We found one of the Portland Ewes had died in the night. She was an old Ewe who I thought may have died in the Summer. Sheep lose their teeth as they get older and are not able to eat the grass that well. When this starts to happen they are called broken mouthed. The Ewe managed to get out of the fenced off area yesterday afternoon and was walking around grazing. I really wasn’t that concerned about her as she looked fine. Definitely not that she was going to die overnight. When I went to make sure that the Horses were alright before we went to be bed, I also checked that the Ewe had not wondered off, although she was not one to go off on her own, She was grazing by the gate of the fenced area. Unfortunately that is what sometimes happens with live stock.
We are going to have to think about weaning Willow off of Lady next week. She is seven months old and it is now time. We should have weaned her a few weeks back, but we were so busy breaking Bliss and Misty that we didn’t get the time. When Bliss and Misty were here it would have been a lot easier. It would just have been a case of putting Lady in a paddock with Arnie and letting Willow run with the two Fillies. Within a few weeks Lady would have dried up and that would have been the end of it. Now I fear it is going to be a little more difficult. I will let you know when we are going to do it, an how it goes.
This year has been the driest Winter that I can remember for a long while. It also helps that it has not been particularly cold. Mind you it is tonight. Unless we have a very wet spell, we maybe able to keep the Horses out in the field for a few weeks in to December, what ever happens they will be stabled before January, to allow for the fields to recover before the Spring grass starts to grow.
Jan, I am sorry but I don’t know what is wrong with the SWT camera. I saw that it was not working last night and had started to phone Peter this morning to let him know, but the camera came on just before it rang so I didn’t bother. I will email him now. It could well be that the IR lamps have stopped working and you cant see anything because of that. But it is a remote location at the end of the telephone line, so the broadband connection will never be a 100% reliable.