28 August 2025

Another Summer Full of Silage, Haylage and Straw

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Every summer is spent making sure we have enough food for the animals in the winter. I brought out the camera few times. This is a field of haylage I'm rowing up for Dad to come after me and bale.

 
 
 
 

We had some glorious days, like this one. I was rowing up haylage again.



























Wrapping and tipping the same bales later that day.











It got so dusty I had to wear a mask.



Another day, another field. This was the Twelfth of July.


It was far too warm for the dogs to join me in the cab, but Fly came along for photos.

Turning the haylage.

And finally, we went off one evening to collect straw bales to use as bedding over the winter.

It's always a relief to get the baling done for the year. The weather wasn't too bad this year, and we ended up making over a thousand bales. The sheep won't be going hungry, that's for sure.

23 August 2025

Billy Goes to the Claragh Bridge Vintage Show 2025

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In late July, Billy and I attended our first-ever event! So far we had been going out on a Tuesday afternoon when it was nice and quiet. This was a chance to see how Billy reacted to crowds and vehicles. As usual with him, I needn't have worried!

The various sputtering engines didn't bother him.

There was a great show of classic and vintage vehicles.

 
 

I'll always have a soft spot for a vintage Massey Ferguson.

A dog on a tractor.

There was a wee petting farm. The sheep in the pens were fascinated by the sheep on a lead.

The alpaca was talking to Billy.

Billy stole some hay from these mucky ducks.

Tiny pony and her tiny foal.

Goats.

Handsome sheep.

There was a tent with heritage crafts. Not a very in focus but I love the expression on the wool spinning lady's face here.

Another lady gave Billy some cabbage leaves.

Some sheep were being clipped.

The sheepdogs didn't see Billy at first.

But then they did! Billy was stared at.

Watching the sheep being clipped.

That'll be you next year, Billy!

Snack break.

Quad rides.

The sheep waiting to be clipped.

The baler and threshing machines.

More snacking.

More cars.

More tractors.

The field wasn't very big, so we looped around to the petting farm again.

 

Billy and a fellow young tractor enthusiast.

Billy is very patient with his fans.

We had a lot of fun wandering around and ended up talking to a lot of people. We also ended up getting our photo taken for the club's Facebook page.

And, a few days later, we were in the local paper too!

Great fun!