Garden Jungle & Naughty Pony

With our busy life that we have at present, the garden has turned into a jungle, but the wildlife is loving it.......

I have had so many families of baby birds in the garden this year that it resembles a big birdy nursery full of fluffy bundles with beaks open wide, while their rather battered and tired looking parents try to keep up with their demands...

Bees busily visit the self sown corn flowers and geraniums and a group of Foxgloves that we grew from seed but didn't have time to plant in the flowerbeds, so were dumped rather quickly into an area of the veg plot, have grown up to provide a busy buzzing pollen bar for masses of bumbles

The veg garden, including the polytunnel, has been taken over by many of the weeds/wildflower seeds that have migrated from the adjoining field and the whole area seems to be a mecca for Hover flies.  The only veg planted in the plot are some early onions which are on the verge of flowering. 

Slow worms are to be found in any warm patch, anywhere in the garden but especially under some old weed suppressant covering on the bank.

The whole of the back garden looks awful but I have to say I am rather enjoying it:))  We have never really gained control of the garden since the adjoining field became set aside land around 17 years ago. The field is now mostly covered with invasive weeds that can look quite pleasant when in full flower....

Increasingly though we are seeing more and more typical chalk grassland flowers springing up between the invasive plus quite a few Pyramid and Common Spotted Orchids. The next field along now seems to have more chalk flowers than the section of Saltbox SSSI that it adjoins. This section is privately owned and not managed as it should be, so has scrubbed over again (another letter to Natural England required!). The bordering edge, however, is covered in swaths of Horseshoe Vetch, the plant food of the Chalkhill Blue and Adonis Blue caterpillars.  Sadly with the cool wet and windy weather we've been having this year there have been fewer butterflies and moths around here but usually the two fields are filled with many varieties, especially the blues.

I have not had much time to walk in the fields behind us and I also haven't had the energy as we are doing long days of physically demanding work while filling in for the staff absences in the Downlands Project (see previous post).  We have also had a few extra tasks such as the 'Open Farm Sunday' that took place last weekend.  We were very fortunate to have a sunny day for the event and had what we estimate to be in the region of 300 visitors. Firstly I was involved with a demonstration of how we do our sheep health checks (trimming hooves, checking teeth, condition scoring them and sending them through a foot bath) then I was sent up to the lambs field to tell people about our sheep as visitors followed a trail around the fields. Back at the farm there were a variety of children's activities, including face painting, all themed around nature.  There was also the information trailer, displays, refreshments, our cows and some more sheep, one of whom was recovering from a dog attack.

 
The lambs field was unfortunately covered in a lot of tall grass so it was very hard to actually spot any lambs especially as they all tended to be on the far side of the field where the shorter grass was or sheltering in the shade of a tree covered dip.  However the Project Manager valiantly led groups of interested people over to visit the lambs throughout the day, taking them into the field and then gathering the sheep with the help of a bucket of nuts.  By the end of the day the sheep had begun to get rather bored with this and were not so willing to come over but the P.Man. persevered and even the last group of the day managed to see at least some of the lambs:))

It has been a busy week gathering in the sheep from their various grazing sites around Surrey ready for shearing this coming week and then giving them all a health check.  Unfortunately, one of the days involved an early 7am start as the grazing assistant needed to be at a meeting by 9am and in the hurry to get the job done I made my a very silly mistake...I won't go into details as it's embarrassing but suffice to say if the old grazing officer had still been there he would have exploded like Vesuvius!!  I certainly won't make the same mistake again.

The next day was not much better as we had the farrier visiting to trim the ponies hooves.  We were at a team meeting all morning and by the time we got to their field it was pouring with rain and the wind was blowing.  Rufus allowed us to catch him with no problem but, although we had been catching Tavey with no problem on previous days, he decided he was not going to allow anyone near him and not only that, he was determined to get Rufus to join him, so he kept storming past Rufus at the gallop, who by this time was having his hooves trimmed.  Rufus was soooo good and only tried to pull away a few times which was very good for such a young, relatively un-handled pony. The farrier eventually left saying if we ever managed to catch Tavey he would come back.  It took a long time to calm Tavey down enough for us to put his headcollar on and I am very grateful to all the hints we have picked up from reading Kelly Marks' books and going to Monty Robert's demonstrations as we needed to use quite a bit of horse psychology to win him over and to keep Rufus calm all this time.  We couldn't let Rufus go as he was the only thing keeping Tavey near us.  Eventually we were able to call the farrier back and the job was done by which time we were all very wet and not too happy.  So next time you see this beautiful little pony in the field you will know he is not as innocent as he looks!! Lets hope he behaves himself next Friday when we plan to move them to another site.

