I got up and got dressed in yesterday’s clothes. When I stand by my bedroom door and nod my head, Skye usually comes. Not today. I said “Come on!” three times. She wasn’t getting up. I had to call her by name before she dragged herself up. It was colder this morning by a good 4 degrees. We went to Tregurnog for our usual jobs. I was ahead of time when I got home for breakfast. I even managed to leave earlier for Garth Hall because I was aiming to be ready for 10.30 to go to Mumbles. I was at Garth Hall by 8.45. Then…it went wrong.
I went to unlock the padlock on the gate. Was that sheep inside or outside the fence? I squinted but I couldn’t tell. Not until a car went up the lane and it moved out of the way of it. Well bugger! I had to walk all the way around and up the lane. It was one of the rams from the paddock. He ambled back in when he saw me. Oh heck. A large section of fence was down. It was a repair because the wall came down when a tree hit it in a storm last year. The pallet and fence were down. I propped the pallet up. It wouldn’t hold long but hopefully long enough for me to get all the sheep out of there. Ideally, it takes 3 people to get sheep out of the paddock. Two can manage it, but for one person, it could take ages.
I set the other two gates up to send the sheep from the paddock into the pen. I could sort them in there. The two rams into the barn via the hatch and the silvernoses back out simple. We’ll it should be but there were two problems. The first was that the sheep weren’t aware of my plan and the second was that the one gate at the end of the run doesn’t hold. I needed a person to hold that shut really. I had to try though. Getting them out of the paddock was ridiculous. They are usually desperate to get out of the gate but today, with it open, they avoided it. Bloody sheep! I finally got 2 into the pen. The ram that had gone out was one. I had to catch him and put him into the hatch. I let Petra out into the main pen then. There were still a few in the run. It took forever to get 2 of them in. The other ram and Dawn. I could leave the others – it would be easier to let them out later. Well Dawn and the ram refused to conform. They ended up in the pen but wouldn’t come out. I wrestled him to the hatch but he escaped me again. Bugger it! Stay there. I tried to let the others out of the paddock. Honestly it was so difficult. I finally had them (more or less) where I wanted them. Time to feed in the barn.
I had some water left in the bucket so I put that out. I tipped food out between the pens and then strolled to the hay pile “AAAARRRGGGHHHH!” There was a rat curled up, fast asleep in front of the hay. I found a stick and chucked it at him. I’m a good aim so it hit him full on. I frightened him way more than he frightened me. He didn’t know what hit him. He rushed about for a bit and found a hole to hide in. Neil will have to set some traps when he’s better. With Roland gone I got hay and then went down to the alpacas.
I got hay and food for the pod field and fed them. I then went back to refill the bucket for the others. There was a lot of water in the buckets so I emptied them out and then fed the boys. Next I emptied rain water out of the trough to feed the girls. I checked for the rams and I was done. 9.48. I had pulled back some time. I would be ready by 10.45. I had a speedy shower and got changed into clean clothes this time. Mumbles was as good as always (So was Verdi’s) The wind was bracing and we had enough rain to warrant hot chocolate with marshmallows before coming back.
After Mumbles, Meryl came with me to set the trailer and run up for the morning. We’re meeting at my house at 6.45 to load the trailer for the last market of the year! No Neil to keep the peace. He says he’s still radioactive meaning still testing positive. He usually helps us before giung to work. So it will be a fun morning 🙄
Helen x
