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Contains forums, wildlife live webcams, diary, blog, artciles and pictures of farm animals.

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Three of the Ewes lambed today two sets of twins…

Three of the Ewes lambed today, two sets of twins, one set by another Crossbreed, another set by the Dolly the Texel Ewe, another Portland also had a single lamb. I put the camera on them this afternoon, you may have seen two Fox sniffing around Dolly’s pair, and Dolly chasing them off. I should think that the Fox were a pair with cubs, we see them most years in that area with their cubs, hopefully we will catch them on camera in a few weeks time. It is unusual for the Fox to take healthy lambs, that are on their feet. The Fox may take a weak lamb and sometimes a lamb that is being born.

I think this would be the first lambs that the Texel Ewes have had. They were orphaned lambs and hand reared by a child. They are quite old and it is nice that they have had lambs. Most we have named, Dolly, Minty, Cranberry etc. They are very friendly and will feed from your hands.

We walked down the valley before we put the Ewe and lamb in the barn tonight. When we went back to put them away, we found them waiting by the barn door, Ky who had run on in front, was sitting by the side of the lamb. I reckon Ky thinks the lamb as a playmate, or maybe dinner. The Ewe looks forward to coming in of a night, and is making sure she is not forgotten.

I bottle fed the lamb late last night, somehow without me realising, as I left the barn, the lamb managed to squeeze itself out of the barn door. The Ewe let me know by bleating, I quickly looked around the barn, not seeing the lamb I went out to look for her, there was the lamb running to the paddock, were they are put in the daytime, without a care in the world, not caring if its mother was with it or not. It would not survive out on it own, the Fox would soon get her, still being weak.

Ladies udder is very large, with a little waxing of the nipples, I wouldn’t swear to it, but it looks like she will foal anytime. The Broadband connection went down just after 1.am, when it goes down, even for just a second, it turns the webcam sending signal off, I have to turn it back on manually. If I had known, no doubt I could have reset it immediately. It sometimes happens for a few night in a row. When I check Lady I will make sure the webcams are working, hopefully then they wont be off for long. I may even change Ladies camera over onto the Denbury Farm, camera one. Check it out if the foaling camera is not on.

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There is a new posting on the Ghost cam page…

There is a new posting on the Ghost cam page.

Today you may have seen three of the Portland sheep on camera two fighting. Two of them are Ram lambs that were born last year, they are being a bit brave with the flock Ram, trying to take over, but he is a bit to cute and strong, even with two of them trying it on. They are bit to young at the moment. The older ram is getting a bit old now, he is what is known as broken mouthed, meaning that he is loosing a few teeth, as time goes on he will not be able to eat as well as he should, he will then start to loose a little condition, that is when the younger Rams will have their chance.

A new lamb was born last night, to one of the cross breed sheep. It was a bit of a surprise, as it was brown and the Ewe is white, the father, is the white Portland Ram, so the colour is a throw back from the Ewes cross breeding.

The farm next to ours have their Ewes and lambs out in the fields, it is good size flock that would need a lot of work throughout the year. It looks like most of the Ewes have twin lambs. As the lambs get older they tend to to get into little groups, playing and chasing around the field, good to watch.

A couple of days ago an entry from the US, on the forum said that that one of the Badger was still limping. As I am writing this entry I am changing between camera one and two, there are ten Badgers feeding, six on camera one and four on two, but I have not seen the one who is limping, they all seem fine.

When we went on our walk down the valley today, with Tass and Ky, we went further than the cameras view, disturbing the three deer that have been feeding on the valley camera of a nighttime. Looking at their hoof prints, there is a lot of activity. Because of the distance we would need to run the electricity wire, it would be very difficult to get a camera set up, but it would be an interesting site, I will look into it tomorrow.

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With the Clocks going forward tonight…

With the Clocks going forward tonight, the Badgers will be fed at about 8.pm tomorrow

The Blackthorn trees started to flower today, for me a sure sign that spring is on its way. The trees delicate white flowers bring the hedgerows alive, after the long winter. Although the flowers last for a very short period, they are a delight, on dropping they leave for a short time, a white carpet on the ground.