Whatever happened to May?  It flew past in such a flurry of activity that it's as if it didn't happen and things are destined to continue in the same way as my summer is now officially booked up right until the second week of September.  I am very fed up about this. Last year's summer was so busy I was determined that this year I would have time to enjoy my valley again, catch up on work around the property or, as several of my friends do, go off travelling. I feel like spitting the dummy but it would do no good as it is just a combination of unfortunate circumstances so best to just get on with it and look forward to next summer.  Hopefully we will have a good Autumn especially as we have several essential jobs we must do before the winter such as doing something about the cracked rendering that is letting water in to the bungalow when it rains and replacing the garage roof which has mostly disappeared!!  Anyway, enough moaning.  There have been a few good things happening...

In April we moved the Project's six goats to Saltbox SSSI.  It was a difficult move that took 10 hours, mainly due to two of the goats refusing to go in to the holding pen. As Saltbox is one my stock checking sites I have since been watching their behaviour and it would seem that these two goats are not particularly worried about people but more nervous of their fellow goats as they are at the bottom of the pecking order so, especially when their is food around, they stay well away from the others.  No wonder they wouldn't go into the confines of the holding pen when we were trying to catch them with buckets of goat nuts!

The goats are doing a fantastic job of eating the scrub regrowth and large areas are now covered in bare stalks..

We were  a bit concerned that they may also eat the Orchids so I have also been monitoring this carefully.  Thankfully they are only interested in the scrub and there is an abundance of Orchids making an appearance.  I counted over twenty Man Orchids in just one spot and every day now another Bee Orchid pops up...they really are so beautiful and a bit magical the way they appear in totally different places to last year..

This bit of Saltbox SSSI is such a special place and getting better all the time thanks to the care of the London Wildlife Trust and the Downlands Project. 

Can't resist a rather amusing goat joke my grandson told me....

Patient,   "Doctor, doctor I feel like a goat."

Doctor,   "How long have you felt like this?"

Patient,   "Since I was a kid."

Another recent, very enjoyable livestock move was when we took 24 sheep to the appropriately named Happy Valley.  The sheep needed to be herded across the site to an enclosure on the other side so the Grazing Officer sent me down to the bottom of the valley where there were two entrances so I could stop walkers entering with their dogs.  The field was covered with Cowslips, the valley echoed with bird song and rabbits hopped in and out of the hedgerow.  I was just thinking things couldn't get any better when I glanced over my shoulder to check on the sheep's progress only to find a fox peeping out of a hole so engrossed in also watching the sheep that for a few minutes he was totally unaware of me standing behind him.  Just one of those wonderful unforgettable wildlife moments:)))

Unfortunately because of our busy summer we have had to cancel our holiday so we decided to just go away for a couple of days for our wedding anniversary and my birthday.  We didn't want to waste too much time travelling so decided on the North Chilterns.  We spent our anniversary at the N.T. Ashridge Estate (amazing they don't charge for parking as everywhere around our way does!)  It has wonderful woodland with a good variety of trees and plenty of fallen trees left for wildlife which I always like to see..    

  

                             

These plants are growing on a very large, old, decaying, fallen tree...

                                                                                

As time went on the woods started to get a bit busy so we took a footpath down into the valley through chalk grassland fields of grazing sheep where there was large areas of Sainfoin..

                                                                 

Along the tree line there was a group of Fallow Deer and unusually many were black backed..

                                                       

It was a lovely day, finished off with a great meal with plenty of plonk, so a suitable way to celebrate 36 totally happy years of marriage.

