After the debacle with the speckle faced ewes stealing food and pushing into the alpaca field, I insisted they had to be moved into the outer ring. I know it means more work as they have to be fed but in the long run it makes things easier. Feeding time is much less stressful and more peaceful without me shouting at them to go away.
Lately we’ve noticed lots of new molehills popping up so Neil set a series of traps. The first lot were unsuccessful. He has chain-harrowed them all flat and once they reappear he will set more traps. They are a real menace and must be sorted or they get overgrown making it difficult to use vehicles.
On Wednesday evening we had a phonecall to say one of our rams had escaped and was in with some pet lawnmowers. Lawnmowers that were intended to be put to a ram 😬Ooops! Josh, my father and the dog set off in the morning to sort this out. They were both convinced that this time it wasn’t one of ours as he was so far away. I had just cracked the top off my egg when Josh rang me “It is ours. It’s Medium B@lls” Course it is 🤦♀️ “You’ll have to come and help. He’s in a field with ewes and he doesn’t want to leave. We can’t catch him!” Why are sheep so flaming difficult 🤷♀️ So, I wolf my egg down, get into my waterproofs and go.
If we went round the field once we must have gone round loads of times. We had a makeshift pen area that they weren’t the slightest bit interested in entering. The ground was soaking, not making running easy either. There was no one in sight to help either. Well, not if you include the woman in the house, sat at the window watching us…After conferring and changing positions we seemed to be winning. The sheep were interested in running off across the field so Josh was put there. With some shouting to redirect them and lots if encouraging swooshing noises they made it in front if the pen. There is no feeling like that feeling when the first sheep decides to venture towards the pen. There is a collective holding if breath because if you’re lucky, the rest will follow in…like sheep! Then the nearest person runs like everybody’s life depends on them to shut the gate. With that, the owners arrive. Just typical isn’t it? We find out the farmer can’t help as he’s had an operation on his hand so it’s down to us. Now with a larger audience.
I went and collected the truck and Josh backed it up. Now to transfer Medium B@lls into the boot of the truck. Not easy. They are heavy and quite frankly resistant to being moved. My father and I encouraged and disparaged Josh in equal measure. “That’s it. Get in him in the corner.” “You’ve got him now!” “Oh. He’s got away!” “Don’t let him outsmart you mun Josh!” Then Josh finally got his hands on him but he was big and heavy and slipped out of his grasp. Josh has caught many, many sheep. He trapped Medium B@lls up against a gate. They continued to spar for a while. It was a bit like watching Saturday afternoon wrestling. In the end, Josh was the victor and a rope was tied around Medium B@lls’s neck. He went ballistic. He was jumping about and thrashing. But Josh isn’t a novice ram-wrestler and he held on until the ram was tired. We were then able to get him in the back of the truck for the ride of shame back home.
In 2019, we had 3 pet lambs. Ted ended up being given to Neil as a gift although he still lives at Garth Hall. Josh’s lamb was Munchkin. She was such a cute lamb. As an ewe she is a bit of a problem. She is a wall climber and gets in and out of various fields (not off the farm as yet though) If she ends up somewhere without her butties, she calls. Munchie (also known as Blockhead) has the worse voice ever. It’s a bit like a car failing to start on a cold morning. It is dreadful. Ted is such a lovely weather (castrated male) He often runs alongside Neil when Neil is on his quad.
Well on Thursday, while I was in the Mule I had a budget Ted following me around – Blockhead!!! “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaahhhh” on repeat. She followed me out of the Wellfield “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaahhhh”. She followed me across the field “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaahhhh” She followed me through the nursery “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaahhhh” She even followed me around on the mule. It’s LOUD but I could still hear “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaahhhh” I had to get up to the barn and she continued to follow me “Baaa…aaaahhh…aaaahhh” but I floored it and finally managed to get away. The silence was bliss.
Christmas morning dawned. Wet. Awesome. We were up and dressed to see to all the animals before our breakfast or opening any presents. I was delighted to have a pack of 12 magic gloves to keep my hands warm and 2 pairs of waterproof gloves to keep my hands dry. I had an alpaca hat and a woolly hat with a built-in LED light. Josh and I both had new waterproof coats with the Garth Hall logo. All this and new waterproof boots means I’m pretty much set for lambing which ‘should’ start in March. Drier weather would have made Christmas perfect 😁
Don’t forget to read the next blog when you’ll find out how Josh and I were viciously set upon by a monster…
Helen x
