...for a weekend at least.
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| Maesneuadd (prionounced My-snay-eth) |
This weekend, Dave and I went to visit his dad and stepmum at
their smallholding in Wales. We went to visit them, but also to help with some of the bigger jobs on the farm. This time, we were helping with tagging the new lambs, and spraying them and the sheep so that the don't get sheep lice. Glamorous, eh?
Sheep wrangling is not easy, They are skittish, and very fast. We began around 2pm on Saturday. Alan and Lisa lead the sheep from the small field to the big one with the enclosure in it.
What followed was two hours of us trying, and only marginally suceeding to get some sheep into a pen. The idea was to tag the lambs, and then treat the sheep for lice if possible. The hope was that all of the sheep would walk nicely into the pen. in reality, there was a lot of the sheep running in the opposite direction. We finished this session with two lamb tagged, and three sheep treated. Alan and Dave managed to tag and treat one of each at feed time, and it was decided that we'd try to do a few more at feed time next day, as it was the least stressful method for the sheep.
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| Alan and Lisa leading the sheep. |
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| The kit - l-r :marking spray and stick to make lambs with the farm mark, lice treatment in syringes for easy spraying, tagging machine. |
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| Adjusting the pen |
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| Perparation and penned sheep |
The next morning, we adjusted the shape of the pen so that it was more of a straight run, Alan led the sheep in, catching five of the sheep and a lamb, and we managed to finish all of the treating of sheep, and two more of the six lambs were tagged
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| Tagging the lamb - the machine works like an ear stud gun. The lamb didn't seem to feel any pain. |
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| Free sheep. In the centre is a lamb bearing the 'M' of the farm. |
On Sunday I helped Dave's dad build a bamboo frame for, and plant some runner beans. They grow their own bamboo, so supplies were plentiful for uprights.
Of course, it wasn't all hard work. Saturday also include a trip into Dolgellau - the nearest town - a barbeque, and watching a (terrible) film in the small sitting room in the evening. Dave spent a lot of time playing with Cadi, their new sheepdog puppie, and we had a walk around the land. The last time we were there was the end of January, and the changes of four months were vast. Greenery and flowers everywhere, new baby animals, no snow, and it was mostly dry! We ate a lot of good food, and The views are nothing short of spectacular.
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| Dave and his new chum |
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| Film and wine central. I adore this room. |
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Cader Idris in the background. The farm in the middle, and Lola running through my photo!
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We drove home last night, with achey muscles full stomachs, hilarious memories and some freshly laid eggs. Fortunately this time we'll be able to return sooner and experiences a bit more of the farm in summer time. I might get to help make hay!