Author: MrFarmer

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For about three hours to day we have been setting…

For about three hours to day, we have been setting a camera up to watch a pair of Pied Wagtail nesting. They are nesting in an extractor fan outlet hole, in one of the holiday cottages. After a few problems we managed to get it going, but on putting the camera and light into the hole, we found that the light did not have the power to light up the recess, that the nest is in. I will have to look at the alternatives, and try to get it up and running tomorrow.

The Swallows are starting to arrive on the farm, to start their nesting. I must admit they are our favorites for the nesting cameras, they really are cute. They have in recent years lost a lot of their old nesting sites on the farm, as we have converted two barns. I am putting up a few shelves in another of our barns, in the hope that it will encourage them to nest in that barn. I can then hopefully put a camera up to watch them there. If I get the time, and I can find four different types of Birds nesting, I will put a camera up on each nest. I have a piece of equipment, that will allow me to rotate the four cameras at intervals I choose, on the four nests.

We are not getting the rain that we need to get the grass growing as it should be. The ground is very hard and we need a fair bit of rain soon. Most years the Horses are able to graze a seven acre field, for all of the summer and part of the autumn, up to November, December time. That’s allowing them to start to graze the field, on about the 1st of May. What with the sheep still on the fields grazing and the lack of rain, the grass may not last as long as usual. I know most of you would rather have the good weather we are now getting, but long dry spells do cause problems in farming, that in turn causes price increases in the food you purchase. Dont worry how daft you may look, go outside and try a little rain dance.

We have the remains of a small Cider Orchard on the farm. For the first time since we have lived here, every tree blossemed and we had more fruit than ever. There were more Blackberries and other hedge fruits than usual, and the Wallnuts were large. And that was after the exceptional hot and dry summer. We thought that we were in for a hard winter, because of the large ammount of fruit. On the conterary, the Autume and Winter were the mildest that I can remeber. I dont know that I am convinced on Global Warming, but if it is happening, Farmers will need to change there ways of farming.

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By luck not so lucky for a last year Portland…

By luck, not so lucky for a last year Portland Ewe lamb, there are now ten Sheep in the field that I an now putting them in. A few day ago I saw her caught up with a piece of electric fencing wire, tangled around her back foot and a fence post. I was on the quad at the time. As I drove towards her she got up and started to run away breaking, the wire. There was still a very long length attached to her, so I gave chase on the quad. That really is not a good idea. Quads used foolishly are very dangerous, and my chasing the Ewe was foolish. They are so easy to turn over, with the machine finishing on top of you. I purchased the quad new. On the first day of having it, a girl who had her horse stabled on the farm, was using the quad and trailer, after mucking her horse out, she went around a turn to quick, and the quad finished up on top of her. She was lucky, escaping with a couple of scratches, as did my new quad bike. A couple of Christmases back Ozzy Osborne was seriously hurt on one. So you have got to be very careful on them.

When I was chasing the Ewe, I was trying to cut her off from going into the wood, by swinging the quad from side to side, it started to tip as I swung it into the camber of the hill. If I had not cut my speed it would have completely gone over. After slowing down I could not catch her from going into the wood. The quad tyre did go over the trailing wire and broke a fair piece off, but there was still a lot trailing behind her. The next day I saw, what I thought was the remainder of the wire laying in the field. I didn’t bother to check the Ewe to make sure that it had dropped off her.

Yesterday after catching and moving the Texel Ewes and Lambs I heard a Ewe calling out, believing that it was one of the Texel’s that we had left behind, and that she was calling for the Ewes we had moved, I did not bother to much about it. This afternoon I could still hear a Ewe calling from the wood. It was to continuous not to investigate. I soon came across the calling Ewe, it was the last years Portland Ewe Lamb, who had the wire on its foot, caught up on a low tree branch. She had obviously been there for a day or two, going by her messy rear end. After cutting her free and cleaning her up, she was given a drive on the quad, to join the nine sheep that have been move to their new pasture. Only fourteen left to catch.

