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Grobdale of Girthon

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Bringing home the bacon !

 

 

 

 

Apparently it’s the year of the pig ,and February it seems is definitely the month of the pig here at a Grobdale !

DEC NORA PADDLINGWe had felt for a while that Nora needed some help on the fertility front,IMG_0356 she wasn’t showing any signs of coming into season so AI (artificial insemination) hasn’t been an option ,

We needed a real man ..

We have found Social media to be a powerful tool and I’ve used it to sell and source all kinds if things including this time ,a loan Tamworth boar .

It took just over a week of messages and phone calls  .. on the journey I found her brother and her parents !

 

Third time lucky I discovered “Boaris “ and no he doesn’t have a blonde unruly mop ..

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Dry January my arse !or Bats in the Dairy ?

 

 

  January it seems is supposed to be when you stop eating and drinking  .. kind of detoxing.. well pish to that !

In this house we are still guzzling the Christmas leftovers, the animals get the leftover leftovers and so, nobody is doing without really 236c3600-de1d-4003-ad9f-f09ec776b4d5.

kind of keeps them happy anyway as we move them about.. We seem to be  doing a lot of that this month !

The pigs were first, their pen really was looking a bit bare , and they love to forage; they had even been breaking out every now and then so it was time to move them to pastures new.74489cf4-88eb-46f9-8273-cd1f6bfa2c23

When we arrived at Grobdale we inherited a pigloo in one of the smaller paddocks , it seemed the perfect time to give its proper tenants and evict the ram a8cac386-d6db-4e6b-a319-2fc3ee001a83lambs Henry and Harry , give them a grassier patch and move the bulldozers in ! Here’s the video Of us moving the lovelies . 

How happy are they ..

Read More »Dry January my arse !or Bats in the Dairy ?

Finger painting with sheep!

Our second December here at Grobdale, and we feel settled , less fly by the seat of your pants, maybe even comfortable.. dont  get me wrong , every day has an out of your comfort zone moment or three but the majority of the time it’s jobs that we’ve done before or at least something similar ..For  instance painting 5CDA40AC-EDEC-4E50-B188-043894B45CE1your loan Tup with raddle   !

Surely that’s just finger painting with animals instead of children .

If you’ve followed the link above ( click on the underlined word raddle ) you’ve read that by putting a dye or raddle on Gibbs , GIBBS AND MAGENTAmakes sure that he leaves his mark on any of the girls he’s mounted , so we know who could well be  in lamb and who’s due first if she is pregnant. All good information to a good shepherdess (and I am trying to be).

The loan tup Gibbs was turning out to be rather lovely to deal with , hopefully he’ll be as easy to load and return to his owner at the beginning  of next month ..

Read More »Finger painting with sheep!

The world according to gin or maybe pigs !

 

So November’s here and the  pigs decided , between themselves one day 6182C95B-21D0-46EC-811B-339C3AE2DA3Ethat they needed a change of scenery ..

 

So one afternoon we decided to take them out down to the loch ,their  first walk out was hilarious they were just proper giddy pants.

The freedom caused them to work up a fair old appetite , as if they needed any encouragement and when they’re hungry the noise they generate is rather impressive compared to their size I can only compare it to

A hundred violins being played REALLY badly !

Read More »The world according to gin or maybe pigs !

Balls and determination!

October started off well with a new addition 1D77DC89-E445-4356-B751-63B43A12EA64to the livestock .. a good friend Jean had a pony that needed a home, so I couldn’t say no and when we met Gemma pony a  section A (tiny hardy sturdy little unit ) she seemed just the thing to keep Lotte company  … just got to get them used to each other and avoid the kicks !

so we are now a farm with 17 ducks, 16 sheep, 10 chickens , 5 pigs , 2 ponies and a dog !

I think that classes as a Farm now not a small holding ?

Ribs were healing well so my thoughts turned to A66F32B1-3375-42FE-8EAA-15050B55D88C
getting back on Lotte , maybe not for anything too speedy but it was frustrating not being able to get out in the lovely autumn sunshine .

Body armour was my weapon of choice and I think it’s pretty sexy huh .. am hoping it will remind me to ride better and stay on !

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September the cliche !

 

How many September blogs,vlogs, diary posts or novels state this month to be when leaves change colour and temperatures drop ?…well Poo to that I hate to be a cliche, 662DB633-80E6-48B5-BE93-7A078CFBC14Ebut I’m doing it too, there’s an avenue of Beech trees, on my route to most of everything that is stunning at all the spokes of the leaf colour wheel and right now it’s on the turn. There will be more photos as it transforms

I see cars stop all the time to capture the lovely canopy and it regularly stops me in my tracks ..

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Heaving a sigh of relief ..

 

 

July ended in a downpour and a brilliant lightening storm that we soooo needed , the ground steamed, soaking up all that lovely rain and visibly heaved a huge sigh of relief.. The husband on the other hand got home one Friday night to find we’d ECDD139B-E3CF-4F84-B67F-2AA9C8DAA8C9actually finally run out of water just as the rain started ,so a man needs a shower .. what does he do ? You guessed it ,he showered naked in the rain ..

I so wish I had a naked husband shower photo to post here .

The rain didn’t last long though and within a few days we had our summer back .

Read More »Heaving a sigh of relief ..

Everything’s turning out Rosie x

I can’t quite believe it but we are in July and it seems we’ve been here a year ! It’s been a very busy and eventful fun packed , proper “out of anyone’s comfort zone “ kind of year .

In fact there’s no such thing as a comfort zone anymore as every day and each new challenge is always way out of the box ..IMG_0397

Everything’s blooming despite the scorching weather , it could all do with a good soaking but I’m not  complaining and the roses are loving it .. The sheep don’t even seem to notice their massive winter  fleeces !

Read More »Everything’s turning out Rosie x

Tamworth’s Grobdale of girthon piglets husband Scotland

As old as the man you feel ..

April 2018 is when the man of the house reaches a half century , so this month a lot of the energy is spent organising a shindig to celebrate !

Other than our gorgeous man, it’s been all about babies this month. Pet lamb easycare sheep bottle feed Scotland Grobdale of girthon
We started the month with lambs popping out all over the place , Toms sheep were first,

Like multi vitamins,

about one a day ..

but with all this new life there has to be a few casualties, the first was a new mum leaving behind a little lamb that became

CA886A23-308D-42E7-92CB-512F944B2C66

Twinkle toes

She  soon learned to suckle milk from a bottle and everyone had a go at feeding our new house guest x

Read More »As old as the man you feel ..

Cute enough to eat ?

Spring arrives in  March thank goodness…. though

someone should really tell the weather ! Cos it clearly thinks it’s still Winter ..

The cold doesn’t stop lambing tho and on our daily check round the fields me and Lauren spotted our first Grobdale lamb for 2018 .. so cute . On our way back down , 9F30E354-E35B-4EDA-8403-7B1E7D7E57BAwe spotted another sheep up on the top , separated from the main flock , a tell tale sign she’s about to lamb so we took the kubota up to check her out . The lamb was coming so we hung on to watch , but it all seemed to be at taking a bit too long and 92247B63-D435-446E-BA43-49AE03F9A2D6she wasn’t going to let me get near and without a dog or a crook (or any sheep wrangling skills for that matter)  so we bombed back to the house and rang a man with a dog . Within the hour he had her caught,birthed , and  shown us how to tube feed the lamb . Mum and baby claimed the first stall in lambing shed and by bedtime the lamb was suckling as he should..

(this is us heading back out to the main flock next day)

A lovely bit of drama to kickstart lambing season .

Read More »Cute enough to eat ?