from their sleeping area.

Chirk Castle, Wales

This little ewe was quite lonely with no friends to visit with. She was part of the "make your own nativity" at the Chirk Castel Winter Fair. Baskets of clothing and props were available for children to use to dress up be part of the play. There were no children in the stable when Garry and I were there so we visited with this little ewe for a while.

Chirk Castle, Wales

Garry and I spent most of a day at Chirk Castle in Wales. There was a Christmas Fair on and we enjoyed the entertainment, the food (Garry was pleased there were gluten free buns available), walking around the castle grounds and going to the stable to visit a sheep and two donkeys.

Way up on the hillside there were sheep grazing but too far for us to walk on that day. Isn't it lovely and green there?

Shropshire, England

Garry and I travelled to England in December 2011. We had hoped to find a farm with Clun Forest sheep but were not successful. We went to Oswestry, which is close to Wales, and asked several people if there were any sheep farms nearby. We got the same answer. No sheep around here. We were quite dissappointed. If we couldn't see Clun Forest sheep at least we'd like to see sheep, any sheep.

We took a long walk one afternoon and found ourselves on this narrow road. At one point I asked Garry if he thought any cars would come along and next thing you knew a car was approaching us. This road is so narrow that Garry and I had to squish against the hedge on the side.

We continued on and the road actually dwindled out to a path. Still could see tire tracks but it was even more narrow that the paved portion. As we went along we saw the hedges had sheep wire or farm fence on the back. I then saw wool on several strands of the wire. Where there's wool there's sheep. Continued upn a hill and saw a sign that pointed across a pasture noting a public path. Next thing we saw was sheep. Of course we knew we would. There was a stile to climb over and I was very pleased to find one on our walk. I have read in many James Herriot books about his climbing over styles and now I know what he was talking about.