Farm Diary 23
I am writing this page in April 2000. It will lack the immediacy of some of the earlier entries, but should still give some idea of farm life. The text will be rather brief! I am basing it on memories evoked by the photographs and on the notes in the farm Day Book and animal and field records.
May 24
The last few days we've moved our 1 and 2 year old heifers and bullocks and spread more loads of muck.
Our first 'internet' visitors arrived, a lovely German family. They arrived by train and I went to pick them up from Plymouth. They are very interested in everything about the farm.
Judith with Jess in Higher Racks.
Walking round the farm with Linda-Sue and Judith we found one of the
lambs with a very badly injured leg. It had had the flesh taken off down
to the bone. Horrible. It was one of a twin so we had to find the twin
once we had found the mother. It's difficult to read the numbers on their
sides when they're all bunched up together. Linda-Sue found the twin
before we did 'I looked for one that was looking for its mother'.
We
took the injured lamb to the vet, who said it was an injury obviously
caused by a badger. He bandaged it up but wasn't very hopeful.
Trying to match the right lamb with the right ewe.
Injured lamb, well bandaged, back up in the shed.
Our visitors came for a walk with us in the afternoon, down to check the hoggs in Mill Field. With the hoggs was an older sheep that was scanned as empty when we scanned the ewes back in January.
We were standing leaning on the gate looking over, when james
suddenly exclaimed and jumped over into the field. 'Oh, no! not another
disaster!' It wasn't. The old ewe had had a lamb, now several hours old.
It was a lovely contrast to the horrors of the morning.
We caught the ewe easily enough, as she was used to being handled.
The lamb was another matter. We didn't want to frighten it by chasing it
around the field, but it was toolively and nervous. the one who caught it
was Linda-Sue again. She's a natural.
We took the new lamb up to the shed to ear tag it.
For some other good farm diaries, link to:
Paul
Stanbridge, farming 500 acres of arable, 25 miles North of London.
A good example of a responsible, conventional farmer. I don't envy him
his problems with destructive humans.
Ford Farms, a small farm near us who has just started a diary page.