For my birthday I decided that I would like to meet up with my son and his partner and visit Whipsnade Zoo.  I am not a great 'zoo' person but find the way Whipsnade keeps its animals to be acceptable and they do valuable research  and breeding programs.  The rain fell in sheets and the wind blew but it had its advantages as by the afternoon it seemed we were the only visitors left and so we had no trouble seeing the animals and didn't have to suffer loads of screaming children (although I was amazed at how knowledgeable some of the quieter children from the morning were).  I particularly enjoyed the lions that were separated from the public by a glass screen and conveniently they wer sitting just the other side so one could stand right next to them and look at them in detail...wow...they've got big mouths and feet!

One of the things we will be doing over the summer is filling in for the Project's Livestock Officer and Assistant.  The assistant is visiting her homeland of Hungary for six weeks and the Livestock Officer has left to take up a job as Senior Livestock Officer for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.  It sound a great job being involved in the management of some very special places and also doing some interesting work like Badger Vaccination trials.  Having been a member of the West Kent Badger group for many,many years, I am horrified at the thought of mass culling of badgers to control TB in cattle but I can also see something urgently needs to be done to get on top of the problem.  Therefore I am really pleased when I hear that certain groups like the National Trust and various Wildlife Trusts are prepared to  work on badger vaccination as I just can't see that killing badgers will solve anything long term.  This is an albino badger that used to visit our garden prior to our neighbours getting Rottweilers..

I will miss the Grazing Officer as I enjoyed working with him. Besides making a big difference to a lot of chalk grassland sites in this area, he made the livestock volunteering tasks interesting by sharing his knowledge of grazing and conservation and when he was in a good mood (which was most of the time) he could be quite amusing.  He also put up with us volunteers which can't have been easy!!:))  Hope he and his family will be happy.

 

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.

Quick Update

This is just a quick update as time is short and destined to be even shorter over the next few weeks as lambing has started and also a few projects closer to home, including my daughter and grandson possibly moving in with us (plus their cat and a houseful of furniture!!) while they await completion of their new house.  My daughter says,"It will be fun!" and it probably will be but at the moment all I can think of is the extra cooking, shopping, washing etc. I think I will be taking lots of walks in the valley which was always my way of de-stressing when the family drove me mad:)

The trouble I find, when someone I know is moving house, is that it makes me restless to move house myself.  I love my valley... I step into the garden and look out over fields and woods, hear birds singing and lambs bleating...idyllic except that there is a constant drone of traffic, interspersed by sirens and planes taking off or flying in to Biggin Hill Airport.  It is a compromise we had to make to be able to afford a place adjoining open countryside but near to London  (at the time of purchase hubby was in the London Fire Brigade) but I dream of one day moving to somewhere rural and quiet.  Recently the perfect place came on to the market.  It is not very far away but has 5 acres of chalk grassland and woodland...I can just imagine walking through my own wild flower meadow and on in to my own woodland full of Aconites, Blue bells and Wood Anemones...all I need is a couple of million pounds:)))))

Luckily I get to visit lots of lovely chalk grassland sites when doing the Livestock volunteering with the Downlands Project. Here is a quick run down of some of the things that have been going on since my last post:

Early on a cold misty morning we made our way down the steep hill at Tatsfield to where the ponies were grazing.  Over the last few days we had got them used to being caught again in readiness for a visit by the farrier to trim their feet.  It always makes me a bit apprehensive as being conservation grazing ponies they are not handled much so can be unpredictable, however, they were very well behaved although Rufus did try to jump on top of me a couple of times when the farrier dropped his tools.  Last week we had the more enjoyable job of worming them...it is genuinely more enjoyable as the wormer, which is cinnamon and apple flavoured, is mixed with pony nuts so we are greeted by lots of excited whinnies when they spot us making our way down the hill:)

There have been quite a lot of sheep related jobs too with several sheep moves, collections of faecal samples for worm egg counts and when needed, the administration of wormers for them too (not so nice as it is injected down their throat..but they don't seem to mind), more hoof trimming and because of the exceptionally warm weather that brought the first flies out, a spray to prevent fly strike.

Everything has now been prepared for lambing; the hurdles used to make the pens were scrubbed and disinfected along with the barn floor and walls....

