Well we seem to have come to the end of our crisis for now, thankfully. Dad is back at home, I took him home last weekend, and he seems fine, albeit rather weak. He's just going to relax and regain his strength over the winter and come out fighting a little bit fitter next spring. Phew!
Onto to smallholding matters again for me -
One crop that always does well here is potatoes. I say it does well, but only because we are vigilant about their watering through the summer as they are definitely our winter staple.
The ground is double dug in February/March and heavily manured with rotted stable manure. Usually three long trenches are hand dug to accommodate one bag of second earlies and one bag of main-crop. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the second earlies we had this year, but the main-crop is Cara - a firm favourite of ours as it does so well on our light, sandy soil.
Michael spent the day last Sunday digging up all the main-crop; I had used the second earlies before this straight from the ground. They were OK, a red skinned variety that suffered a bit with scab, and therefore not good enough to sell, but fine for us to use.
The main-crop are excellent. A good variety of sizes with some really big ones in there two. Out of one bag of seed potatoes Michael has harvested five paper sacks full (the 25Kg size). We are chuffed to bits. Hopefully that will mean we won't have to buy any this winter and they will see us through until next spring when the new potatoes that we always grow in the polytunnel will be ready, but more on that topic in the new year.
Stats today -
Eggs produced = 4
Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil
Monday 9 December 2013
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Update
Apologies for not posting in ages. I'll explain.
My father fell ill whilst on holiday in Austria and the coach company that he was travelling with 'dropped him off' at a hospital in Luxembourg on the way back. He spent five weeks there and was discharged a week ago. His insurance company flew him home with a Doctor escort, who then handed him over to a paramedic who drove him home to me here in Norfolk in an Ambucar. Part of his discharge from the hospital in Luxembourg was that he had to have a chest x-ray as soon as possible, so I duly took him off to my local doctor who arranged for this to be done that very afternoon at the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital in Norwich. Chest x-ray done and a doctor was called who admitted him. And he's still there! Another operation later and he's on the mend, but very weak. So our life here is taken up with hospital visiting, feeding livestock and not much else at the moment.
Apologies but until all this with Dad has been sorted I won't be able to post much. We are hoping that he will be able to go home sometime next week, so please bear with me until normal service is resumed!
My father fell ill whilst on holiday in Austria and the coach company that he was travelling with 'dropped him off' at a hospital in Luxembourg on the way back. He spent five weeks there and was discharged a week ago. His insurance company flew him home with a Doctor escort, who then handed him over to a paramedic who drove him home to me here in Norfolk in an Ambucar. Part of his discharge from the hospital in Luxembourg was that he had to have a chest x-ray as soon as possible, so I duly took him off to my local doctor who arranged for this to be done that very afternoon at the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital in Norwich. Chest x-ray done and a doctor was called who admitted him. And he's still there! Another operation later and he's on the mend, but very weak. So our life here is taken up with hospital visiting, feeding livestock and not much else at the moment.
Apologies but until all this with Dad has been sorted I won't be able to post much. We are hoping that he will be able to go home sometime next week, so please bear with me until normal service is resumed!
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Its Ram time!
We moved the girls nearer to home last Sunday, and who was pleased to join them but Mr Onion. It's that time of year again, when us sheep keepers think about next year's lambs.
The gestation period for sheep is 144 to 151 days, and using what's called a Parturition Table, this then calculates the earliest day lambing will start. So reading off the table, the tuppingdate, i.e. the date the ram was put in with the ewes, was 17th November, the table then gives lambing as 13th April, and as Mr Onion was doing his job within five minutes of joining the girls, well it won't be far off that date.
We have mule ewes here as it suits our system of grazing and management. Lambing as early in April as we can (we are a bit later this year, we normally like to have the ram in by 5th November, which gives us a lambing date of 1st April). We have summer grazing here of another 10 acres approx, which is under a Countryside Stewardship agreement, which means we can only graze it between 1st April and 31st October, but it does mean that the grazing gets a rest and it's usually green and growing well by 1st April, just in time for hungry lambs!