The Grand National, it would not be my favorite Horse Race. It is not the four and a half miles they run, neither the thirty large jumps they have to negotiate. Horses regularly did both and more when hunting was allowed. National Hunt Racing was born out of Fox and Deer hunting. What I don’t like is the injuries and fatalities that are caused because of it being a race. Being a race the Horses are pushed on hard to win. To hard for most of them, as the low percentage of those Horse that finish the race shows. Today just thirteen of forty starters finished the race, and this was a good year.

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We checked Lady s foaling dates and they are correct…

We checked Lady’s foaling dates, and they are correct, so she is about three weeks overdue. I should think that it may be to do with Woody being unwell. Lady has always been very dependant on Woody. Woody’s illness has caused her to stress out a bit.

When ever Woody crashes out in the paddock, I take her back to her stable. After I had taken Woody in, Lady would stand by the gate and continually call out for her. Over the past weeks, with Woody going into to her stable early, Lady is getting use to Woody not being about so much, and has called far less. Hopefully this will be the start of her not depending on Woody, as much as she does.

We did a bit better with the Sheep movement today. We managed to pen two Ram Lambs and the Flock or Stud Ram. We made sure that we had a cover on the top of the trailer, so they were not able to jump out. About an hour later, Dolly, Minty, Cranberry and an other Ewe followed the bag of feed, into the pen. We also managed to pen the Lambs in with them. Unfortunately I had not made it as secure as I should, and the lambs managed to find a way out. Dolly’s Lambs waited patiently outside for her. Over two hours or so, the other Lambs came to the pen to feed off of their mothers. I managed to catch all the Lambs and put them into the trailer. Dolly jumped into the trailer to be with her Lambs. I managed to get the other three Ewes into the trailer, and I took four Ewes and five Lambs to the field that I had prepared for them. There are now nine Sheep and five Lambs captured. Still a long way to go, but we will get there.

These two pairs of Geese wont give up. I was just going to write that a pair had settled, as there were only one pair on the lake today, and they were on the island. When I checked on camera this evening, the other pair were back and still fighting. Surly one pair must go and find another nesting site.

After seeing the posting about the Butterfly Farms cameras, I phoned them, The Ant camera should be on now, on the Butterfly Farm camera two. They were going to try to put the new cameras in place this afternoon. If they manage to get them up, they will get an electrician, to get them on line. This will not take to long. The cameras are off very often. I know that is because of circumstances beyond their control. As soon as they realise that the cameras are off, they will quickly restart them.

The Astro camera are run by myself. What I am trying to do with it, has never been attempted in the format that I am trying. The Telescope has had to be returned to the suppliers, because of a minor problem. Whilst at the suppliers the Telescope will be setup and tested. I am new to Astronomy, and although it is a very sophisticated piece of equipment, it does need a lot of my time to use it to its full potential. When it is returned I will explain all about this.

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After checking Lady last night before going to bed I…

After checking Lady last night, before going to bed, I was drawn to open the boot of my car, that is always parked outside our entrance door. Why I was drawn to it, I really don’t know, I have never done it before, and there was no reason for it. I reckon someone up there wanted to give me a fright to keep me awake, to be able to keep an eye on Lady. As I opened the boot, looking into my eyes was a mouse. With my fear of mice and rats, my first and only instinct was to slam down the boot and run, but before I had even the chance to do that, a small rat came out of a gap in the boot panelling. It was horrible, I screamed, slammed the boot down and was gone. Since we have had the farm, I have got a little better when I see mice or rats, but only to the extent that I don’t scream out as load, as I once did, but I still run. Big girls blouse, you may think, yeah, but I don’t care.

It was my own fault, and I am lucky that I had not seen any before. For convenience I have been leaving the bags of sunflower hearts and peanuts, for the Birds and Badgers in the boot of the car. I wont be doing that anymore.

The first job this morning was to clean the car boot out. Gingerly I took all the old bags and spilt food out of the boot. Taking the spare wheel out was a little, no, very daunting. Fortunately I found nothing horrible. If they are still there, I have left a tasty meal for them for tonight supper. They wont bother me after that. No way, for any reason would I have driven that car last night, I dread to think what might have happened if I had seen one when I was driving.

