A rather incredible day: we’ve had cows racing for joy in their new field of lush grass, goats having their fill (and then some) of a very overflowing hedgerow, all five Indian Game eggs under our broody IG hatching out, our first ever West of England goose hatching (and it's a female) with the other four pipping… AND all the lambs being tagged and having their second vaccinations... smallholding days don't come much busier!! Moving the cows was fun!! They were so suspicious at first because they had never actually been through the gate we had opened for them. It took a very brave Parsley to lead the way, slowly edging down past the barn and then out into the top 3-acre! Both of last year’s calves weren’t too far behind but we had to go back and fetch Sage and hers and Parsley’s calves and then Jack had to CARRY Thyme’s calf to get Thyme to come. Once they were all in, we then witnessed not one, not two but about FIVE laps of honour around the field plus some fairly full-on ‘mole hill’ wallowing!!! Not altogether sure why they do it, but Sage spent several happy minutes rolling her head in various mole hills: it was all quite dog-like and we were just thankful it wasn’t fox poo – which had this been a dog, it most certainly would have been. The goats entered the 4-acre quite tentatively too but within seconds all we could see were bums as heads became ensconced in the hedges and the munching begun. They won’t want their breakfast tomorrow, or rather they will but it will be much reduced rations!!! Although, it was another success for us humans, we cannot say that the sheep experience today was as joyful for them as the goat and cow ones. Tagging and vaccinating are jobs that have to be done, tagging is a legal requirement and vaccinations are highly advised by vets BUT for the lambs, having holes punched in ears and then a needle stuck in the skin, cannot rate as a great way to spend the afternoon. The sad thing about the tagging is that we will almost definitely have one or more sheep that ‘lose’ their tags over the next few months/years and in many cases, ‘losing’ it means ripping it out in an accident, therefore causing pain and injury!! We are in good company with most other smallholders and possibly a fair few farmers too in hating having to tag our stock like this.
And great news on the chick and gosling front: an update and photos will follow tomorrow!!!