Monday 22nd August 2016
A calm end to a slightly manic day…
Running a smallholding is often about routine and keeping up with tasks before they catch up with you, but it is also about sometimes having to respond to a situation immediately and so putting your routine totally out of kilter… And then there are those days when you plan your tasks carefully and calmly, only to find that things don’t always go to plan. This kind of day is SOOO much more frequent than it should be!!!
Today’s first task, well actually after getting up; letting the dogs out; letting the poultry out, checking emails; cleaning out the poultry stall; counting the sheep, goats and alpacas (just in case any had vanished in the night…) feeding the dogs; breakfast; walking the dogs…. Okay, today’s ‘ninth’ task was to round up the sheep and get a poo sample from Fern to take to the vets! The plan was to get this done, have lunch and then get back to sorting the stable store.
The fact that we dropped the sample off the vets at 4pm, might give you an indication of how well our plans went... not!! To begin with we tried rounding up the sheep with the alpacas still in the same field: definitely not a recipe for success. After that the ‘will’ to flock seemed to dwindle and then just when we though they were all getting their acts together and heading for the pen, Mrs White and family broke rank which sent the Dartmoors all skittish and poor Skerry (Shetland) then did not have a clue which group to follow.
David headed back to the house as we felt that at least one of us ought to go back and salvage the day by starting another job whilst Jack decided that plan b) should be to follow Fern, wait for her to poo and then scoop it up. However, three quarters of an hour later, whilst thoroughly enjoying the views and spending time with the animals, not a poo was to be seen (well, not a fresh one).
Wondering how much longer to give it, Jack continued to follow Fern and co before suddenly realising that they were heading in the general direction of the collecting pen. Gently and slowly, as they walked forward, she discouraged any change of direction with a slow wave of her arm and all of a sudden all three Dartmoors and the Shetlands (who had appeared from behind) ran forward and shot into the open entrance… unbelievable!! After rapidly shutting the gate and then getting them in the handling pen, another bum wash followed, the indignity of which then prompted a small poo. This was rapidly scooped up and sealed in a jar! Job done!!!
Results tomorrow and without wishing to jinx it, we do think Fern MAY be starting to get less sloppy and as such we don’t think there is a worm problem. Maybe it is all down to the rich grass after all??? Hopefully nothing worse!!!
The fact that we dropped the sample off the vets at 4pm, might give you an indication of how well our plans went... not!! To begin with we tried rounding up the sheep with the alpacas still in the same field: definitely not a recipe for success. After that the ‘will’ to flock seemed to dwindle and then just when we though they were all getting their acts together and heading for the pen, Mrs White and family broke rank which sent the Dartmoors all skittish and poor Skerry (Shetland) then did not have a clue which group to follow.
David headed back to the house as we felt that at least one of us ought to go back and salvage the day by starting another job whilst Jack decided that plan b) should be to follow Fern, wait for her to poo and then scoop it up. However, three quarters of an hour later, whilst thoroughly enjoying the views and spending time with the animals, not a poo was to be seen (well, not a fresh one).
Wondering how much longer to give it, Jack continued to follow Fern and co before suddenly realising that they were heading in the general direction of the collecting pen. Gently and slowly, as they walked forward, she discouraged any change of direction with a slow wave of her arm and all of a sudden all three Dartmoors and the Shetlands (who had appeared from behind) ran forward and shot into the open entrance… unbelievable!! After rapidly shutting the gate and then getting them in the handling pen, another bum wash followed, the indignity of which then prompted a small poo. This was rapidly scooped up and sealed in a jar! Job done!!!
Results tomorrow and without wishing to jinx it, we do think Fern MAY be starting to get less sloppy and as such we don’t think there is a worm problem. Maybe it is all down to the rich grass after all??? Hopefully nothing worse!!!