To cement or not to cement that is the question...

Well not really I already know I'm going to cement.........but the way things are going I wonder if I dreamt that part. Some pics of the new shed are above: Some assembly required.
We've had the ewes scanned and are expecting our first babies mid June-so out comes the lamb coat making gear.
Ah holidays.....
Nessa

What holiday?

Ah, this is the time of year the ewes are dry and I have my holiday, a relaxing time of reading and just generally having time to watch TV in the evenings instead of falling asleep in front of it. No milking twice a day, no lamb feeding, no fingernail chewing waiting on ewes to lamb and definitely no scrubbing milking gear! My holiday sounds great doesn't it? NOT! Why? Well building a dairy is not coming in high on my list of relaxing things to do, and yesterday (on my way to a market no less) I spotted an orphan lamb in the paddock-so off I went in my clean cloths to rescue said lamb-amazingly I got to the market on time. So now I have 2 hungry mouths to feed! So much for a holiday........the ewes start lambing in June! Anyway meet Lola the latest addition to the household, Henry is unimpressed after all Henry has priority's 1.eat 2. sleep 3.play in that order, Lola also has priority's 1.eat 2.yell 3. sleep, and boy can she yell, she yells morning, noon and night, she yells before her bottle, she yells after her bottle, she yells when she sees a shadow, yep she's a yell-er (even the neighbours heard her!) it's quite a rude shock for Henry who is for the most part the silent type and is used to being the centre of attention. Lola can also eat, she loves eating, her bottle is consumed in record time and I'm sure she'd have more if I'd let her.
Nessa

Another useless wether........

Or not! As Henry is a boy I've been warned we can't keep another 'useless' wether (definition of a 'useless' wether: a consumer of much foodstuffs with little or no financial return), I mean what will the neighbours think? They already think I'm loopy so not much probably.......LOL So anyway I sat down to think of official and important job for Henry. So everyone meet 'useful' Henry.................my future bell wether! Each year he'll get to train a new generation of young milk ewes the ropes of coming up to be milked, a very important job indeed. He's already taking his new role seriously and has consumed an enormous amount of sheep's milk to prove his dedication to cause.
GO HENRY!
Nessa

A surprise

This what we found yesterday, his mother (who wasn’t meant to be pregnant) decided she could well do without him, so I ended up with him. So without further delay meet Henry-isn't he sweet?
Nessa

Meet Noir

This is Noir, my purebred HST ewe lamb-isn't she cute :)
She does bear a striking resemblance to Bathilda, or I think so.....

News on the dairy front

I haven't posted about this before, because for quite a while it was a maybe/maybe not sort of thing, but today I can confirm that we are officially building a dairy. That's right a proper one with a pit and everything, after milking flat (on the ground) for seven months we (mum and me) are very much looking forward to it, I asked the sheep to share their thoughts-they seemed mostly impartial although Millie did get as close as she possibly could and rubbed her nose on me (sounds cute huh except she looks like a 2 year old with a bad cold.......ick) but I'm not sure if that is good or bad in sheep language-time will tell. I also thought I'd better mention that my latest sheepy acquisitions arrived safe and sound-I have named my new black HsT (handy abbreviation-saves a lot of typing!) ewe lamb Noir, sorry no pic yet she always seems to be behind something :) A fair few ewes have been breed these last 2 weeks (10 or so) and I have discovered that they are all in love with Vladimir-they hang the fence tail wagging and eye making, and you guessed it, Frank is their chosen ram of choice (by me!), Frank is lovely and quiet and lets me change his raddle without having to catch him-he just stands there for me-I want more ewes like Frank! So the girls will just have to deal with it. The ewes will be scanned next week to see if anyone is in lamb to Amun, so fingers crossed, I'll post results when I get them.
Nessa