Chicks

Latest Hatching Update:

Sunday 28th 7.09pm chick no.1  hatched (21 day incubation period (as roughly expected)
Wednesday 30th 6.00am chick no.2 hatched (21 day incubation period (expected 19 days)

The Effects of Mild Weather On Livestock

With one of the mildest and wettest Decembers on record just having passed, livestock throughout the country have suffered greatly.

The persistent wet weather has resulted in extremely muddy ground all over the country, which has caused havoc on sheep's feet. Recently when treating a Ram Lamb for scald I noticed how soft there feet have become, however this isn't the worst of their problems. The wet ground results in scald, and the majority of our 89 strong flock are suffering from this condition, which essentially causes the gap between the two parts of the cloven hoof to become very sore and pink, with the worst cases resulting in bleeding. This has led to widespread lameness. Luckily it can easily treated with an antibacterial spray, which dries the foot out and destroys any infection.

Scald

However with respect to cattle it has not been too bad in un-flooded  areas. Many of the local cattle have been consigned to barns, which one might  argue  results in the easy spreading of diseases, helped by the mild weather. But the appropriate design of cattle barns coupled with the high winds has meant that the barns have had good ventilation, and so disease has not been too bad.

Cattle Barn

HEADLINE NEWS: The Big Duck Hatch

Time: 16:54 (3/04/2015)
Lockdown has begun with two ducks already having internally piped and chirping...

Ducklings

A few months ago we decided to invest in a pair of Mallard Bantam ducks, a drake and a duck, and now we are expecting our first hatch of 3 eggs this Sunday.

Here is a picture from when they were candled at around day 11:

 

Unlike the chicken eggs which I have previously hatched, duck eggs can take up to 28 days, give or take two days, but since the eggs that I am incubating are Bantam or more commonly know as call ducks, they may take more around 26 days, with internal piping expected at around 24 days.

This all means that lockdown will start at the end of day 23, where humidity will go from 50% to 70% and the temperature will drop down from 37.5C to 37.2C.

LAMBS, LAMBS AND MORE LAMBS!

Last Saturday we started lambing and its been non- stop with 7 ewes giving birth to 16 lambs, however one was stillborn. We have had two sets of live triplets four sets of twins and one single so far, 10 boys and 5 girls. This year I've been allowed to inject antibiotics into the ewes we assisted and do all the iodine and spectam. Last night I even assisted a first timer give birth to a massive ewe lamb. Furthermore as one of the ewes with triplets only has one teat working we decided to move one of the triplets onto the first time mother with a single and so far it has been a success! Only 16 left to go!

A Lucky Day

Last Sunday our ewes were scanned for pregnancy,  we were very nervous before hand, due to fact that during late November 36 of the hunt's hounds had become out of control and charged through our flock of pregnant ewes. Now we usually have the rams late anyway as we don't want the lambs to die of the cold, but he had to stay even longer this time,  as we feared that some of them had miscarried.
However when they were scanned all but two were pregnant  albeit all of the lanbs were different sizes, which means that some had not miscarried and the ones, who had were covered again.
When looking through our records we found out that one who wasn't pregnant did not give birth last year and that the other (a Ryeland) had complications at birth last year and had suffered a ruptured uterus when pulling the lamb out and the uterus lining clearly hadn't been able to repair itself for the embryo to implant in it.
Never mind, BRING ON LAMBING

Solli's Transformation

It has been six months since Solli arrived and he has changed quite a lot. Due to a diet of rich grass, linseed and lots of riding!








SOLLI- May 2013



SOLLI- August 2013

Big Sheep Day

Last weekend was the first day we got the lambs and ewes in altogether since weaning, I learnt how to ear-tag (between the two lower veins on the ear, moderately near the lobe, make sure you trap no wool and spiky bit into the inside of the ear). I also wormed all of the sheep whilst they were waiting to go into the sheep turner, where there feet were cut

Why Arabs For Endurance?

Many people doing high level endurance, ride Arabs, but why when there are 100s of other breeds to choose from?

Well firstly Arabs are one of the oldest breeds of horse, this means that they are the close relatives to the pre-horses, that constantly had to run away from predators, meaning they have great stamina and can become fit quickly.

They don't mind the heat as much as other breeds, due to their origins, being from hot countries.

They usually have low natural heart rates, and can even skip beats, however this can be present in any breed, and Arabs do have their exceptions, but do seem to have a high percentage with naturally low heart rates.
They have long strides, meaning they can cover ground quickly with having to put in as much effort as a cob, for the same distance, meaning they can retain stamina better, therefore being able to go
extremely long distances.

Finally they are easier to get fit than other breeds, particularly cobs, so you could put a cob on a 6 month fitness program and an Arab on the same program, and the Arab will be fitter by the end of it. Though Arabs do still need getting fit, they can't just do endurance because "it's in their breeding".

Hopefully this has given you an insight into why Arabs are great for endurance.

Arabs

I was reading an article that said Arabs are one of the most loyal breeds of horse and that they rely on humans just like devoted dog breeds, such as border collies. They also devote themselves to keeping you safe. Apparently they can read your mood so if you are happy and relaxed they will be.

