31 March 2010

Summer Feeding

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In relation to a post I made a few days ago (Sheila's Fan Club), I have made a video about it (sadly without Sheila's fans):


And yes, Ben does like eating silage, as well as sticks, balls, coats, sheep nuts, grass, Sheila and me.

30 March 2010

Love is...

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Love is Fly licking her master's battered hand.


Love is her master loving her back.

28 March 2010

Sheila's Fan Club

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Sheila is a happy, bouncy Border Collie. She comes along with us to check (or look) the sheep every morning and enjoy's every minute of it. Running alongside the quad, or sitting in the blue, half chewed (that was Kim's fault - she likes plastic and fish), the wind flowing through her ears and fur. Sheila's best thing. And she looks forward to it every morning. This Winter has been very hard on the sheep and they have been feeling the affects of snow, hail and rain - endlessly.

So that means we had to resort to extreme measures. It's something my Dad doesn't like to do. Pouring buckets of nuts out on the fields for the sheep to enjoy. He dosn't like doing this because of the wastage - sheep have no table manners, so walk through the nuts instead of eat them and whatnot.


This of course leads to a few problems. Sheila likes sheep, and she always herds them at my Dad's feet so he can't move. This makes him angry. Sheila may also eat the nuts before the sheep or chase them through the nuts. Ths also makes him angry.

These nuts also make the sheep very friendly.


Darkie and Bubbles like ther nuts.



The lambs get lost in the frenzy of the ewes to get the nuts and stuff their faces. Poor little guys.


Sheila, on the other paw, keeps her distance. She knows better than to get in the way of angry ewes and their lambs. So she keeps her distance...


Or gets high up (note the sheep running for the nuts in the background - click on picture to enlarge).


There's another reason she keeps her distance. like many celebs, Sheila has a fan club.


These lambs take great delight in chasing Sheila, because they like her.

Ben doesn't know what's coming for him.


Just you wait, lady sheep, Ben's coming to get you.

26 March 2010

A Micro World

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This is Ben.

He's so small, he has to look up at things.

We were having a walk today, taking snaps, when I discovered a new setting on my camera. It allowed me to take good pictures of small things like plants or flowers (they are the same aren't they?). Anyway, I liked this new setting and decided to use it - a lot. Here are the best:

Some "whinn" flowers (a "whinn" is a spiky bush that has little yellow flowers in Spring).



And some of my Granny's flowers.



And the first sign of Spring, a daffodil.


And we saw Panda and her friends.



And Titch from Titch and Tilly leading the way (he's the massive, tall, brown-faced lamb on the left).


Then, I took Ben to Granny's garden to do some sitting.


Then it was time to go inside, using the shortcut of Granny's garage - but there was a problem with a step...

"Mummy... I can't get in... I look neglected, so you can let me in?"


"The step - it's just so high! Help Me!!!"


After about 3 minutes of faffling about, I closed the door slightly, then opened it again. He jumped down without a care in the world. "Oh for goodess' sake!" I thought to myself.

Sheila says we both should get out more.

21 March 2010

Ben: Week 13

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Ben has just finished week thirteen on his life, and he got up to a lot, including a photoshoot on the quad with Sheila...

Ben, look out - there's a black devil behind you!


Ben has grown and is looking more mature by the week.


He still thinks I'm crazy - and he's right. Mwahahahahahahahahaha!


"Ignore her and she'll go away..."


"Is she gone yet?"


"I think she needs help."


"I bite my lip in anticpation!"


"I'm cute. Full stop."


"I like food and barking and eating dirty things I find on the floor!"


"Maybe I could learn a thing or two from Sheila?"

14 March 2010

Manual Scanning

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Yesterday, my Dad decided to find out which ewes were in lamb and which weren't, because he was fed up (and frankly we all were) of feeding these fifty or so ewes without really knowing what's what. To find out what's what, my Dad needed to feel each ewe's udder, to check for firmness or enlargement. Fly and Sheila were only too happy to help.



Fly knows how to deal with angry ewes.



And Sheila just wants to be friends.



They both did their job well, and I was proud of Sheila.


Ahh! She has the camera of doom!


This ewe didn't like the thought of 'Manual Scanning'.


Sheila likes the thought of 'Manual Scanning' and watches everything.



These were the untested ewes.


These ones were in lamb.


And these ones weren't. Poor girls. It's the saleyard for you.


Sheila was given the delicate job of bringing the pregnant ewes back into the sheds.





When that job was done, we went off to look at the other sheep and their lambs.


There was a new lamb (click on picture to enlarge).


And Sheila isn't tired at all!


All of that left us with 26 ewes left to lamb, but then a ewe had a lamb at night, so that left 25.