The tree has had many uses over time, the flowers and autumn berries were said to have medicinal uses, the flowers as well as other uses, was said to make a pick you up tonic, the autumn berries were used for tummy upsets, with lots of preparation a syrup could be made for jams etc.

The wood was used for walking sticks, pegs and rake teeth. Because of its medicinal uses the tree was also associated with Black Magic. The main use on farms now is that it helps make, with other trees and shrubs, stock proof hedging to stop you animals from straying.

I am still having to bottle feed the remaining twin lamb. Although the Ewe has milk, she is reluctant to get up when the lamb needs it. The lamb tries to get to the udder when the Ewe is laying down, pushing as hard as it can to get in between the Ewes hind leg and belly. The Ewe just wont help her, although this evening when they came in, the lamb seemed to have a full belly, so it may have got more milk today.

The lamb knows when I am going to feed it. when it sees me it runs towards me bleating. Quite obviously it wants the feed, but it does not take the bottle very well, it tries to suck it from the side, it doesnt seem to get a lot that way. I struggle with it to make it take it properly, when it does it gets a full feed.

I am not convinced that the lamb will survive, there is a good chance that it did not get all the colostrum that it should have, when born. It had an infection to its upper eye lid, it was not very pleasant getting it sorted out. It looks a lot better now and should heal.

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The Veterinary came today to check out the broodmares I…

The Veterinary came today to check out the broodmares. I had changed the camera over so that it could be seen, unfortunately the sun was shining into the stable and the picture whited out.

Very often mares get badly torn vulva’s and around that area, on their first foaling. Many studs have their mares vulva’s cut to stop any serious tearing, and stitched after the foaling, the restitching of the vulva makes it necessary to have the vulva’s re cut just before any future foaling. I always try not to have them restitched, after foaling we check the vulva area, if it is not torn and clean we let it heal naturally, it saves the mares any stress when they have their new foal at foot.

At last years foaling neither Lady or Woody needed restitching, but I have them checked out before this years foaling to make sure that the vulva did not need re cutting. Lady was fine and she was not re cut. Woody had closed up and had to have a small incision, after having a local anesthetic. Woody has no problem with the Veterinary, and takes any treatment by them without flinching. Lady is completely different, on any new Veterinarians first visit, even without any indication it is a Veterinary, she knows. I normally let Lady and Woody walk themselves into the stable, Lady will never let Woody leave her, and follows her without fail, not today, she saw the Veterinary and legged it in the opposite direction to Woody and the Veterinary, she didn’t need a lot of chasing, but for sure she knew. Now we just have the foaling to look forward to, and having to wake ourselves all through the night, until Lady and Woody foal.

We managed to put a new Squirrel feeder in place today, near where the Badgers feed on camera two, I saw a squirrel there yesterday. with a bit of luck it will find it soon. I may need to put a bird feeder close to it, for they seem to find the bird feeders first, although I should imagine that the Squirrels have been feeding on any left over Badger food from the night before.

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Over the past two weeks there has been two Squirrels…

Over the past two weeks there has been two Squirrels feeding on the birds sunflower hearts. At the end of last summer the Squirrels disappeared and stopped using the Squirrel feeders. They had used the feeders for nearly two years up to then. We did not even see them about, maybe they had got a disease and died, we could not imagine what had happened to them. Although we had a very dry summer the hazel nuts were very large, maybe they had plenty of feed stored, and did not need to feed on the peanuts in the feeders.

At about the time they disappeared I had obtained various items to make a squirrel obstacle course, I had been planning it for a few months but never got it up and running. If they stay for a few weeks now, I will start it up. I have seen one Squirrel near the Badger sett at camera two location, that looks to be an ideal site.

I don’t know why I encourage Squirrels, they are very destructive to trees, especially saplings and the younger trees, they eat the bark, this kills the trees. They also raid bird nest for their eggs, all in all they are a menace, but a lot of people do get enjoyment watching them at the feeder, lifting the lid of the feeder to get the nuts out. They also remind me of rats, they are one animal that I hate, I cant even bear to look at them, if I see one I run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.