Having had rare breed sheep for a number of years, and not being pleased with the prices they were realising we decided to switch to commercial ewes and rams, and have not looked back, last year's lambs took top price at Norwich market. We even sold a cull ewe for £65, four years after purchasing them for £85 each. It was a good decision for us, but maybe doesn't suit everyone.
Below are this years lambs, ready to go to market on 7th December.
They normally weigh 40Kg or thereabouts, but are a bit lighter this year, due to the hot summer and therefore lack of grass in front of them, which is a shame as they were doing so well at the beginning of the summer. We shall see when we get them to the market! Watch this space!
Stats today -
Eggs produced = 3
Sales -
Nil
Expenses -
Nil
The gestation period for sheep is 144 to 151 days, and using what's called a Parturition Table, this then calculates the earliest day lambing will start. So reading off the table, the tuppingdate, i.e. the date the ram was put in with the ewes, was 17th November, the table then gives lambing as 13th April, and as Mr Onion was doing his job within five minutes of joining the girls, well it won't be far off that date.
We have mule ewes here as it suits our system of grazing and management. Lambing as early in April as we can (we are a bit later this year, we normally like to have the ram in by 5th November, which gives us a lambing date of 1st April). We have summer grazing here of another 10 acres approx, which is under a Countryside Stewardship agreement, which means we can only graze it between 1st April and 31st October, but it does mean that the grazing gets a rest and it's usually green and growing well by 1st April, just in time for hungry lambs!
Having had rare breed sheep for a number of years, and not being pleased with the prices they were realising we decided to switch to commercial ewes and rams, and have not looked back, last year's lambs took top price at Norwich market. We even sold a cull ewe for £65, four years after purchasing them for £85 each. It was a good decision for us, but maybe doesn't suit everyone.
Below are this years lambs, ready to go to market on 7th December.
They normally weigh 40Kg or thereabouts, but are a bit lighter this year, due to the hot summer and therefore lack of grass in front of them, which is a shame as they were doing so well at the beginning of the summer. We shall see when we get them to the market! Watch this space!
Stats today -
Eggs produced = 3
Sales -
Nil
Expenses -
Nil
Monday 18 November 2013
The Poultry Club of Great Britain - National Championship show
Well what a day I had on Saturday, I was at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire for the above show. To say it was impressive was an understatement. Two large halls filled with Poultry of every size, shape, colour that you could imagine. It was amazing, I was completely flabbergasted at the whole experience.
I went to check out breeders of a number of breeds that we are interested in having next year. I wanted to see what the best had to offer and I wasn't disappointed, in fact I didn't even get chance to see championship row as I had to come home, otherwise I would have been there until midnight. I think I got the information I needed as there were so many people to talk to, and so much to see, that I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, thankfully I had an old and dear friend with me to help - Thanks Susie, your help was invaluable.
Anyway enough of me rambling here are some photo's of the day, (I did take 450!) -
I hope you enjoyed looking through this small selection of photo's. If you've never been to a poultry show, then I would certainly recommend going, even just for curiosity reasons. You never know you may find a breed that you absolutely 'must have', like I did with the Poland's.
Stats today
Eggs produced = 4
Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil
I went to check out breeders of a number of breeds that we are interested in having next year. I wanted to see what the best had to offer and I wasn't disappointed, in fact I didn't even get chance to see championship row as I had to come home, otherwise I would have been there until midnight. I think I got the information I needed as there were so many people to talk to, and so much to see, that I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, thankfully I had an old and dear friend with me to help - Thanks Susie, your help was invaluable.
Anyway enough of me rambling here are some photo's of the day, (I did take 450!) -
Minorca Bantams
Minorca Bantam male
One of the clubs I may be joining next year!
