Mill Farm

04/06/2024

It’s June!!
The sun is supposed to be shining!!
Axl with his new lightweight rain coat on this morning.
I bet it doesn’t stay looking like new for long.
Lovely weather for ducks.

16/05/2024

The boys were a little bemused by their breakfast visitor this morning xx
No doubt it will have some food and rest for a couple of days and then fly off home again xx

14/05/2024

A change from sheep xx
Our fabulous Ged in the garden this afternoon xx
Love him 😍

12/05/2024

Tried to load this earlier but it didn’t want to play.
It was very warm this morning, but Eddie has spent the day with the other mums and lambs, no tube feeding since midnight last night 👍 he’s bouncing, following mum and drinking from mum.
They’ve come back to the barn overnight and he’s jumped onto a bale of straw and is fast asleep.
He’s had a busy day x

11/05/2024

Catkin and her son in the shade of the willows in the garden this afternoon.
He has been quite worrisome since he was born on Wednesday. As although he seemed quite keen to begin with, it was soon realised that he didn’t have a suck reflex.
So Iv been milking mum by hand, she’s very good to let me, she’s so calm, and tube feeding him every few hours, with a little tube and a syringe that puts the milk directly into his tummy, day and night.
At midnight feed last night, he got himself up and started sucking from mum, 😍
Today we have turned a corner, not out of the woods yet, but he’s been following mum and skipping in the grass.
Iv also seen him drink numerous times from mum today, although I’ll still top him up with the tube for now.
The fab vet at the end of the phone, must be sick of hearing my name, when I ring for advice.
But she’s called him Edward ( E year this year for registered names).
So still keeping everything crossed, and mum loves her Eddie. Even though he’s got big ears ###

09/05/2024

Look at those ears ###

08/05/2024

It’s a boy. And mummy loves him. He has the ears the size of Dumbo.
Born at 12.30 lunch time.
Quite surprised it’s a single as Catkin was quite large. So spent time after the birth checking it was just a single. 😳👍.
Last time some people asked me about the pedigree breeding.
So the lamb is by Siandy Benedict ( dad)
And mum is our own Catkin, and she is by the fabulous
Barony Yogi out of a Dove ewe ( Poppy)
Catkin is half sister to Black Betty ( both out of Poppy)
And half sister to Cinders ( both by Yogi) 🩵
Mum and son have now been moved to a clean pen and she’s had her tea and toast.
And now I can sleep.

08/05/2024

Catkin is lambing. Keep your fingers crossed please

30/04/2024

The mums and lambs are coming back into the barn overnight. Spending their days outside.
This was seen on the lamb cam this evening.
Obviously having fun. But using Catkin as a trampoline 😳. While the mums have a bit of peace.
Catkin isn’t even their mum, she still has hers to be born, but she’s so patient with them.

28/04/2024

Taken this morning, sorry about the noise from the wind,
But Cinders is now being a fab mum. 😍.

24/04/2024

B Betty with her twin boys out in the little paddock this afternoon for a couple of hours of sunshine and grass.
A proud mum, keeps her boys close and talks to them all the time.
Cinders with her big ewe lamb.
Making progress, the lamb is fine. And today mum allowed her to feed while I didn’t hold her still but was stood in the pen with them. Not totally accepted her yet but miles better. I’m putting lamb with mum to feed every couple of hours during the day, midnight then 6 am. Fingers crossed we keep going in the right direction x

22/04/2024

So at silly o’clock this morning, with a 3am call out from super vet, Cinders reluctantly released her hostage,
Then pretty quickly decided it was the spawn of satan and ran away.
After eventually making sure it had drunk enough colostrum, milked mum, and was warm enough. I got to bed minutes before 6am.
Today has been fun, holding mum so baby can have hourly feeds,
I’m aching all over, freezing and can’t get warm. I’m obviously just overtired.
It’s a great big chunky girl.
One more feed from me around midnight, then I can hopefully get to bed.
But lamb is coping well, just her mums hormones are all over the place, fingers crossed things improve tomorrow xx

21/04/2024

Betty and her boys this morning. 😍

19/04/2024

And at last. Black Betty had twin boys in mega quick time this morning. Mummy loves them xx

10/04/2024

Axl yesterday. While it was torrential rain, local flooding and high winds, wondering why I wasn’t filling his haynets.