When our Springer Spaniel, Jade was younger she was a very good ratter and would dispose of them within a few seconds. On one occasion someone had left an animal feed bin open all night, I went to feed the animals and there was a rat in the bin, I screeched, nearly had a heart attack and ran. As normal Jade had heard me and knew instantly it was a rat, she jumped into the bin, by this time the rat had buried itself in the corn. Jade was nosing about in the corn trying to find the rat, who in turn bit her on the nose, did Jade yelp, she was having none of that, she got the rat and where normally she would dispose of it instantly she played with it in revenge for the bite. She is to old and slow to catch them now. Fortunately now we don’t see many rats. Just as well, for Tass is not a very good ratter.

It looks like Lady will have the Foal any time in the next week. The Veterinary is coming tomorrow to check her and Woody out, I will let you know tomorrow what his thought are.

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At the moment the Badgers tend to be feeding on…

At the moment the Badgers tend to be feeding on camera one first, it could be because it is staying lighter of an evening. Although camera one is very near the farmhouse, it is positioned in a darker and more secluded spot than camera two, that is very open position. As it gets lighter of an evening I gradually feed later. The clocks go forward this weekend, so I will start to feed the Badgers an hour later, at about 8 to 8.15pm. In the summer you can see the Badgers in colour as they feed before it gets dark.

The Deer were not about last night, they use the same spot at nearly the same time for three or four days, then go off somewhere else. I should think it would be close by as we often see or hear them in the day. We are leaving the valley camera on of a night to try to see them. Last night there were a couple of Badgers and a Fox running through, it makes a change to see them in the valley, a little more interesting than it is at feeding times.

The lake has been very noisy today, two pairs of Geese flew in and have being arguing all day trying to chase each other off. Why they both cant put up with each other, I don’t know, every year only one pair settle. Last year two pairs flew in and tried chasing each other off, in the end three of the Geese flew of together, leaving one on its own. A pair did settle a few weeks later.

We need to get on with a couple of jobs on the lake. We are going to put a couple of landing branches in the the lake to encourage the Kingfisher to catch the fish from them, so that we can see them on the cameras. We have Kingfishers on the farm, but we do not see them as much as we would like.

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The Ewe and lamb are doing much better they are…

The Ewe and lamb are doing much better, they are turned out on the grass in the mornings and come in of a night.

No more of the Ewes have lambed yet, but I am sure that it just a matter of time and we will have a few more. They will have to come in very soon to allow the grass to grow to make our hay for the year, and give the horse their grazing from the beginning of May until the Autumn.

Lady is showing no further signs of foaling, her udder is getting larger but no signs that the foaling is imminent. We have to check her out many times throughout the night, having a monitor in our bedroom to save having to go to the stables. Mother who also has a cottage on the farm, has a monitor, so that she can keep an eye on the mares. She insists on keeping watch for us, and stays awake all hours of the night. With all of us watching we have still nearly missed the births on a couple of occasions. I am sure that without our help the births would happen naturally without any problems, but it is not worth taking the chance. So many things can go wrong, a breach birth, legs coming out in the wrong position, the mare being to exhausted and starts to give up and lays down, many unwanted situation that might need ours or the Veterinaires help. Once born you need to make sure that the foal gets the colostrum in the first six hours. First you have to make sure that it can get up on its feet, a number of times foals have been to exhausted to get up. One could not find the mares udder. Some first time foaling mares, don’t like the foal suckling them, and we then have to hand milk the mare and bottle feed the colostrum, within a few hours the mare normally gets the idea and allows the foal to feed naturally.

It is essential for the foal to get the colostrum milk, as is all new born animals and humans. This special milk is yellow to orange in color and thick and sticky. It is low in fat, and high in carbohydrates, protein, and antibodies to help keep the new born healthy. Without it newborns struggle, any small germs or diseases without having the colostrum can cause new born animals to die. If a mare has a lot of colostrum we will milk a little off and freeze to use in case of any future problem, with other mares.

