With terrible timing, this week we have, as well as catching up on all the digging, and sowing and starting the planting out, been butchering a mutton. Well, that was Wednesday – and no we would not have planned it had we known it would turn hot – but I distinctly remember the news stating [...]
Archive for the ‘livestock’ Category
mutton butchery
Posted in grow your own food, livestock, self-sufficiency, sheep, smallholding, soap, vegetables on 27 May 2012 | Leave a Comment »
flock settling
Posted in sheep, tagged sheep on 22 May 2012 | 2 Comments »
The new shetland ewes are settling in nicely. I had worried about there being bullying, what with having a mix of big and little sheep, but after a few days the Shetlands stopped chasing the big ones ! They seem to have settled into three distinct groups within the flock; the Devon closewools, the Shetlands [...]
Devon county show
Posted in general wittering, livestock, self-sufficiency, sheep, smallholding, weaving on 18 May 2012 | 3 Comments »
We’ve been at the show today. We particularly wanted to go to take a really close look at the sheep – shows are an ideal way of finding out what you really like in a breed. We looked long and hard at the blue faced Leicesters - as we are tempted to add one or two to [...]
sheep sheared, before and after
Posted in sheep, tagged sheep, wool, shearing, shetlands on 16 May 2012 | 4 Comments »
shetland ewes
Posted in sheep, tagged auction, sheep, shetland on 7 May 2012 | 4 Comments »
We have been going to auctions a lot lately. Although we really have too many sheep at the moment – a situation made easier by our mutton wether spending the winter away keeping a ram company, we have been thinking of buying more sheep, with an eye on the future. Our reasoning is this, we [...]
first hatch
Posted in chickens, ducks, livestock, self-sufficiency, tagged chickens, chicks, ducks, muscovy ducks on 2 May 2012 | 5 Comments »
We had figured on our first hatch of the year being muscovy ducks. But the due date came and went. It is a bit tricky to decide when they start sitting, as they seem to sit some of the time for a while before getting on with it properly. But we are a week over [...]
Easter cupcakes
Posted in chickens, general wittering, recipes on 8 April 2012 | 7 Comments »
Hope everyone is having a good Easter weekend We are currently rebuilding the floor in my son’s room – it having rubbish joists and rubbish floorboards, and therefore a worrying feeling my hulking great teenogre will appear downstairs the fast way one day. But it is Easter and Easter is all about spring and fertility [...]
blue marans
Posted in chickens, livestock, tagged chickens on 5 April 2012 | 2 Comments »
We have moved Cosmo and his girls – that is the blue marans crowd, into a private and exclusive hen run. He is a good lad and attentive to his crowd of girls – but in the main run is outnumbered by twenty plus girls of varying ages. He does not seem unhappy with this [...]