The pens have been constructed and filled with straw bedding.  The first lot of ewes are in and due to lamb anytime now with the lambing team on rota to check them. You can guess what my next post will be about:))

Last week we also helped move five of the Project's cows to one of my favourite sites, Park Ham, near Caterham.  I hadn't seen the cows for a couple of months and was amazed at how much their horns had grown making them look very handsome..

At Park Ham they are sharing the vast grazing area with the Herdwick sheep.  It was a new experience for both and at first the cows ran away from the sheep, then the sheep ran away from the cows but by the time we had finished our picnic lunch, looking down from the edge of the bowl, they were all grazing happily together:)

Lastly, back to the ponies. Because of the warm weather they are shedding their winter coats which is making them very itchy as Rufus demonstrated.

First he had an itchy leg...

 

Then it was an itchy ear....

Then Tavey came to the rescue saying, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

And for a short while there was a nice bit of mutual grooming before Tavey got bored and bit Rufus's bottom!! :)))))))))))))

Spring Happenings

It is so good to see the Spring action kicking off in the garden, woods and fields.  The birds are all of a flutter. The male pheasant is driving the females mad by chasing them all over the place and then circling them with one wing dropped saying, "Look at me.. I am sooo handsome..how can you resist" but unfortunately the females don't seem very impressed, as yet.  My friendly male blackbird has been more successful though and now has a wife in tow. They are busy gathering ridiculously large beak fulls of nesting material and disappearing into the thick ivy climbing up an old garden wall but the male still comes for his breakfast when I ring my little bell and still enjoys a daily bath to keep his feathers in trim..with such clean habits, no wonder he bagged a female so quickly:)

At the weekend I escaped the noisy rugby that my husband and son were watching on the TV, climbed over the fence and went for a walk in the fields behind us.  The sun was out, the Sky larks were up, a few butterflies fluttered by, the birds were singing in the woods adjoining the fields and Aconites, Primroses and two of my favourites flowers, Violets and Coltsfoot, were all adding a nice splash of colour.  My mother's middle name is Violet and when I was a child she used to make up wonderfully exciting stories about Violet Fairies rescuing bees, bugs and butterflies:))  It is easy to see why I believed the stories when one looks at the pretty petals:)

My other favourite, Coltsfoot, is regarded by many as a weed but I think it is beautiful so I was pleased to discover a large area of it growing not far from our garden.  Culpeper describes its virtues as good for coughs and also good to take away, '...the burning heat of piles...'  so if anyone is suffering you now know where you can get some:)

The nicer weather has made the volunteer work we do with the Downland Project's conservation grazing animals even more pleasant.  I always enjoy the tasks; the company is good and there is nearly always something that happens that I find amusing, although, I rarely let on when I find something funny (unless it's something silly that I've done) as I'm am not sure the others share my sense of humour and I don't want to embarrass anyone. Having said that I thought I would recount something my husband did recently  as he was complaining that I don't mention him in my blog.

We were at a site called Park Ham, near Caterham, on top of the North Downs and the sheep had been penned so we could trim their hooves. To do this we turn the sheep onto their backs and hold them in a sitting position, with their feet sticking out for trimming.  It sounds uncomfortable but strangely most sheep seem to find it very restful and often become quite sleepy.

The sheep are turned onto their back by aligning them sideways in front of ones legs; one hand then turns the sheep's head away and round towards its back end which makes it lean onto your legs, while the other hand pushes the sheep's side to reinforce the pressure of the lean. Then you move backwards and the sheep falls gently to the ground, where it can be easily manoeuvred into the sitting position.  However, for it to work, it is important to keep ones legs together.

My husband, being male, is not used to keeping his legs together, so he forgot this important bit! As a consequence, when he attempted to turn his sheep on its back, instead of the sheep going down, it ended up, still standing, but between hubby's legs with him straddling it (not actually sitting on it...thank goodness). The sheep, then very confused as it wasn't expecting that, started to walk off, but my husband didn't want to let it go, so a funny few seconds ensued while they both went stomping around the pen like some kind of sheepy rodeo until my husband managed to get it out from between his legs.  I found it very amusing, especially when it happened a second time, but as no one else made any comments, I thought I had better not laugh:))) 

It was great, therefore, when on another day, the Grazing Officer brought his 11 month old son to the farm to watch the ewes being scanned as, being a baby, he had no inhibitions about showing his true feelings and just the sight of a volunteer had him chuckling loudly. He really seemed to enjoy his morning at the farm and didn't cry once...sort of child I like.

