Easy Does It, Eagle Eye

It's autumn again, which means that everyone is thinking about next spring. We sheep farmers always get ahead of ourselves like that.

At the end of August, Dad and I attended a Texel ram show and sale and managed to pick up a pair of handsome shearling boys. A couple of days later I drove over to visit them on the quad with a bucket of nuts for bribery. The first to come over was, funnily enough, the first lot in the sale - Peninsula Easy Does It. He was born on 3rd April last year. He came right over and ate the nuts out of my hand. He'll fit right in here.

The second tip is the more cautious of the two - he's called Treamount Eagle Eye.

He was born on 16th February 2021. 

I tried for a time to shorten their names to something like "Easy" and "Eagle" but it didn't really work for me, so they'll just have to get used to hearing their longer names yelled at them when they're being naughty.

We're very pleased with them and they seem to be settling in very well. I'm looking forward to spring already!

A Little Steps

I don't really have much commentary for these photos, apart from that I was listening to Steps as I was taking them. So I suppose if you ever wondered what sheep looked like while listening to Steps, today's your lucky day!

Eunice and a blurry Wendy.

Rosie.

Enid. She did like Steps, actually. I sat down and stroked her for twenty minutes and no one bothered us. She loved the attention.

Rosie looking very healthy.

Esther.

Lucy and blurry Margie and Violet. Lucy's surprisingly hard to photograph - she's nearly always pulling some sort of funny face!

Eunice in the (empty) feeder.

First Three Gone

There is just the one question on the lips of every farmer I come across these days: "Have you any lambs away yet?" I don't know what sort of miracle grow these people are feeding their sheep, but our March and April born lambs are only just now approaching market weight. I've been asked this question all summer. Every time I have replied, "No, none yet." Cue the shocked response, "Really?"

My response is now, "Yes, three." My boys Eamon, Eli and Eddie, were born in February and were, honestly, probably ready to sell six weeks earlier. The silage just kept us so busy.

Eamon, Tilly's son, and Eli, Rosie's, were not the hardest lambs to say goodbye to. I knew their fates from the moment they were born. Eddie, Rosie's other son and Eli's twin brother, was a harder one. He was a pet lamb, and on another year I might have kept him just as a pet. But there were just so many pet lambs this year that I couldn't justify keeping him.

Because these were the first three to go, I thought I'd take some photos of them.

Eamon and Eli in the race, getting tagged and marked for sale. (Eddie's there too, just behind them.)

The boys in the trailer before leaving for the saleyard.

Eamon.

Eamon and Eddie's bum.

Eli.

Eddie.

Goodbye, boys.

Eight in the Bog

One Saturday evening I drove across the fields with the Land Cruiser and Fly. For the pet sheep remaining in Granny's field this was a surprise - if I'm out taking photos in the evening, I usually take the quad. Their shock stopped them from running over as soon as they saw me so I was able to get some nice long distance photos.

Rosie, Millie, Nigel, Olive and Titch.

Esther was there too, but didn't feel like joining the group photo.

Our actual destination was a field called the Bog. It's a tiny, boggy field that we rent, connected to our own farm by a narrow old N.I. Water gate. The Bog had become very overgrown so my plan was to keep my breeding ewes, and eventually the tips, in there for a few months to eat it down.

On this evening the tips had yet to arrive in the Bog, so it was just us girls - Fly, the eight ewes and myself.

Laurel watching Fly. The pets all grow up around dogs but most of them still have that natural instinct to be cautious around them.

Laurel with Blossom and Audrey (and a glimpse of Margot).

Heather with the hoggets; Laurel, Audrey, Margot and Blossom. They're all watching Fly who's snuggled in beside me.

Now Penny's there too.

Blossom.

Audrey, Penny, Margot, Laurel and Blossom (with Flora too, munching away in the background).

Fly moved away from me so the sheep decided to watch her some more.

While Fly was lying on my left side, Tilly was pressed against my right. She doesn't mind dogs if there are scratches to be had.

Heather.

The sheep were cautious of the dog but Fly was cautious too. Like any sheepdog, she's not sure what to make of the situation when the sheep don't run away.

There was plenty of grass to hide behind anyway.

While I was talking to Fly, the ewes had wandered up the hill to stand at the gate.

Margot.

Tilly munching on holly.

The hoggets in a huddle.

What a way to spend a Saturday night.

A Smaller Flock at Sunset

Even though the pet ewes had their lambs first, way back in February, we only had the chance to wean them off a few weeks after the "ordinary" sheep. We gathered the 38-strong pet flock and weaned those older lambs, separated out the breeding ewes to be put elsewhere, and finally wormed and footbathed everything else. 24 sheep returned to Granny's Field, and a few days later I visited the shrunken flock.

As usual, the pet lambs greeted me first.

Rosie didn't miss her lamb, Eli, at all. She's recovered so well from her ordeal at lambing time. I'm really pleased. She can enjoy her retirement now.

Wendy.

Enid, Primrose and Astrid.

Eunice.

Angie.

Violet seems to like standing on this sheet of metal that covers an old well. Perfect for chewing the cud on. She was joined by Margie and Daisy.

Wendy was chewing her cud next to the fence, with her twin sister Mabel keeping her company.

Violet.

Mabel.

Nancy had already settled for the evening, it looked like.

Pearl.

Nancy with Pearl, and a dozing Wendy in the background.

A very happy flock.