New duties for our nannies

 

We have moved 3 of our nanny goats to an overgrown paddock on the edge of our smallholding. They have a new task to perform. They are to eat all the grass and weeds. What a tough life!

New arrival

 

Mabel, the British Alpine goat we bought in April, had her baby last night. We had no information on the breed of the father but the moment I saw the kid, I could see that Dad was an Anglo-Nubian. The kid is a billy and this time, that's good news for us. We need an Anglo-Nubian billy for Bubble, our Anglo-Nubian nanny who so far has not fallen pregnant to our two other billies (which are Saanen crosses). We bought Bubble because she is from a milking breed so no pregnancy means no milk. Mabel's baby will hopefully solve that problem when he grows up.

Toad of Toad Hall

We have found our first toad on the smallholding - a toad. It was under some wood which we moved to create a temporary gate. We are delighted to have them around. They eat the bugs that would otherwise eat our crops.

The pigs have arrived - the video

 

I shot this video when my friend Steve's weaners arrived. Sadly I wasn't there to film their actual arrival when one of the pigs escaped and ran around the sheep field!

Sheep sheering - the video

 

We filmed this on the day we first attempted to shear the sheep. We got one sheep done. The others had to wait.

Repairing the goathouse

 

Last month we had much more rain than usual. The result was a flooded goathouse. To avoid a repeat, we took up the paving stones on the floor, put down a thick layer of recycled gravel and relaid the paving stones. The result: a dry goathouse!

Our first attempt at sheep shearing

 

We turned our hand to sheep shearing today. As a first ever attempt it wasn't too bad though I doubt we will win any sheep shearing competitions. Ethel however was pleased to be rid of her heavy winter coat. We will shear the other sheep on Thursday.