How to make sure you get your fill
Tired yet satisfied after getting everything done today. The ground is so much wetter than it has been at any point this winter. Everywhere is waterlogged – and slippery!
I wasn’t due to clean out the hen house until Monday, but had to do it early as it was so mucky. Hebs are staying inside and when they do go out, they take mud back in with them!
That’s me for the weekend now, apart from feeding the sheep tomorrow. I need a rest!
I did my rounds today and noticed one sheep acting a little funny. Usually they all come running as soon as they hear or see me. Today, most of them were at the fence before I called them, apart from one away on her own. As soon as I called, I saw her ears twitch and she came running, although a little uncertain of herself.
I lost track of her in amongst the flock, but soon spotted her, and her problem. She was blind in both eyes.
The eyes go grey and the sheep is temporarily blind. I’m not sure what it’s called in English, but we call it ‘an duile’ in Gaelic.
As my pickup is off the road, I’m using my dad’s van, giving opportunities to take some selfies before I took her home 🙂
Fortunately I have some opticlox in and have treated her. She’ll improve in the next few days. Hopefully the fact that I got her very early will minimise the risk to the rest of the flock.
It’s not uncommon and I had issues with it in 2012 and also 4/5 sheep last winter, including this same ewe.
Yesterday was a very strange day. At 9am, it started snowing and we had total whiteout conditions
So I prepared for a long weekend of feeding animals, only for the snow to disappear and be replaced by bright sunshine!
I’ve only had a quad for a few months, and I honestly don’t know how I survived without it before!
It’s been invaluable, particularly at this time of year when the hen house has to be kicked out regularly and sheep need feeding!
Ticks are not something I have to routinely deal with on my livestock. Yes, the cats seem to pick them up, but I’ve only once seen a tick on a sheep. That was until last week, when I saw two in 5 minutes!
I was drenching & injecting the sheep the day before scanning and spotted ticks on two of them. One under a sheep’s chin and one of the side of it’s neck. I can only imagine that the rest had ticks all over them too. They were all dipped in October, so these ticks have attached since then. The winter has been mild though, so ticks are still active.
My pickup is one of the most useful things I own. I go everywhere in it and do everything with it. But not for a wee while.
On Wednesday, I was pulling a trailer and my clutch went, completely.
I was on the main road, fortunately, so help wasn’t too far away. I flagged down a passing van, which happened to be Irish workmen, and they gave me a lift up to my friends.
The clutch was damaged a bit last summer, during a problematic tow of a boat up a slipway. It had been acting up recently but the weight of the trailer was obviously too much for it.
Thanks to Duncan & Donald for getting me and the trailer back home!
I am going to post a selection of my favourite photos from the last month or so. I can’t wait for spring, the extra hours of daylight will be a big help – as will some grass growing!
Gizmo wanting in
Returning a lost ewe to the flock
More repairs to the portacabin. Still awaiting payout from my insurer.
Hungry Hogg
Swollen eye
A couple of visitors
I’ve been a little light on posts here recently, mainly due to them taking a little longer to write, and time isn’t something I have a lot spare of!
Things have been very busy since I started selling the eggs but that’s not what this is about, this is about scanning!
A couple of years ago, I posted about an extremely poor scanning and there you can see pictures of how it’s all done. We have the same setup every year, but fortunately this year was a little better for me.
Scanning is arranged by the Lewis & Harris Sheep Producers Association, of which I am a member. The scanner comes over from Aberdeenshire and blitzes 7,000+ sheep in a week. At around 75p (ballpark figure, not sure what it is this year) per sheep, that’s a profitable week for a scanner!
My sheep went through & I had mixed results. Most of it was ok, but I was very disappointed that 3 of my best sheep were empty. I had put them to the Zwartble ram lamb, as a wee experiment, but 3 of the 5 he had were empty. It’ll be interesting to see if he left anything in the other two, or if it was the work of the other rams that covered him.
I had results of 130%, which is ok, although I’d rather closer to 150. What I mean by percentages is that 130 = 13 lambs out of every 10 sheep.
I have now started feeding, all in anticipation of lambing starting in the last week of March – I can’t wait!
Air an Lot 