Had I managed to move any of the sheep, I was asked on the forum this morning. This morning I actually penned in four of last years Ram Lambs. They are not so much a problem as the Ewes, as they wander all over the farm, as a group, in places that I would be pleased for them to graze off. But I had them, and it would be good practice.

I tied the trailer to the gates of the pen I had made, and started to load the Ram Lambs in to it. They did not want to be captured, one tried to butt me, I managed to get hold of his horn before he got me. I had managed to get three of them into the trailer. Then the trouble started. Hey diddle diddle, the cat played fiddle, the cow. Well, who ever penned that nursery rhyme, should have seen this sheep jump, if they had, the nursery rhyme would have been a little different, for this Ram Lamb cleared the trailer with the extra side panels on, with inches to spare, and away he went, as fast as his legs would carry him. I had somehow managed to put the trailer back up. That was a mistake, for the last one to be loaded, saw the light under the trailer and whilst nearly knocking me over, squeezed its self under the trailer to freedom, and was gone like a flash. I suppose getting two Sheep to where I wanted them was something, however small, that’s of course if they are still up there. All this experience that I am getting, could help make me a Shepperd.

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Whilst i was finishing off the hoses out side this…

Whilst i was finishing off the hoses out side this evening, the two pairs of Geese flew in. Five minutes later another pair were above, looking to land on the lake

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The Ewe that got savaged by a dog last year…

The Ewe that got savaged by a dog last year, had twin lambs last night. She had been named as Cookie. I tried to go up to her and the lambs to check the three of them out, but she ran away into the woods, with the lambs in tow, finding it difficult to keep up with her. I was surprised that she had ran away, only two days ago she came very close to me, when I was looking over another Ewe that had lambed. It was good to see her with the lambs after her ordeal of last year.

For the past two days I have been feeding the Ewes in the pen that I had made, so that I could catch them, and take them to the field that I had prepared. Both the Ewes and the lambs, were happy to go into the pen for the feed, so I decided today I would try to catch them. As long as I could get close to the gate when they went into the pen, I should be able to close the gate behind them.

There were most of the sheep in the field. I walked up to the pen, feed bag in hand, shaking the feed inside of it, and calling out for them to notice me. It did not take them long to respond. Dolly who I did not expect to see, was the first to follow me to the pen, her two lambs following behind her. More Ewes and lambs joined in. By the time I had got to the pen, there were to many sheep to go into it. That did not matter, as long as I could catch eight or so, it would be a good start.

I put the feed into the trough, within seconds the pen was full, and they had not taken any notice of me being there. I quickly closed the gate behind ten Ewes, some with lambs and others waiting to lamb. I couldn’t believe how easy it was.

I tied the gate, and made my way back to the farm yard to collect the quad and trailer. It took about twenty minutes to prepare the trailer, putting the high sides on to stop the Ewes from jumping out. I hadn’t prepared it before, as I was not sure if I would catch the Ewes. I suppose it took half an hour to get back to the pen. I reversed it up to the pen and opened the gates, tying them to the trailer, with the tailboard of the trailer down, so that they could not make their escape under the trailer. All was now safe to load the Ewes and lambs.

I looked and I had to look again, just in case I had missed them, for except one, all the lambs were missing. My heart went into my stomach. They had somehow got out of the pen. They were there before I had left to collect the quad and trailer. I could hear them behind the hedge, bleating for their mothers, and the mothers were calling back to them. I then realised that a gap in one of the gates was to large, and that was how they had made their escape. I must admit, I thought that even with a gap in the gate they would have stayed with their mothers. Oh no, on the contrary, when I went on the other side of the hedge, to try to get them back into the pen, instead of going back in, they hot footed away, with another Ewe and her lambs.

I will have to close the gap and try again tomorrow, but I did profess of not being a sheep farmer.

