Digging the veg garden

The endless task of digging and raking back has began, although it is back breaking we know it will be worth it in the end.

Steven is doing most of the work, we cheated a bit by using the front loader to help dig the beds. This year we are making raised beds to save on space and our backs. This also means that the children can help pick the veg when done without having to compact the soil. Each bed is an arms length wide and 15ft long.

The chickens are in heaven, turning the soil and scratching for any bugs.

Frost Seeding

This weekend we take the plunge and begin frost seeding. Essentially broad cast seeding using the frost to draw the seed into the soil.

The plus side: the frost does the hard work by drawing the seed into the ground and prevents birds from eating it and the wind from blowing it away.
the down side: a warm spell could begin germination and if this is then followed by a cold snap the seed will be killed.

Will it work come back to find out….

Sheep fencing 101

Fencing the sheep is always a challenge and this time around we tried 5 runs of electric high tensile wire – following the advice from OMFRA we spaced the wires to cover the age range of newborn to adult.

Subsequently it failed – the lambs push through it using their heads and Buttercup jumps it…..

However we have now discovered a wonderful system of fencing – wire sheep netting that can be electrified. This has been placed inside the other fencing and so far is working.

I can see GRASS

Today was day 2 of the melt. With temps of plus 7 snow is melting away to reveal grass. An element not missed by our hand reared lambs and ewe. Buttercup the ewe and the three lambs that we have hand reared realised that life was better and the grass def greener on the other side of the fence. So through the wire electric they went and now can be found by visitors, delivery guys and neighbours free roaming on our front lawn…..

In fact our 6 year old now finds walking to the school bus a challenge as three little lambs and an ewe follow him down 200m of driveway to the road … I hang my head in shame while everyone else laughs. It really puts a new perspective on “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. My heart now goes out to poor Mary.

15 lambs so far

As of 30/1/09 we have 15 lambs with 1 ewe left to give birth.

Unfortunately one ewe who lost her twins has blue bag and so we are now looking to send her away next week.

Lambing season is on

As of today we have 10 lambs (three of which are being hand reared). All the rest have been pasture births in the snow and have been moved into the lambing pens shortly after birth. A couple of the mums have refused to move and are happy rearing their babies under the walk in shelter – they just do not wish to be penned in. Our success rate so far is 83% assuming all today’s lambs make it through the night. Normally commercial lambing consider 90% the best you can get, with pasture lambing (especially in winter) having a rate of above 50%.
Overall we are really very pleased.

Lambing update

The two orphan lambs that came in yesterday are doing well and will soon be on milk replacer, however today at 5.30 am more twins were born, although mum is looking after both of them, the temperature has dropped and the youngest and runt of the set cannot regulate his body temperature. So at 1pm we brought him in and he is now with the other two.

Rejected Twin lambs

Well at 2pm today our ewe “Buttercup” rejected her newborn twins – she kicked and head butted them and would not let them suckle so we are now bottle feeding them every 3 hours.

Pictures to follow.

Livestock is here

Well time has left me standing in the back of a long pile of jobs – however I have now managed to get the time to upload some pictures of our first livestock.

Middle White Pig

 

Slaughter Pig

Katahdin Sheep

 

Hair sheep - bred for meat not wool

Tractor woes

Oh dear, well we get a new tractor and what happens it has broken down 5 times and only has 24 hours on it. The tires came off the rim twice and the relay switch is faulty!! So this has delayed our fencing project by 2 months and now the snow is here. Who said farming was easy………