Fun at the Farm

I can't believe that lambing is nearly over, with only one ewe still left to deliver..it has really gone very fast this year.  It has also gone very well with a good batch of healthy, strong lambs and no problems (yet) other than a particularly difficult presentation where both twin lambs were trying to exit mum at the same time.  Luckily the Grazing Officer managed to get there in time and was able to decipher which leg belonged to which lamb, untangle them and successfully deliver them both alive!!:)

A neighbour recently asked if I get bored just waiting for sheep to give birth but it is not like that as there is a lot of work to be done.  When we arrive, providing there are no ewes in labour, we assist the Grazing Officer with tail docking, castrating, ear tagging, numbering up, worming etc. and either moving the older ones out to the fields or, if the weather is inclement, into the nursery pen. Then if the weather is good the pregnant ewes are let out into the adjoining field; the whole barn has to have fresh bedding put down; the ewes in the mothering up pens are given hay and fresh water; the round hay racks are replenished and troughs refilled.  Then all the animals are given some sheep nuts.  This is interspersed with hourly checks for signs of labour and other jobs follow such as checking all the lambs in the field are ok, disinfecting any hurdles that have got dirty, washing out water buckets, getting in more hay and straw.  In the afternoon more fresh bedding is put down (this is very important to prevent infections), more hay, more fresh water etc. At the height of lambing it can be a busy day and very tiring but I really enjoy tending to the sheep and their lambs at this vulnerable time in their lives and love watching them bond and hearing the variety of intimate little sounds they give to each other..it is very special:)

Some of the sheep are quite friendly to us humans, some not so friendly but all tend to keep a certain distance...except that is, when there are sheep nuts in the offing, when suddenly we become very attractive.  I was out in the field with a bucket of nuts feeding the pregnant ewes and was soon being bundled by a whole flock of over enthusiastic sheep.  Unfortunately, one Jacob caught its horn behind my right knee, while at the same time as another caught me behind my left knee...and down I went...lol.  It felt like I was drowning in sheep as the sky closed in above me to be replaced by woolly, gobbling, creatures happily standing on me, over me and around me furiously eating the nuts which I had managed to spill.  There were so many sheep it was hard to even sit up let alone stand up (plus I was laughing a lot)!  I would think it looked very funny but luckily no one was watching and it was not an experience I wanted to repeat.  However that is just what I did the very next day and I am sure it was the same two Jacobs that ambushed me:)))

I think the picture below may be of one of the culprits as feeding became a lot less risky after she had given birth. She took a long time producing her first lamb which didn't look too good to begin with but with a bit of work he took his first breath and soon had his head up looking at his new world:)

...15 mins. later he was standing up looking for sustenance...obviously takes after his mother...that will serve her right for knocking me over twice:))

...40 minutes later and the twin brother arrived.

...and an hour after that they were all happily settling in to their cosy mothering up pen getting to know each other.

Along with our lambing duties we have also been helping out with the cows on occasions. In the past I have had a bit of a problem with cows as they always seemed to chase after me or at least moooo a lot, so much so, that friends and family won't walk through a field of cows with me:) Now, at least with the ones at the farm, I actually quite enjoy working with them...however... that was until Wellington, the bull, was added!!  He is a good natured chap but his huge size makes him very scary and it has again made me apprehensive of entering their barn.

Knowing that one of the cows would need treatment for an eye infection I decided I would not arrive too early for my lambing shift in the hope that one of the other volunteers would have already assisted the Grazing Officer with the task. However I was out of luck.

Over the years I have found that if someone thinks you can do something, then usually you can, even if you're convinced you can't and the sense of satisfacion afterwards is well worth the discomfort, so when the Grazing Officer told me to go and stand right by Wellington in the barn, to make sure the cow with the poorly eye didn't duck past the door we were trying to get her through, I duly did as I was told (I must admit to mentally muttering a few 'bad' words though).  It all went ok and Wellington didn't seem particularly interested in what we were doing but I was very relieved when the cow and ourselves were outside with Wellington shut inside...it seems my jinks on cows is lessening although my daughter still says she won't go anywhere near them if I am around:))))))))

Having got the cow through the door, we needed to get her into the crush (sounds horrible but its just a small, strong enclosure that safely holds the cow still for treatment).  We gently chivvied her along from behind and for a bit of extra encouragement the Grazing Officer patted her rump. I held my breath expecting the cow to kick out (I had once given a friendly pat to a horse on its blind side which made it jump so much that it kicked me painfully to the other side of the stable!!) but this lovely cow just plodded calmly into the crush where her eye was treated.  I am pleased to say that after several treatments her eye is now beginning to look a lot better so hopefully the sight will be saved which is really good especially as it is Curly (mentioned in a previous post) who is one of the prettiest cows I have known and one of my favourites.

