I fed all the animals on Christmas morning. I take great pleasure in feeding them on Christmas morning for some reason. I do occasionally have enough of feeding them every day but it’s never a chore at Christmas. The weather was baltic 🥶 because of the wind but the sky was clear and the sun was out. Amazing. After that, I went to Jordan’s to see Riley open his presents. He refused to open anything. He played with them once they were open though 😂 I had two Facetimes with Josh. The second one to watch 6 month old William open his presents. After dinner, I did very little. I needed the rest.
I woke on Boxing Day feeling refreshed after my afternoon off. I was ready to get on with some jobs so I planned to do some mucking out at the farm and tidying at home. It wasn’t bright but the clouds and less wind made it warmer. The paddock was full of sheep though 😯 I messaged Neil to see if they were here on purpose but I was annoyed because I had stuff to do in Cai. I needed the door open for that. I cannot leave the door open when there are sheep near or Cai would be invaded. I heard the noise to say he’d replied. I wasn’t taking my gloves off to read it but I saw the first bit which said “Yeah.” Bloody hell mun. I shut the door after myself and did the alpaca bucket in the dark. When I was almost ready, Bitey pushed her head in through the door.
When I emerged, the ewes saw the bucket and surrounded me. Ah! 💡 I decided to lead them out. All but 2 came into the airlock. I shut the outer airlock gate and went back for them. They were momentarily shut in the airlock. I fed the alpacas and Rascal. I went back through the airlock, letting the two ewes out. I left the empty bucket and checked the lick bucket. Not much left. I walked down to the alpacas. I loaded the buckets and reminded myself to refill them again later, in case Jordan could open up for me in the morning. The wind and sun from yesterday had dried the mud out a great deal. I fed the boys. Munchie was just opposite, by the IBC. She mumbled something at me through a mouth full of grass. She was on her own down there for some reason. I wondered if she’d missed the news there was a bale out?!?! Baarbaara, Molly and Blossom had been in the paddock. Strange, but she does what she likes 🤷
I fed all the alpacas and remembered to go back to refill the buckets. I shocked myself with that 😂 I walked back up. The ring feeder of hay had quite a crowd eating at it although they were orderly. I remembered the alpacas water at that point and went through the wellfield gate. I got the empty lick bucket and filled it for them. They all came to drink. I’d forgotten to fill it yesterday 🤬 It was over to Cai next so I could start mucking out the duck shed. I needed an empty sack for the ducks and a bag with fresh wood shavings for Barry. It was ok to leave the door to Cai wide open with no sheep in the paddock. I had to muck the nesting boxes out. Duck poo smells way worse than chicken poo but not as bad as pig 💩 That’s definitely the worst. It probably made the smell seem worse because I had to climb in their shed. The floor is only slightly bigger than a phone box floor but I was crouched in it because it doesn’t need to be high. I would imagine only me and Riley can fit in it. I look forward to sending him in there to clean it 😁
When that was done, I took the half bag of wood shavings. The front of Barry needed more. I was going to clean the poo from the back where they roost. I didn’t take the wheel barrow, there was only a little bit. I went in with the shovel. It was much deeper than I’d imagined. It meant I had to carry one shovel at a time and spread it around. It was hard, back breaking work. I did as much as I could. I will need to do a bit more another day. When that was done, I went home. I started my next job. It was time to tackle the work top in the utility room. It’s fairly long but full of crap. While I was clearing it, I decided it would be a better place for my air fryer. So I cleared room for that and then gave the worktop a good clean. The air fryer fitted much better in there. It’s got a lid that opens upwards. It didn’t fit well under the top cupboards. There aren’t top cupboards in the utility room so it was a much better option. I got started on dinner and then used the air fryer in the utility room. I had freed a massive area on the kitchen worktop them which also needed cleaning.
Unfortunately I didn’t finish clearing as much as I’d hoped but my ribs were sore again so I needed a rest. After dinner, I walked Skye and had a bit of a sit down before returning to Garth Hall for the close. Rascal came to meet me but there was someone else too. As I unlocked the padlock, I saw an ewe looking at me through the wall garden gate. What was she doing in there? 🤔 I rushed over. She seemed to be asking to come out. I obliged and she walked through. I was worried that I hadn’t shut the wellfield gate. I could see the alpacas in the far end of the wellfield so they hadn’t come out. That gave me confidence that the gate was properly closed after me. The ewe headed to the paddock gate. I let her out and went to check the wellfield gate. It was shut 🤷♀️ I got the alpacas supper and called them. There were no more sheep in there. I don’t know how she had got in there. To be honest, she looked fairly confused too. Maybe she fell into one of Munchie’s portals!
I got the Peckys food and although I did everything exactly the same way I usually did, it went tits up. Half of them stayed in the run and the other half got out of Barry! Panic stations. They didn’t go far and I pretty much chased them around the run. They have to stay in! They didn’t come into contact with any other birds but still 🤬 They weren’t supposed to be out there!!! I finally managed to get them back into Barry but the ones in the run refused to come in. I had to give up and leave the inner door open. They will go in when it’s dark. They’ll go in to roost. I hope they’re OK overnight. At least the ducks behaved and went to bed.
It’s been a day of me saving “What are you doing there?” It will all be Jordan’s problem in the morning 😁
Helen x