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We try at least four times a week to walk…

We try at least four times a week to walk around the whole farm. Although the farm is only sixty acres, it is in a long strip, and it is more like walking a hundred acres, with each field having different aspects.

The farm is in a very beautiful secluded valley. On entering before getting to the farmhouse and buildings, there is a three hundred metres driveway, with the lakes to one side, that opens up at the end to open fields, like entering Shangri-La. On both sides there are woods that line the sides of the valley, that really does make it haven for wildlife.

It does not matter how many times we walk the valley, we never tire of it, we are always looking for new tracks and foot prints of the wildlife, little bits of badger or fox hair that may get snagged on the barbed wire as they have gone under. We have taken out most of the barbed wire, but a little has been missed. With the different season smells and plants, there always seems to be something to talk about on the walks.

In the woods you often hear the breaking of twigs and catch a glimpse of the deer that trod on them. This time of year you can hear the Buzzard menacing the Rooks, and see the Rooks mobbing the Buzzard in retaliation, determined to chase it away. As big as the Buzzard is the Rooks nearly always win the confrontations, out numbering the Buzzard by many.

It looks very much like we have missed the snow, when we do get it, you can see animal and bird tracks in places that you have never seen before. The Badgers have well worn tracks that they have followed, some say for hundreds of years. The tracks in the snow show just how many Deer, Fox and Badgers have visited the valley, that you would not have known about if it had not snowed.

A question on an entry yesterday, asked the what Deer have been on the cameras over the past few days. The three are Roe deer they are smaller than the Red, now that you have seen the Roe you will know immediately when you see a Red.

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The twin ram lamb was missing this morning unfortunately he…

The twin ram lamb was missing this morning, unfortunately he must have been taken by a Fox or Badger. We have looked everywhere for him, but he could not be found. I had given the lambs a late bottle feed last night, the last time I saw him was at 11.30pm

I had the choice putting the Ewe and lambs in a closed barn at night, it would have been easier to feed the lambs, if I had, but the Ewe was not happy to be shut in. It was a mistake and the Ewe and lamb have been shut in tonight, and will be at night until the lamb is stronger.

The lamb should start to get stronger quickly now that the Ewe only has one lamb to feed, as soon as it is, it can go out in the flock with the Ewe.

The other Ewe and lamb are doing great, the lamb is starting to try to get the other sheep to play with it. A few of them will, but most just try to ignore it. You may have seen them on camera this afternoon, the lamb bouncing about and exploring everything and everyone, including a pheasant that initially edged away from the lamb before deciding he was being harassed far to much, and got out of the way. The sooner we get the other lamb out the better it will be for both of them, as the lambs do enjoy running about with each other.

As we were walking up the valley this afternoon we saw a Hare, it is the first one that we have seen, or may have noticed for many years. When we first moved onto the farm we often saw them, but they seem to have disappeared, It was good to see it, and hopefully they are returning.

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I don t know if anyone else saw them between…

I don’t know if anyone else saw them, between camera one and camera two last night there were ten badgers. I have been checking the cameras out every night since we found the dead Badger, and although I had my suspicions that the dead Badger was not from the local sett as it looked very small, but you can never be sure until you see the amount that are normally there. The dead Badger must have unknowingly strayed into the local setts area and unfortunately got attacked.

We also managed to show the three Roe deer, later last night, they were grazing and laying in the valley field for a good hour. We will see if they are about tonight, for they often come back at the same time for a few nights running.

The two Ewes decided that they wanted to join the flock this morning, trouble was the twin lambs got left behind and were crying out for their mother, we did not notice until they were a good way off, so we had to go looking for them. No way were the Ewe and single lamb going to be captured, they had decided they liked the bigger fields. The lamb is a good size so it will be fine. The twins mother was easy to catch, she was pleased to see the lambs when she got back to them. We are still having to help feed the lambs by hand feeding them with a bottle, I don’t think they will survive without the help.

As is most of the country, we are being promised snow over the next few days. The Farm, the surrounding hills and countryside really take on a different aspect and is a delight to see, although it does make work on the farm harder, so I cant say we are relishing the thought of it. We don’t get a lot of snow here, so with a bit of luck, it may miss us.