Plymouth rock Bantam, Barred cockerels
A selection of Buff Orpington bantams
Poland bantams - a breed I fell in love with at the show
Scots Dumpy - Large fowl, black hen
Scots Dumpy, pullet bantams
Modern Game, bantams
Old English Game (Carlisle type), Brown Red cockerel - a handsome fellow
Japanese white cockerel
White Wyandottes - a breed I'm interested in for next year
Blue Partridge Wyandotte cockerel - a stunning boy
More Wyandottes
Laced Wyandotte breed club stand
Dutch - Gold Partridge cockerels
Black Pullet Rosecomb's
Indian Runner female, trout colour
Indian Runner females, fawn/white colour
Muscovy
The amazing incubators and associated equipment stand
Male Pekin ducks
Sebrights
Sebastopol geese
Chinese male goose
Chinese male geese
Trio of lovely Buff Orpington Bantams
Sebright trio
Champion Old English Game (Carlisle type) cockerel - well done indeed
Indian Game cockerel
Trio of Sebastopol's
White male Turkey
Large fowl Dorking's, red Hen and cockerel
The egg table! Very impressive
Decorated eggs in competition
Vorwerk cockerel's
Rare Poultry - True bantam
Appenzeller Spitzhauben, Silver spangled pullet, large fowl
As above
The above three photos just give you some idea as to what was for sale and how much.
I hope you enjoyed looking through this small selection of photo's. If you've never been to a poultry show, then I would certainly recommend going, even just for curiosity reasons. You never know you may find a breed that you absolutely 'must have', like I did with the Poland's.
Stats today
Eggs produced = 4
Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil
Friday 15 November 2013
Winter feeding
Winter feeding is always a worry when you've got livestock. What to feed, how much, what type, how much to order - all those sorts of questions enter your head when considering what to feed.
We are big fans here of feeding lots of forage, whether that be hay, haylage, straw or silage, or a mixture of any of them combined. There are many pros and cons of feeding any of them, and I shall probably do a blog post on the different types in the future, but I think this year we seemed to have hit on a winner.
I feed my horse on haylage primarily, it's what horses are designed to eat and plenty of it and he loves the stuff, preferring to eat haylage rather than his mother's milk when he was a baby I'm told. So I offered some of the same stuff to Red, my Dexter cow, suffice to say she devoured the whole lot. So this year all the ruminant livestock are getting the same.
I stumbled over Baillie haylage at the Norfolk show one year and decided to give them a try one year, when I was feeding two horses, I've never looked back, everything gets eaten, so excellent value for money with no wastage.
With the livestock, I still feed the haylage from hay nets. I find it easier for me and nothing gets wet and therefore wasted, like it would if a whole bale was put out at once.
I think you'll agree they are enjoying it, gorgeous sunny day too -
You can find Baillie haylage at www.bailliehaylage.co.uk and No I don't work for them or anything.
We are big fans here of feeding lots of forage, whether that be hay, haylage, straw or silage, or a mixture of any of them combined. There are many pros and cons of feeding any of them, and I shall probably do a blog post on the different types in the future, but I think this year we seemed to have hit on a winner.
I feed my horse on haylage primarily, it's what horses are designed to eat and plenty of it and he loves the stuff, preferring to eat haylage rather than his mother's milk when he was a baby I'm told. So I offered some of the same stuff to Red, my Dexter cow, suffice to say she devoured the whole lot. So this year all the ruminant livestock are getting the same.
I stumbled over Baillie haylage at the Norfolk show one year and decided to give them a try one year, when I was feeding two horses, I've never looked back, everything gets eaten, so excellent value for money with no wastage.
With the livestock, I still feed the haylage from hay nets. I find it easier for me and nothing gets wet and therefore wasted, like it would if a whole bale was put out at once.
I think you'll agree they are enjoying it, gorgeous sunny day too -
You can find Baillie haylage at www.bailliehaylage.co.uk and No I don't work for them or anything.
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