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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

The little giraffe calf was born on the 1st December last year to Quiver, at Blackpool Zoo. We took our grandson for a pre Christmas treat on 18th December so it was just 18 days old. Also a picture of our favourite little pet Lewis who was then three and a half. Pam.

Our Garden yesterday(5-02-09) Rose W’canton.

Somerset and Dorset Air Ambulance landing just the other side of our garden wall today. Rose W’canton.

I had part of the email below from Chris at Pennywell Farm who sent his two Female Reindeer to be covered by Padfoot in the Autumn.

First the very sad news, my lovely one eyed reindeer was found dead this morning which is really bad news as I was very fond of her. I will be getting an autopsy to see what caused the premature death.

The follow up email arrive as I was writing tonight Diary.

Just had the autopsy. Very sad as it was in calf. We saw the embryo calf,
perfectly formed. It died of a twisted gut which surprised me as it hasn’t
been out doing much rolling or running around. Interestingly we saw the gut
twisted and also all the inflammation that caused , nasty!

The news is a terrible shame, but it has shown that Padfoot was fertile before he died, and that there is a good chance that our Reindeer Females are in Calf. Chris has asked us to find him two more Females for Pennywell Farm.

Twisted guts are not easy to diagnose. It causes animals a lot of pain. They are not able to eat or pass droppings. Operating on animals with a twisted gut is very unlikely to be successful. My only knowledge of it is with Horses. All that I have know to have it have died.

The Badgers mating was only the second time that I have seen it. It is also a good sign that there are Cubs in the Sett.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

2 photos of a sunset in the Summer. They were unbelievable. Possibly made so colourful by the moor fires we had had all day. All you could smell and see was the smoke. Merrilyn.

Next doors cat ‘Pusscat’. Merrilyn.

Some sort of bee ? on a daisy. Merrilyn.

This is from my friend in Marseille – it has never snowed this much in her lifetime – I think it’s a record fall for the South of France!!
Janie (Leeds)

It may be wishful thinking, but I am sure that the shape of the Reindeer is changing. All three have got fatter where I would expect them to if they were in Calf. As I say it could be wishful thinking for although I had seen Padfoot cover all of the Female Reindeer I don’t know if he was fertile with the illness that he eventually died of. I also did not see any of the Females return to Padfoot after he had covered them the first time. I put the dates that I had seen Padfoot mate with the Females on a calender in the Kitchen and without think I threw the calender away when I changed it for a 2009 calender. I believe that I mentioned two of the matings in the Diary some time in October, I will try to find time to go back and check.

The rat trap was set off when I checked it as I went to put the Badger feed down. It was empty, I never have caught any in a trap. I don’t think that I have any alternative but to try to poison the rats now. There are to many for me not to. I spoke to both the rat poison suppliers and a Veterinary to make sure that there was no chance of killing the Badgers if they eat any poisoned rats. The Badger would need to eat at least 10% of their body weight of the poison granules before it would have any effect on them, meaning that they would need to eat an awful lot of the poisoned rats to cause them to die. With the Badgers they may well dig them up if they smell the dead rats. I have only ever seen to two poisoned rats, most of them die where they live and all of those on the webcams live under ground, so the chances of any Owls taking a poisoned rat is unlikely. Our other concerns about putting poison down id for the Birds. We have an old wire Magpie trap to which we put a box in with the ends cut out. We also cover the box with grass. This stops any birds from getting to the poison.

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Starting from number seven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number seven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Photographs all sent in by Sue from her Cousins collection.

Karen don’t hurt your brain by worrying that the Female Reindeer are missing Padfoot. I am sure that they know that he has gone. In the wild the only real contact between Male and Females is in the rutting season. The Female Reindeer did not take any notice of Padfoot when he was in the Field dead. Don’t get me wrong when I first farmed I thought as you.

The only time when I have seen an animal being concerned for one that is dieing, is when Tass fussed around Jade the day and night before she died. We didn’t expect to find Jade dead in the morning that she died, but Tass knew.