Happy Days Are Here Again

It is surprising what a few days away can do and last weeks grumps have well and truly gone. Besides seeing my son and his girlfriend again, we all braved the minus 6 temperatures of Saturday evening to see a brilliant demonstration by Monty Roberts (commonly known as the horse whisperer).  I have now been to several of his demonstrations, all have been interesting, informative and entertaining, but this one was the best ever.

Early in his life Monty Roberts developed a natural, non-violent, approach to training horses, after studying the ways of wild mustangs.  Since then he has demonstrated and taught his methods to people, worldwide, even to our queen who is a big fan, his mission being, '...to make the world a better place for horses and people too.'  Inadvertently he is also changing the world for other animals too as many handlers are finding that a more natural approach works better.  He is now 76 years young so hopefully has many years left to spread his knowledge.

I have always found the way animals interact with each other and ourselves very interesting and it is one of the things I enjoy most about working with horses, as to me, this is the ultimate in animal/human communication. When one considers we are fundamentally a predator on a prey animal's back and we are expecting this animal to, not only carry us safely, but also to interpret the many subtle signals we give, to make it do all sorts of clever things.  It's amazing!! 

I always try to take a natural approach when dealing with other animals too and have found a lot of the tactics used by Monty Roberts work universally when dealing with any prey animals, from pheasants to sheep and make life a lot easier.   

Recently my husband and I were asked to check on the cows that are calving in the barn at the farm.  In general I am a bit apprehensive when it comes to cows and, as I was required to enter the barn and walk around amongst the cows and calves, I first spent some time just watching them so I knew what I was up against....Oh dear.... I think I have fallen in love...they are gorgeous!!:))

They are so tolerant of each other and of the calves.  Several times I saw cows giving another cow's calf a good lick if it approached...very different from the sheep, who tend to head butt any lambs out the way, that aren't theirs. After I'd been standing there a while, they seemed to want to investigate me too, so I held my hand out for one cow to smell when she came over and after giving me a sniff she started to lick me. I was soon able to reciprocate her friendliness  by giving her a lovely scratch on her head:)  They are inquisitive too and frequently messed up a photo by smelling the camera...

When I eventually went into the barn, they were totally unconcerned, apart from one.  I was just standing still reviewing all the cows/calves for any odd behaviour.  They were all happily sleeping or ruminating, except for one, that I had previously given a friendly scratch on the head to, but was now standing over the other side of the barn, giving me the evil eye.  I was a bit confused as she had a calf standing by her back legs, so shouldn't need to be protective, however, having seen how they mother each others calves, I wondered if the calf standing next to me was in fact hers, so I walked away a bit and sure enough she came over and told her calf not to talk to those smelly human strangers:)

I really enjoyed my time with the cows and can't wait to visit them again.  So now I am back to my normal happy and rather silly self I think some cow jokes are in order:

Q.   What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A.   A milk shake:)

Q.  Why should you never tell a cow something important?
A.   Because it will go in one ear and out the udder:)

Q.   What are a cows favourite school subjects?
A.   Moosic,  Cowculus and Psycowology:)

Lastly, if you like seeing new borns, the following two farms have lamb cams... be prepared to get addicted as you wait for one to give birth!  Signs of labour are...separating from the others, restlessness, scraping the ground, turning circles, getting up and down, not eating or ruminating (although I have seen one doing both all through labour), a fluid filled bag or mucus coming from its backside, arching its head up or backwards and straining. Good Luck:)))))))))                 http://www.willowsfarmvillage.com  &  http://www.meadopenfarm.co.uk

A Rubbish Post

The life of a conservation volunteer is wonderfully varied. One week we may be moving sheep and ragworting, the next it could be moving ponies or cows and rubbish picking.

Last week it was rubbish picking.  It seems that some of the chalk grassland sites we work on were once grand fly tipping areas.  A lot of the larger rubbish is removed when a site is initially cleared and fenced, however, when the area is to be grazed, the remaining smaller bits of rubbish also need to be cleared and it is amazing how much of it there is.

After a quick sheep move our task was to rubbish pick an area at Hutchinsons Bank that will possibly be grazed by the project's two Dartmoor ponies in the Spring. It is strangely satisfying when one reviews the big load we removed from the site.

