We had the fright of our life when we got back from our fish and chip supper at Minehead last night. On our way driving down our lane we ass the Holiday Cottages lawns, when a caught a quick sight of white. I didn’t have to think about it or even look, for I knew that the Sheep that were meant to be fenced in around the lake, were on the lawns grazing. It was getting on and would be dark within half an hour, so we needed to get them back fenced in quickly. They were obviously enjoying the new grass that always shoots up after the lawn are mowed, so it wasn’t going to get them back to their well bare plot of land, so bare that we need to feed them hay every night and morning. The intention was to send six of them and four lambs to Market on Saturday. The new out break of foot and mouth has put a stop to that.
I really was surprised that all of the sheep had got out of the fenced area. Two of the Portland Rams keep getting out of the fenced area but stay around the lake. The battery on the electric fencer is well charged so I would expect them to get a fair shock, that would normally stop them from escaping. I can only think that somehow they are using their horns to get through the wire without receiving any shock. It took a fair bit of running around and the rattling of a feed bags, but we did eventually get them back. the Sheep had got out by walking over a fence that had fallen over. Our Holiday guests have been moving the wrong gate to get to the fishing lake and it had fallen down. My fault as I had not told them not to move the gate.
It is going to be a bit of a disaster for a lot of Livestock farmer with this new outbreak of Foot and Mouth. A lot of fodder that was made for Winter feed has been used already. Hay, Silage and Straw is more expensive than it has ever been. Cereals are fetching extremely high prices due to the Chinese importing more than the have ever have, and in the USA quite a lot is being used to make fuel. When I purchased my Horse feed this week it had increased in prices by a