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Woody has not stopped having very unwell periods since I…

Woody has not stopped having very unwell periods, since I last told you about her. It comes on so quickly, without any warning. A couple of days back, when we turned her out in the paddock, she seemed to be the best she had been for a long time. With out exaggeration, she came out of her stable, like a race horse coming out of the starting stalls. I was so shocked and unprepared, she initially was taking me to the paddock. In the afternoon she was flat out as if dying. It has been going on for so long now, that it can only be bad pains in the belly, or if you like colic, probably caused by the foal moving, or laying in an uncomfortable spot.

The trouble with colic, is that you can never be sure what type of colic is it. There are many causes for such pain, ranging from the mild and inconsequential to life threatening or fatal. One of the problems with equine colic is that it can be very difficult in the early stages to distinguish the mild from the potentially fatal. This is why we were concerned for Woody, we had to take the pains seriously right from the start.

I sure it would bore you if I went through the different types of colic, but we should presume that Woody , although in a lot of pain is experiencing a mild Spasmodic colic. Probably the most serious colic is Displacement colic, or Twisted Gut, without going into it, that is basically what it is. In most cases immediate surgery is required if the animal is to survive. Quite often even with surgery the animal will die.

Woody is about a month away from foaling. She does not look as large as she normally does, and I am a little concerned as to what the condition of the foal will be at birth, or indeed if Woody will be able to manage a foal. Once Lady’s foal has had a good first feed of the colostrum, I am hoping that there may be an amount, that I may be able to take for Woody’s foal, if it needs it. Chances are that I am over worrying, and all will go as it should do.

I was asked on the forum what Races Horses are the Horses we breed. They are all bred for the flat. I would worry for any Jump Horse, if I bred them. I don’t like to see a Horse run for great distances, with a lot of very high jumps.

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With the weather as it is nice and warm in…

With the weather as it is, nice and warm in the day, and freezing of a night, we have to take the horses rugs off in the day, and put them back on of a nightime. with the older Horses there is not a problem. The younger Horses are not use to it, they want to get involved or start to move about as you are doing the rugs.

Over the winter months, Lady’s and Woody’s foals, from last year, have been in a large gated area in one of the barns. It is a good size area, that unfortunatley allows them to much space when you have to do the rugs, so it takes for ever.

We aways put the youngsters in the same place every year. Being young they should be together in the first year, especially if they have grown up with each other from foals. It is company for each other, and hopefully helps them later in life to socialise with other horses. Some Horses can be very aggressive with other Horses, especially when there is food about. They will kick violently, believing that their feed will be taken. We have never had that problem. When youngster’s are put together, they share their feed, growing up knowing that other horses are not a threat to them when feeding. They can also be extremely dangerous to people.

Some years back I had two Lipizzaner Carriage Horses, Kane and Able, stabled in London. On the first day of receiving them, I gave them their nightly feed. As they were eating a friend came enquiring of my new Horses. We went into Kane’s stable to have a look over him. One silly mistake, and one that I will never make again, for as I went to the back of him, he let two barrels go, so high that the shod hoofs grazed my nose and cheek. I just managed to get out of the stable before he let another one go, he really wanted to get me. If the kick had hit me full on, I would not be hear to tell the story.

Back to the foals. Seeing them with their rugs off you appreciate how much they grow over a year. They are a good size, and look as if they will make a good 16hh. There confirmation, which is important with Race Horses, is extremely good.

Bliss is still very kind and gentle, laid back and always happy to see you. She has the same sort of temprement as her mother Lady. Woodys foal on the other hand, is another Woody with her temprement. She is kind, but very wary, and just as Woody threatens Lady, she threatens Bliss.

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The Squirrels have started to use the Squirrel feeder that…

The Squirrels have started to use the Squirrel feeder that can be viewed by the main Badger camera. Once we put a Bird feeder nearby, the Squirrel soon found the feeder. There were two on it this morning, having a push and shove to see who was going to stay. It is a good spot to get an obstacle course set up. I will give the Squirrels another week to get use to where the feeder is, then I will put up another post with a piece of wood between the two posts. Something easy to start with, so they are not put off by it. I saw one some years back, there were some difficult challenges for the Squirrels to do, before they got the peanuts, but they always worked it out.