When animals loose their young, even when still born they will try to revive their offspring and call out for them, sometimes for many days. Although I use milk I always feel sad when I hear Dairy Cows calling for their young that are more often than not taken from them after they have had the colostrum. Weaning Foals is not pleasant and I always feel for both the Mares and Foals.

The Charcoal Kiln arrived today. It is in a bit better condition that what I expected and other than a small amount welding it will do what we want it to do for a couple of years. I purchased it on Ebay for

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Starting from number one there are six new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are six new photographs on the Photo Page.

Dear Mr and Mrs Farmer, We are all so sorry to hear about the death of Padfoot, what a shock it was. I have put together a collection of photographs of Padfoot as a little tribute. Vicky, Diane and John.

I must admit losing Padfoot has been a great loss. We only had him for a short while. In that time I really enjoyed having him. He was never the threat that we were told he would be in the rutting season. The only time he showed any aggression, and I reckon that was him having a bit of fun, is when he put his antlers against the front wheel of the quad bike when we were taking it in to fix the fencing.

Padfoot mated with all of the Females and we did not see any return, so we are hoping that he will produce Calves in the Spring. It could be that he may not have been fertile as we do not know what his illness was. I was unable to take him for a Postmortem as a Fox or Badger had managed to maul his carcass at little in the night and any results would have been contaminated. Although you know my thought on hunting we do use the hunt kennels to dispose of our fallen stock. Hunt Kennel Men because of the amount and species of animals that they butcher are very good at seeing what animals have died of and he will be letting me know if he sees any thing that may have caused Padfoots death. He is also saving Padfoots antlers that we will mount.

We are now having to wait for the results of the blood and feces samples from the Female Reindeer at Cricket St Thomas, for I believe that Padfoot problems originated from there. If the results show that there is a virus or other illness that can be passed on to our Females we will need to take precaution and any measures that will stop them from dieing as Padfoot has. Once we know our Females are clear from any problems we will get another Bull Reindeer.

Arnie is a lot better, not a 100% but getting that way. He is eating as before he was ill and is a lot perkier. We have stable him from when he was ill. As long as he is alright in the morning we will let him out in the Horse Field for a few hours.

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Starting from number eight there are eight new photographs on…

Starting from number eight there are eight new photographs on the Photo Page.

I got that one wrong. There have been sent a lot of photographs today that will last for about a week.

Pelicans in Green Park.London. Janice (Leeds)

Here’s Dartmouth on a lovely summer day! We have a holiday home in Brixham, we love Dartmouth. Janice of Leeds

Roses – Hyde Park London May 2008. Janice (Leeds)

Atmospheric Glencoe. Janice of Leeds

Slapton towards Torcross. Devon. Janice (Leeds)

Slapton Nature Reserve. Devon. Roll on summer days again! Janice of Leeds

Ladybird poppies at Coleton Fishacre Garden. Janice of Leeds

The house at Coleton Fishacre.Devon
Janice of Leeds

First of all the good news. Arnie is much better today. Not completely right but he is eating well and he is a lot perkier. I can only guess but it could be that hew slipped over or even rolled that caused a strain in his abdomen. The problem was in that area by the way that Arnie was stretching his rear legs.

Now the bad new. Padfoot died this afternoon. I was going to mention in last nights Diary that we had seen him scouring on Saturday, he was eating well but had lost some weight. Some weight loss would not have been unexpected after the rutting season, but he was not putting any weight on now that it was finished. I was going to call the Veterinary in this morning to give him a blood test, but I decided first to phone Cricket St Thomas Zoo from where Padfoot came from to ask a few questions. There remaining Reindeer were also scouring badly and were being treated by their Veterinary. They had also had two Reindeer die over the past months. One before we collected Padfoot and one after.

I collected antibiotic and multivitamin from the Veterinary, that we injected him with at about 1.0pm. At 4.pm when I went to feed the Reindeer Padfoot was down and taking his last breath.