It is even more satisfying when one sees all the broken glass, barbed wire and other dangerous things we removed.  I wonder how many wild animals may have suffered with injuries caused by this rubbish.

Most of our volunteer livestock work involves the conservation grazing sheep but another variation over the last couple of weeks has been tasks involving the Project's cows and ponies.

I am not very confident with cows as the only ones I have been involved with in the past were some rather dopey bullocks owned by my boss in a previous job. These big fellows would happily walk all over you rather than round you:)  Animals are quick to pick up if one is nervous and the biggest give away is the way one breathes so I had to use the 'boring' technique (see 'Boring' post 18/9/11) to make sure I stayed calm while helping move the cattle.  The first move was taking five of the Project's Sussex bullocks to the field next to Holly Lane car park at Chipstead. They were all very good which is just as well as they were sporting sharp little horns which on occasions seemed to be just a matter of inches from the Grazing Officer as he ushered them into the trailer.

The second move was taking the remaining three bullocks to Foxley Wood, Purley.  This is a surprisingly lovely site, a little oasis, close to the infamous, car infested, Purley Cross and with views across to Riddlesdown.

Following the move to Foxley Wood there was just enough time to visit the farm where the Project is over-wintering twenty conservation grazing cows for the Corporation of London. Even though I am not a fan of cows I have to say these are a lovely group who seem friendly and inquisitive.  One particularly caught my eye as she looks as if she has just had her top knot permed:)

My favourite stock move over the last couple of weeks has been the return of the ponies to my livestock checking area of Tatsfield.  The sheep were moved up a field and the ponies have gone in at the bottom, conveniently next door to the farrier as they will soon need their hooves trimmed again.  It is the first time they have grazed this field so after gobbling down some tasty grass they trotted round inspecting their new abode.

Then it was time to show off with a bit of bucking and galloping around just to inform any rivals or predators (being ponies they still think there may be wolves in Surrey:)) that they are tough guys.

Then they noticed the sheep staring at them from the adjoining field.  Both ponies and sheep looked shocked and quite horrified at first but it didn't take them long before they were politely introducing themselves....

Lastly I wonder if other people are having trouble with their blog sites?  I have had to change my 'comments' from embedded to pop-up as some people (including myself) couldn't access them. Also there are several of my favourite sites that I cannot access at all and others that I cannot access the comments on.  Is it my computer or is it blogger or something else?  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Busy Bees

At last there is some colour in the garden with a good show of crocuses underneath the apple tree and it is not just me that's enjoying them as they are a buzz with lots of bees all with their heads covered in pollen.

It is nice that it has turned a bit warmer (we even had a moment of sunshine!) and it has brought the insects out but unfortunately the warmer weather didn't arrive in time for our visit to Bedford to see a demonstration by Monty Roberts (horse whisperer). It was freeezzzing but it didn't detract from the evening and Monty was amazing as ever. It was quite nerve wracking to watch a 76 year old man walking behind a horse that was kicking out at lightening speed. Needless to say the horse was quickly brought under Monty's spell. I wish I had his skill...and his courage:)

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting my eldest son and his girlfriend who also live in Bedfordshire. We stayed at a hotel next to an area of lakes full of wildfowl. Unfortunately I had forgotten the binoculars but it was still lovely to walk round the lakes and even nicer to wake in the morning to the sound of geese honking.

We returned home on Monday, calling in at the RSPB reserve in Sandy where we checked out their binoculars in the shop. It made me realise that we need to get some new ones.

On Tuesday we were back to helping with the Old Surrey Downs Project but this time it was moving some cows which was a new experience for me. Cows and I don't usually get on too well...they chase me...but these seemed ok. I just wish I could understand what they are thinking when they stare at me. It is easy to read a horse's body language but cows seem to give nothing away which I find rather un-nerving. They will be conservation grazing a lovely area of chalk grassland in Chipstead, Surrey.

This is just a short post as I want to get back to the http://www.meadopenfarm.co.uk where they have 24hour lamb cams watching the lambing pens. It is addictive viewing. Yesterday we saw two sets of twins born. It is also very useful to see what happens as we will be involved with the project's own lambing this year. The barn is now all ready to go with the floor, walls and hurdles all cleaned and disinfected. Lambing is due to start on 16th March. The picture below shows Jack, the sheep dog, jumping the gate...I'm sure he has springs in his legs:))