The ewes are scanned to see how many lambs they are carrying (or not).  It is not 100% accurate but gives a good indication which is useful to foresee any problems that may occur before, during or after labour.  The images of the unborn lambs are displayed on on a screen in the goggles that the person doing the scanning is wearing.  He then calls out what the ewes are carrying and they are sprayed with different coloured dots to show if it's a single, twins or triplets.

After the scan, the ewes were returned to their pasture and because the lambs inside them are now growing very fast, they are given extra food in the form of sheep nuts.  At first when I went out with the nuts, they all turned the other way, saying that no way were they going to be caught again for more scanning, but when they realised I had a bucket of nuts, they came running over enthusiastically nearly knocking me over in the rush:)

It is not long until lambing now.  We have 12 ewes that we are lambing for someone else at the beginning of April, then the Project's 30 ewes should starts delivering anytime from the 10th April onwards and hopefully, if all goes to plan, we will get around 45 new little conservation grazers:)

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

People seem to gauge the arrival of Spring by different things. For some it is the arrival of Crocus flowers in the garden...

or Bluebells in the woods....

For others it may be the arrival of new born animals...

But for me it is  all about the MUD.  Having been a rather feral child that could spend many hours happily playing with mud (great for my parents who didn't need to buy me expensive toys:)) I have the dubious pleasure of knowing mud quite intimately and as a child it fascinated me that, when Spring  arrived, the mud changed its consistency even if it had been raining for days.  It is something I still look out for each year, although, this year it hasn't been so dramatically obvious as, with the dry, mostly mild weather the South East has had, there hasn't been the glorious, boot gobbling type of mud that we usually get in the winter...my youngest son, (who was also a bit feral) was always loosing his little red wellies in boot gobbling mud but would carry on playing regardless, frequently loosing his socks as well!  Over the last couple of weeks there has been a change in the mud so, in my book, Spring has Sprung..Hooray!!!!

So here's a little celebratory ditty that my dad used to sing to me, his little Mud-Lark.  Actually it's not about a Lark, it's about a Hippo which is more appropriate as his nickname for me was Pudding:)...

From The Hippopotomus Song

Flanders and Swan

Mud, mud, glorious mud,

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood,

So follow me follow. down to the hollow,

And there let me wallow in glorious mud.

Is it any wonder that I grew up playing in mud after having songs like that sung to me!!

Unfortunately, each Spring, I suffer the affliction of terrible restlessness...I want to do something life-altering like moving to the other side of the country or travelling the world.  If I go for a walk I have an urge to just keep walking and never go home; if I am horse riding I want to gallop forever; if we are driving somewhere I want to buy a new car.  My long suffering husband and family (who are always included in my plans) usually manage to keep my feet on the ground and curb some of my more extreme ideas, but over the years this Spring Bug has motivated us to do lots of things that we probably wouldn't have otherwise done. We've been rock climbing, white water kayaking, white water rafting, climbed mountains, walked a few long distance footpaths, built a big house extension, redesigned the garden several times over and visited quite a few interesting countries.  Last year it was re-doing the bathroom and my poor husband is still struggling with the many problems this has thrown up but we do now have a lovely new bath and toilet and hopefully the sink will go in this week.  So what am I going to do this year?  I haven't a clue but I am going to explode soon if I don't think of something. With my dear old mum needing a lot of attention, I feel my wings have been clipped, which is a frustrating... I wonder if this is how our hens felt when we clipped their wings...hmmm...there's an idea...maybe I could keeps hens again.

As I have to stay at home and as spare time is short, I am trying very hard to direct my restlessness to the many useful things that need doing around the bungalow and garden but they don't really inspire me with enthusiasm.  I could take up painting again as there are boxes of my half finished bird paintings in the loft...I only ever managed to complete one, The Barn Owl, because I was recuperating after surgery but it could be quite nice to complete the others.

Thankfully the build up to lambing is starting soon with lots of jobs to be done in preparation so maybe that will exhaust some of my pent up restlessness.

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