I had seen him as did Karen on the webcam walking about this afternoon, so to find him dieing really was a shock. We are going to take him to Bristol Veterinary College in the morning for a postmortem, that we hope will tell us what Padfoot died from. We are concerned for our three Female Reindeer after learning of the same trouble with the Reindeer at the Zoo. The only comfort is that Padfoot was scouring a while back and the Females have not had any problems yet. We are hoping for the best.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page sent in by Margaret of her stay at Denbury.

Me with Thornton.

Me feeling quite scared as can be seen from my face.

Breeze.

Arnie.

Dunster Castle.

Karen has asked to see a photograph of our Antique Gates that we are putting up at the entrance of our Driveway. The Gate Posts and railings are in place. As we are having the gates electrically operated they will need to have a couple of brackets welded on to the gates so that we can fit the mechanism. That is going to be done this Saturday. Whilst that welding is being done we are going to have the hinges welded so that it will be difficult to remove the gates. They would be worth a few pence in scrap value as they are so heavy. I would not like to lose them so they will not be hung on the Posts until then. When I say heavy, believe me they really are. Even my Lads and myself struggle to lift them, They would still be difficult to lift with four men. When they are hung I will put a photograph on the Photo Page.

The Pennywell Farm Reindeer surprisenly have not been that friendly since they have been here. I thought that as they were in an open Farm they would be very easy to get on with. On the contrary until today neither had come very close to us. This afternoon we managed to get one of then to come close to feed from a feed scoop, the other female is very wary. Other than Padfoot she chases all of the other Reindeer away from the feed troughs, not allowing any of the other Reindeer to have any feed until she has finished. That would be alright if she left any, she just keeps eating until the food is all gone.

Our Reindeer were from a Herd where they would not have got any individual attention, so we really are surprised and pleased just how friendly they are. Even Padfoot who we were told was a threat in the Rutting Season has been exceptionally good. We were told to be very careful not to go into the field with him. To make sure that all the Reindeer get the food that we put in the troughs I go in the field with Padfoot very close by and he has not shown any aggression at all. A few weeks back he did half heartedly attack a front wheel of the quad bike, so I always keep an eye on him just in case, for his antlers would do me a fair bit of damage.

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Sorry we are having a problem uploading the Photo Gallery…

Sorry we are having a problem uploading the Photo Gallery.

These five photographs were all taken in central Wisconsin , near Wonewoc, while riding our bikes on the

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Fungi. Lindsay.

More Fungi,this seems to like clover.Perhaps Jordan can identify it? Lindsay.

Viburnum already flowering.The scent from this tree is lovely.Thorp Perrow. Lindsay.

An area known as the Water Steps.Thorp Perrow. Lindsay.

These fabulous colours in the Maple Walk at Thorpe Perrow Arboretum,near Bedale in North Yorkshire. Lindsay.

With the clocks going back tonight, as long as I don’t forget I will be feeding the Badgers at 5.20pm. To the Badgers it will be feed time as usual. Why we continually year after year have to suffer disruption that the clock changes cause I cannot understand. I would like most others prefer it to stay lighter at night. Just for the amount of power it would save, you would think that some politician would use a private members bill to have it altered if one is needed at all that is.

The two Reindeer from Pennywell Farm that are here to be mated by Padfoot wont allow our Reindeer to feed. I would have expected a little bickering but it is a bit full on. For two days our females have not had any feed at all. Tonight I have needed to go in the Reindeer field so that the feed is had by all. Fortunately Padfoot is behaving himself, but keeping the two separated I have to be in between Padfoot and the two females, far away from the gate to be in an uncomfortable place if Padfoot did decide that I was not welcome in his domain. My being in the Field does cause another problem as two of our females are particularly friendly, so much so that when I initially go into the Field they prefer to inspect me than eat the feed that I am protecting for them.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page sent in by Judy.

Hi Mr Farmer, here are some views taken whilst I was on holiday in Norfolk. I hope you will be able to include them on the gallery.

The Old Lighthouse. Hunstanton. Norfolk. Taken from the arch of the chapel of St Edmund ruins.

