| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| << November 2023 | December 2023 | January 2024 >> |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1st: A stunning and very cold morning |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2nd: Song Thrush Adored watching this song thrush today - what an utter beauty.. pictures taken through glass from our study!!   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3rd: Things to come Five tree stumps in a field!! Not the most exciting photo in the world... ... but we are mega excited as this is the start of a planned adventure playground for the dogs (and probably the goats too).  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
4th: Hunt the Kibble This, from a few days ago - the dogs absolutely love it!!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5th: Celery The jury is out on whether they all like celery.. Jack doesn't so she won't blame them if they turn their noses up too!!   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
6th: The Allotment It's the land of plenty in Sam's allotment patch just now: Sprouts, celery, cabbage and beetroot.     |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
8th: The many faces of Beta... ... who despite it being three months before egg laying starts, is booming away just now and really starting to strut his stuff!     |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
9th: Daisy Daisy, Becky's Retriever, had nine pups yesterday and today we had the honour of spending a bit of time with them - one little girl is a tad small but currently holding her own and Daisy is being a fab first time mum. And in a delightful moment of alignment, this evening we had a wonderful chat with the owner of a potential sire to mate with Sparrow who came into season yesterday. So maybe, just maybe, we might have our own pups in a couple of months!!!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
10th: Spot the sheep!! PS - this fleece will be for sale next summer to the discerning fibre expert who knows quality when they see it.  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
11th: Latest rugs The latest rugs off to their new owners: two Valais and Devon&Cornwall Longwool plus a Ouissant mixed with a bit of Ryeland and Badger Face.   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
12th: Fecal Egg Counts Thanks to Erik and Michele Robinson, we have finally got our acts together and have been doing our own FECs for a few months now. Having goats back in our lives made this feel a good time to do so. We think it is still important to talk to your vet about your worming protocols, aside from anything else they will have up to date information about wormers and some can only be accessed via a vet anyway! Plus, telling the difference between some types of eggs can be really hard!! BUT, there are lots of reasons why doing them yourselves are an excellent idea: it can be cheaper (once you have paid out for the required equipment); you can do them any time and so potentially keep on top far more; you cut out travel costs (or postage costs if you use an online service); you have more opportunity to do individual counts and so really monitor your individual animals, which in turn then means less un-necessary worming. And dare we say this, it's fun!! The only downsides we can think of are lack of time (and maybe confidence) or issues to do with then getting hold of appropriate wormers. The images are from some FECs I did yesterday. We tested all 6 goats, strongyloide counts ranged from 50 (low) to 1500 (high - although high can be tens of thousands so this is a low high). We had 2x low, 2x medium and 2x high: a really clear indication of how useful individual counts can be. We also found what we believe to be 2 Nematodirus eggs in one individual goat too (the larger eggs). Not such great news. So, worming is on the cards for the two goats with the high counts and then we will retest them and the mediums in just over a week!!    |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13th: Stunning Views over Exmoor today |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
14th: Aiming high Velvet and Buttercup are definitely the climbers of the six kids and think nothing of leaping up on top of hay racks and gates. Fabulous to watch such agility!!   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
15th: Slipping standards?? We definitely are a little less fussy about sweeping up nowadays - as long as NOT doing so doesn't impact on the health and well-being of the animals, we are happy to see the odd bit of straw still lying around.. having said that, one cannot deny how good it looks to see a cleanly swept path or bit of hard standing!! It's a balance!    |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
16th: Looking bedraggled and looking pristine One of the fundamental differences between our dogs and cats!! LOL   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
19th: Being inside The weather just now is such that a lot of the time the sheep, goats and alpacas beat a hasty retreat towards the barn and shelters. We just LOVE the open plan aspect of it all and feel it is really working - everything feels safe and all the animals can come and go calmly and securely. There is also more than enough space for everyone too.    |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
21st: No thanks A quick peek to see whether going outside is an option... no thanks!!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
22nd: Puppies? We have known for a while we want to breed from these two... the question was who first? Logic said Sparrow as she is the oldest (three and a half) but with the horrid demise of Stonefly, breeding form Otter feels very important too. We sort of had agreed that whoever came into season first would determine our choice. And so it was that last night, Jack drove Sparrow for date night with Albus (Marshmoor Fighter Pilot) in Kingsteignton, South Devon and as such Feb 23rd is now in the diary as a possible birth date. Both Sparrow and Albus were 'maiden maters' but after a bit of 'teenage fumbling', they 'tied the knot'!! We are back for a repeat mating on Sunday and then it will be a long 4 week wait before the scan. Everything will be crossed between now and then!!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
23rd: Daisy We 'might' just have been to see Daisy a couple of times again this week!!! After yesterday, we are VERY broody!!   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
24th: A Plant a Day We are on day 108 of our Plant a Day - the last week or so has been very tricky and many hours have been spent looking for a new plant each day - much to the chagrin of the dogs who wait patiently whilst Jack wades in the ditches bordering our land and wishing they could get in there with her!! Whether we make it to the end of the month before running out remains to be seen... but we are ecstatic to have got this far!!   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
25th: Mustard and Pickle Always good to show those you love just how much... |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
26th: All Smiles and Seriousness Clover and Buttercup - the many faces of....  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
27th: Stormy Today has been very wet and very windy but with enough of a break at dusk to get this amazing sky!!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
28th: Pepper Not sure what tickles us more - the look on Pepper's face or the hilarious shadows on the wall behind...  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
29th: Blue sky?? Flippity flip - look at all that blue sky!!! Lasted a few seconds before the gales, torrential rain and black clouds rudely pushed their way forward again    |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
31st: Blue skies to hail The rain and the wind today have been biblical, and at times, a little bit scary. We have swamps and streams and ponds... BUT we had ten seconds of sunshine on the morning walk (caught on camera) and all the animals have somewhere dry to escape too... but my goodness, roll on the spring...    |