30/03/2024

Sorry Iv not posted for a very long time, but the wet windy weather hasn’t been very good for taking photos.
With hopefully a couple of our girls due to lamb in the. Coming weeks, Iv thankfully managed to get them on a bit of grass in the sunshine this morning.
The ground has been, and still is, so wet that they’ve been confined to the barn and a bit of the yard for too long.
Iv split this field so they can have a bite of grass. The gateway is still under water, but the rest although wet, isn’t as soggy.
It’s lovely to see them out on grass just for a couple of hours.
So, Black Betty, Cinders and Catkin went to the ram late last year. We don’t scan for lambs so Fingers crossed the 3 girls are pregnant and the weather dries up for them. They were very excited to be out at last.

29/02/2024

Photo from this morning.

25/02/2024

My good friend Jayne from Ryecroft Rare breeds.
She’s part way through lambing and still has the energy to do this 🤣.
Please give it a share ###

08/02/2024

Quite excited that on a very cold and wet day that I managed to get some photographic evidence of one of our visitors.
It’s been coming for a couple of months, but it flies away as soon as it catches a glimpse of me.
Today I lurked in the overgrown veggie patch, photos are not very clear as I was zoomed in as much as possible and my hands were shaking with the cold.
An Egret 😍

16/01/2024

Bit of a cold one this morning.
Last years ewe lambs were quite interested at their first sight of the white stuff.
Axl just rolled in it. His snow angels are not very angel like.
Everyone has extra hay and the sheep have gone back inside the barn xx
Log burners are lit xx

31/12/2023

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas everyone xx

22/12/2023

The animals are fed 😳

01/12/2023

Water has been rolled from the kitchen to all the animals and birds as everything frozen this morning.
The geese are having a bath in a bucket 😳
Thankyou to Joanne for the aqua roll. Much easier than buckets xx

31/10/2023

I had to share this one.
Happy Halloween.
May all your broomsticks return in good fettle.

21/10/2023

So this morning Iv done my best, penned off part of the yard by the house with access to the barn and hay if they want it. The older ewes from the stable and the shearling ewes and ewe lambs from the barn all together for the first time since weaning. They seem more interested in a bit of grass than arguing, so fingers crossed.
The fields are still too waterlogged to put them back out properly, but hopefully their fleeces will dry out a bit in the dryer weather, I don’t like putting wet sheep into housing as it can cause all sorts of health problems.
And another field far too boggy to get across it to get some more hurdles where they’re currently ‘stored’.
Hopefully another couple of days dry weather and they can go back out permanently.
But they quite like being on the back yard ###
Axl is eating hay on the yard in front of his stable.
Not ideal but it’ll do for now.

20/10/2023

Photo taken a couple of days ago of some of this years ewe lambs.
But thanks to Storm Babet , this evening Iv brought all the girls inside to save them having to put snorkels and flippers on.
Tomorrow I’ll have to have a change around of existing facilities so I can bring the boys inside too. But at least their shelter is dry and they’ve all got hay.
I’m off to dry my soaked clothes and have a brew.
Stay safe everyone.

17/09/2023

A photo of Alice, Dixie and Doris in their new home today.
With two acres of grass to cut to keep them busy I’m sure their new owner will spoil them rotten. They’ve even built them a sheep shelter , on skids so they can keep moving it about.
I must admit, my eyes leaked when they left.
All the very best lovely ladies.

16/09/2023

Doris and Dixie were reunited with their mum Alice today after a few weeks apart for weaning.
The three of them as a family are off to a new home tomorrow, where they start a new job as grounds maintenance team at a smallholding near northwich.
The lambs were far too busy shouting the friends they’d been separated from to realise mum was back.

14/09/2023

The very handsome boy D’ram jam.
Black Betty’s son.