Having just got an Arab I was thinking of a case where this theory could be true and suddenly realised that every time I feel nervous when I ride Solli he goes into "Nanny mode", which is very slow and steady to make me feel secure. Another case is whenever I ride Solli out in front he is a lot more spooky, when he is behind another horse, this is because he is a lot more alert as he wants to keep the rider safe from any sudden dangers. It is this that makes me conclude that Arabs are one of the most loving and fantastic horse breeds, who unfortunately are mostly given a bad name for being protective and are often in it for love, not for food, which is not the case in some breeds.

All Our Ponies

Here is a gallery of all our ponies!
Solli the Arab
Shanti the Hafinger
Benji the New Forest pony
Lilly the Welsh Section B
And
Rummie the Welsh Section B x BRP

 

 

 

 

Chickens

My chicks after being outside for a couple of months are loving it. They enjoy an action packed life of eating food chasing our other chickens and climbing on branches.

Meanwhile mum purchased two new plymouth rocks from Salisbury. They are both very pretty and have been named Nicole and Zoe.

In other news I completed my first introductory dressage test with Solli and won !

Solli

After a long time looking for a new pony i finally found one, through Rosemary my riding instructor. She knew of a pony that was being wasted in the Oxfordshire area. So during half-term she picked him up and invited me to try him out. I rode him in the school and he was a saint, having only been at Rosemary's for two days. We did walk, trot and even canter!. Rosemary invited me to stay with her for a few days to stay the night as she lives an 11/2 hours drive away. We bonded really well during this period and even went for a 13km hack. So we agreed to buy him from the lady in Oxfordshire for £1500.

After an extremley long week of exams we picked him up for Rosemary's and finally brought him home, where he is now enjoying a life of early morning breakfasts 6.30am to be precise and hacking + schooling

He is a lovely 14hh old chesnut Arab gelding, who celebrated his 12th birthday last Friday.

Solli

Busy Time Lambing And Unfortunate Pony

Since I last updated we have had many lambs with all of our sheep so far having multiples, with two sets of triplets! This has left us with a total of 66 sheep on the farm at the moment (30 adults 36 lambs) with more lambs on they way. Yesterday mum took last years lambs to Salisbury market where we got £95 for the fatter ones and £89 for the skinnier ones, giving us the second highest prices of the day.
Two and a half weeks ago I tried at a new haflinger called Nina She seemed very nice and calm when riding her in the school and hacking her out. So we agreed to have her on a 3 week loan trial with the view to buy. However when taken out for hack she was extremely green, even after we had given her time to settle in, obviously there has been some lying along the line. But she is going back this weekend and we are going to try out a mare called Charlie!!

More Lambing!

22/04/13
Today we had three ewes lamb.
Ewe 1 had two healthy boys.
Ewe 2 had two beautiful girls.
                AND
Ewe 3 had triplets, but unfortunately one was still born
But she still has two lovely ewe lambs.
That means we now have 8 living lambs!!!!

Lambing Updates

21/04/2013
11.30am Sheep 1 has just gone into labour.
1.50pm Sheep 1's water bags have just gone.
4.10pm Two ewes lambs born assisted.
             No.1 breach (mum pulled out)
             No.2 normal (I pulled out my first assisted lamb delivery!)

A tiring day for all!

The Lamb I assisted

The lamb mum assisted-very tired!
 

Nearly Lambing

Its now only a few days till the lambs are born, so today mum and I are bringing the sheep into the barn. Unfortunately one of our Ryelands developed a foot abscess and although we treated this for three weeks, she developed  twin lamb disease last week and did not make it.  We were advised by our vet throughout and unfortunately she did not respond to treatment.  This was a major blow, as she was young and in good condition but the shock of the abscess so close to lambing was too much.  We have 21 ewes ready to lamb. We have two Ryelands lambing amongst the 21 sheep lambing and I can't wait to see what their lambs look like. Fingers crossed for not too many problems!

Some lambs from previous years!

Chicks

Funny video of my three week old chicks!

Poor Benji

Earlier this week the vet came up to see if she could find the reason for his bucking. When we trotted him in a straight line he was fine but when we lunged him on a circle both his fore legs were lame. So we nerve blocked him on one foot and suddenly that foot was clear after injecting local anaesthetic into the fetlock area. This therefore means that it's probable Benji has arthritis from when he was jumped heavily as a young horse therefore causing him pain when I ride him causing him to buck me off.

Chicks have settled in !

One week old chicks!

One week on and the chicks are looking good and very lively they have managed to get through the cold snap! Their first feathers are also coming through.

The chicks have settled in well to their home under the heat lamp in the stables. They have taken to the chick crumb well and I have introduced them to the water. Though the weather is horrifically cold outside they're still warm and hopefully I can guide them through this cold snap! They were born on the first day of spring and we have 7 chicks in total with a hatch rate of 59 % (83% for Mill fleur and 33% for cuckoo).