July 2010
Lambing Blogs: April 08* April 08 Part 2* May 08
June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08
January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09
January 10 February 2010 March 2010
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1st July No rain please
We are clipping the last of the ewes tomorrow so I am hoping the rain which is threatening will stay away. We desperately need rain but one more day of drought would suit me!!
Meanwhile I have been busy worming and vaccinating lambs and moving sheep around. I have also been trying Lad out in more difficult situations. He is a good dog but the bond between new dog and owner takes a long time to establish.
One ewe had managed to evade the gather before the clipping so she had to be shed off and put in the trailer. I shed most of the ewes off and brough a few down towards the trailer. Lad was able to drive them in front me with ease at this point.
I shed the other ewes off once we were about 50 yards from the trailer but the ewe I wanted became very hard to hold then.
Lad did well balancing her and working on his own initiative. She was quite difficult to brring in so I was pleased with how he held her. With futher experience and also confidence in our relationship he should be able to balance like this on the drive.
Lad's daughter Silk has grown into a beautiful young lady:
And all she thinks about is when will she be old enough to be a sheep dog. She reminds me of Mist although they aren't related.
3rd July Clipping finished for another year
We got the remainder of the ewes clipped yesterday. It's always a relief to get the shearing done for several reasons. First of all, being a relatively small flock and having the Scottish weather to contend with, it's always a worry the clippers will leave you until last, then getting a few dry days is usually challenging. This year we have certainly been lucky with the weather. Once the ewes are rid of their fleece they can't get couped, which means stuck on their backs, unusual with my breeds of sheep but not impossible and I did have one last week and also they should not suffer from fly strike. Once their wool comes in a bit, in a few weeks, I will be spraying them all with a fly strike preventative pour on.
Lad brings the ewes up to the pen.
Ewes penned and waiting.
Shearing under way.
Lad takes the lambs to another field.
Ewes with their new looks!
Ffi holding a single.
A bit of spare time today enabled me to see what Rhu and Silk made of the sheep. I have put some photos on their pages. Silk is a bit young to do much with so I will resist the temptation to take her to sheep again for a few months.
10th July Gathering
We, Ffi, Mist, Lad and I, and two helpers had to gather the sheep off the hill again as they had escaped from the electric padddock. I needed to get them in to spray them to prevent fly strike. The bit on the right has been quarried and that edge is a sheer drop. Fence isn't great either!
The problem now is the grass is waist high in a lot of places and shoulder high in some places. The sheep are also inclined to try to evade the dogs and also they cannot see the dogs nor can the dogs easily see them.
Here you can see some are stopped, staying with me, some have taken off to the left and some have just taken off right in front of us. Lad is the blob on the right hand side almost at the head of them. He did really well and managed to head them off twice when they were making a real break for it. It was a bit tricky working the three dogs together. Ffi and Mist weren't really working in partnership because Mist has been off work for over a month with her sore leg, and Lad is new, young and therefore a lot faster than them. Another added problem is his whistles sound a bit like theirs, but not the same. So if I blow his left Ffi and Mist go right and if I blow his right Ffi goes left and Mist starts to go left then goes right because the second half of it sounds like her right whistle. hmmm! More work needed there. In the excitement Lad tends to go which ever way he thinks is correct (and he is usually correct) but he has to take the whistle I give him not what he thinks he should. Anyway they got the job done and we made our way from the summit towards "the way down".
Holding the sheep on the summit. Lad near me, Mist to the left and Ffi out of sight down the cliff.
Lad walks on.
Ffi pushes them over a rocky bit.
I don't think you can really see how steep this bit is, we are right on the edge of a sheer drop.
Walk on Lad.
A bit of what we just came down. The bad section takes around 30 minutes alone to get down with sheep. Unfortunately at the bottom some idiot had decided to pull the fence down and I didn't notice until the sheep started wandering out into the quarry. By the time I realised and got a dog down to head them, they were well down a side track and heading towards the road. Mist headed them and brought them back up but they then divided in two groups when they saw a gap in the wall!! At this point the sheep I still had on this side of the fence were heading back up the way we'd come. Dogs were shattered, so was I but there was no way we were letting all that work go to waste. I got Ffi up to the ones which were heading back up the hill, got the fence closed across and went to open the gate to let the other ones back in. However they went back to join the ones on the track so I then had to shut the gate and run back up to the hole in the fence, open it and get them back through!
Three relieved dogs and one relieved shepherd, close the gate! Once they were in it was a fairly simple job to spray them and let them go again!
More fly prevention pour on going on today. Lad got the sheep in.
Penned up.
All done and back out. Like most jobs the setting up and taking down takes a lot longer than the actual job. I now had to pack up the handling system that I had just set up and go to another field.
Lad driving the ewes and lambs while I sit in the landrover. Another new experience for him but he did ok really.
A penful of tremendous lambs even if I do say so myself. These are all twins and I weighed the biggest one which already weighs around 33kgs, they will be finished at 42kgs so I am extremely pleased!
Moving the last lot back to their field. Ffi puts them through the gate.