We tried to move the sheep again today, they were having none of it. I have had to put a pen up, made of gates, and have started to feed them in it. The idea is that when there are a good few Sheep in the pen, I will close a gate behind them. I can then handle them to get them in a trailer, and take them up to the field that we have prepared for them.

Anyone who had seen last nights diary about the fish, and had seen the fish that I had on camera today, would have thought that I was romancing about the size of them. I looked a good few times to see if there were any good sized fish. All that were there were five to eight inch fish. Quite a few of them were Tench, the first time that I have seen any, other than what had been caught by people fishing.

Because of the number of cameras that are installed at Denbury, I have to have quite a sophisticated setup, that allows me to change over the cameras, so that they are able to be viewed on camera one and camera two thumbnails. I also have CCTV monitors that allows me to view any one, or all of the cameras privately. My television is a monitor. Without a Sky box I would not be able to watch television on it, but I am able to watch one, or all of the cameras on the monitor, I can also watch them in picture in picture. So there is not a lot I should miss. The reason I mention this, is that I watch the valley camera more than any other, except Lady’s camera. Just recently I have seen very little going on down the valley, which is a surprise, considering the area it covers, and with the woods on both sides. The IR lamps make the eyes stand out of any animal that may come into view. I use to very often pick up wildlife, but it has gone quite. Let me know on the forum if you see anything. After Lady has her foal, I will leave the valley camera on over night.

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Panning the camera around the lake looking for the Geese…

Panning the camera around the lake, looking for the Geese this morning, I caught sight of a large Crucian Carp, just under the surface of the water. As the Geese had done a bunk again, I spent a little time looking at the Fish. The water was a little bit scummy, that is caused by last years rotting reeds and Bull Rushes. I could still see a lot of big fish through the scum. As well as the Crucian Carp, there were a couple of very large Mirror Carp. The place where I could see them on camera, is only two feet or so deep, allowing the water to warm up, the fish seem to like it there. At the far end of the lake, there is one place on warm summer days, when the fish come to the surface and sunbath, for very long periods.

We stocked the lake with about a thousand fish, nine years ago. We put in Mirror Carp, Crucian Carp, Tench, Roach and Rudd. Although a thousand sounds a lot, believe me for a acre lake, it is a very small amount. None of the fish we put in were very large, but we made sure that there were a number, that were breeding size and age. We fed them for about three years, and you could see they had grown to a good size. The fish knew when I was approaching to feed them. A few times people were by the lake, at the place where I fed them, they had not seen any Fish until I was in sight of the lake, the Fish could not have known it was me, but were waiting before I got to the lake for the feed. I should think that they must of felt the vibration, of me walking towards the lake.

After three years I stopped feeding them. The Carp had grown very big in that time. A couple of years back a twelve pound Mirror Carp was fished out of the lake. There would have been larger Fish, but in the second season of us stocking the lake, an Otter decided to have her puppies in the field that the lakes are in. At first I thought that it was a Mink, but after talking to people who knew, I realised that it was an Otter. The Otter does not eat the scales of the fish, and their droppings have a very sweet smell to them. It was depressing walking around the lake of a morning. For weeks there were large fish scales on the banks where the Otter had eaten the fish. For sure the Otter was taking the largest fish. The Fish stand no chance of getting away from an Otter, and they always take the largest fish, as well as duckling and voles. They will also kill the fish without eating them. They are very vicious killers. Although it is good to see them returning, after nearly becoming extinct, I can understand why many years ago they were hunted.

Years back, country people ate the fish from the rivers, streams and lakes, the Otter was their competitor, they were not welcome. Having lakes you realise what predators Fish have. Otter, Mink, Heron and if you are near the coast and are really unlucky, you may get the Cormorant fly in.

The Bull Rushes and Reeds are starting to shoot up around the lakes. The Marsh Marigold and other Marsh Plants are coming into flower. This warm and sunny weather, in the past few days, has made the lakes and area around them, come to life, it looks great, and at 7.30pm one pair of geese flew back in.