The famous striped cliffs at Hunstanton. White chalk upper, Limestone, or Red Chalk middle layer and then a layer of grey/green Carstone. Many fossils have been found.

Castle Rising. 12th century Castle with keep built around 1140AD. The most famous piece in its history was when it came to the Mother of Edward III , Queen Isabella ,following her part in the murder of her husband , Edward II. It is said to be haunted by a she wolf with hair as white as snow and dripping fangs!!

The Church of St Lawrence, Castle Rising village.

Sunset at Heacham Beach. from Judy.

All of the Reindeer are now in the field we have prepared for them. Last evening we decided to take the four Females (Cows) to the field as we wanted to collect Padfoot the Male from Cricket St Thomas early this morning, before the Zoo opened to the public. We had decided before we loaded the Females that we would have a few problems and a bit of a run around to get them into the Horse trailer to take them from the Stables to the Field. In fact we could not believe how easy it was. We had prepared ourselves with gates to confine then in a small area just by the entrance of the trailer. We let two out of the stable and they walked straight into the trailer, we opened the other stable expecting the first two to come out of the trailer, they didn’t and the second two also walked straight in. On getting them to their Field, no sooner had we opened the trailer doors they ambled out took a few paces into the Field and put their heads down to munch at the grass.

We got up very early this morning so that we could get the Horses into feed them before we set out to Cricket St Thomas. The Zoo is only forty minute away from Denbury, so an easy journey for Padfoot the Male (Bull)back to Denbury. Again he was easy to get into the Horse Trailer. The Zoos two females were watching Padfoot leave. It made us wonder if they will miss Padfoot. Mind you we have the same problem when any of our Horses leave the Farm when sold.

We didn’t know what to expect when we let Padfoot out of the Trailer when we arrived back at Denbury. At first he was in no hurry to leave the trailer. He seem a little bewildered, that was until he saw the Females who had come out of one of the two shelters that are in the field. Head up and away he went for all of ten paces, until he realised that he was in a field of grass. Padfoot didn’t even bother to acknowledge his harem. Even when the Females were next to him they were ignored while he munched on the grass. Thankfully moving the Reindeer and introducing them to each other was a lot different than what we had imagined. It was a bit of an anticlimax. We have been looking in on them all day. They have settled in well and are together as a group, even when in the shelters they are all together. Padfoot come over to the the rails when we call out to him as Paddy bringing the Females with him. He is not in his Rutting mood yet, but going by what we have been told by both the Zoo and the suppliers of the Females he will soon change.

We are using the main Badger camera to look into the Reindeer untill we get the time to install a camera into the Reindeer Field.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six. Only a few photographs left.

Mountain on way to Whistler from Vancouver. Elaine.

Sunset over Vancouver.Elaine.

Smuggler – taken from the low angle of a 7 year old; Finn..

The Reindeer. Finn.

Now have a close look at the bark and experience the unbelievable figures of creatures engraved in the surface of the entire tree trunk!!Absolutely real!!! Elsie.

When the Reindeer came here on Friday there was not any feed for them, other than hay and straw, so I had to go to Cricket St Thomas on Saturday to get a bag until I can find a local suppliers. Whilst at the Zoo I went to look at Padfoot and Fleur, who were meant to be coming to Denbury when Padfoot had started to loose his velvet. Unfortunately one of the Female Reindeer at the Zoo had died a couple of months ago. If I had taken Fleur it would have meant that the Zoo would have only one adult female and two of this years calves. Although when I agreed that I would take Padfoot I would need a female to go with him, it would be unfair to leave the Zoo short. Now only Padfoot will be coming to Denbury. We hope that will be on Wednesday.

Our intention was to keep two of the female and sell to sell the others. Trouble is that we like them and have decided to keep the four, especially as we are now not getting Fluer. Two of the Female Reindeer are getting quite friendly. We were hoping to get lead ropes on them by tomorrow, but I don’t think that will happen. We will need to put the Females into the field that we have prepared for them tomorrow so that Padfoot is not left on his own when he arrives on Wednesday.