We don’t keep a large flock of chickens at Green Farm, usually
just around a dozen to provide eggs for us, and, depending on the time
of year, a surplus to give to friends and neighbours. I love sharing
excess produce and, with our nearest neighbour some distance along the
lane, it’s a great excuse to pop round with a trug-full of beans and
courgettes to be welcomed with a cup of coffee and a jar of honey (it’s a
seasonal thing, come autumn it’ll be squashes and screw-top jars of
hedgerow jellies).
At haymaking, we share tractors and trailers, and at various times of the year, we share sheep remedies, horsy experiences and chicken wisdom! The readiness of country folk to ‘pitch-in’ and help one another out is the thing that bonds a geographically spread-out population and provides the ‘glue’ that creates sustainable rural communities.
Haymaking
– I’ll spare you my seasonal angst that this brings each year, suffice
to say, we have a full barn full of sweet, fragrant hay, and a nearby
dressage yard where a certain Olympian trains, has another barn-full –
so our hay could be feeding the next equestrian superstar!
At haymaking, we share tractors and trailers, and at various times of the year, we share sheep remedies, horsy experiences and chicken wisdom! The readiness of country folk to ‘pitch-in’ and help one another out is the thing that bonds a geographically spread-out population and provides the ‘glue’ that creates sustainable rural communities.
Haymaking
– I’ll spare you my seasonal angst that this brings each year, suffice
to say, we have a full barn full of sweet, fragrant hay, and a nearby
dressage yard where a certain Olympian trains, has another barn-full –
so our hay could be feeding the next equestrian superstar!
This
month we carried out our third year of vaccinating the Green Farm
badgers, and it has been our most successful year to date, with 2 adults
and 4 well-grown juveniles trapped and vaccinated. All were in good
condition, healthy and very lively!
One
of the sights I particularly dislike at this time of year is a field
full of ragwort. I know it’s the essential food-source for the Cinnabar
Moth, but it’s also deadly poisonous to livestock, particularly horses
who will unwittingly eat it once it’s been trampled and looses its
bitter taste. Unfortunately, we have a small patch of wasteland next to
our orchard waist high with ragwort and thistles that are never removed
(unless I climb the fence and clear it, which, of course, I do).With the start of the sheep-breeding season fast approaching, we went shopping for a new pedigree Hampshire Down ram this month. We’d drawn up our ‘Wish List’ of attributes he should bring to further improve our flock – these were our criteria:
- From a high-health status flock which observes good biosecurity, including MV Accreditation
- EBVs in the top end of the overall breed scale
- Conforms to the Hampshire Down breed standard – this is based on attributes that are vital for a healthy sheep, as well as some more ‘cosmetic’ elements
- Born as a twin, since prolificacy is hereditable
- Good feet and legs – vital for a ram that must be able to stand on tiptoe!
- Visually pleasing appearance, although we don’t show our flock, it’s nonetheless important that he looks right – if a ram doesn’t please the eye, it invariably means there’s something subtly amiss with his conformation
- Raised on a forage diet, not bulked up on cereals
- Kind temperament; as I often have to handle him alone, the last thing I want to deal with is a bad-tempered ram (bearing in mind that he’ll weigh around 120kgs, which is more than twice my weight!)
- And last but of primary importance, all his ‘bits’ must obviously be in good working order!
Allow me to introduce you to Court Dynamo,
a shearling ram who is, as my very personal inspection revealed,
correct in every way. He already answers to ‘Dino’, and is quickly
making friends with his little friend Roger, a very small bottle-fed ram
lamb, now elevated to the post of ‘Ram Companion’.
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