We arrived today to find that we now have a sheep dog on the farm. Well, in theory at least. What we actually have is a nine-week-old Border Collie pup, which might turn out to be a sheepdog. It’s doing well so far, showing clear signs of intelligence and an inbuilt need to round people up. However, she’s being treated like a pet by members of the group, and I hope it doesn’t spoil her as a working dog.
It was clear that neither the proud owner, or the group, are interested in the nitty-gritty of dog ownership as they all ignored the inconvenient puddle she left on the floor after her visit. Isn’t that always the way?
Outside, Storm Henry is giving us some stick. It sound like a raging storm, though the weather station has shown a maximum of 60 kph (40 mph) and is currently showing just 35 kph despite the noise.
The polytunnel covering isn’t doing too well, and we can’t get the clips back on in this wind. We’ve weighted it down as much as we can and are now crossing our fingers. We can’t complain as we’ve used this cover for four years and we haven’t maintained it as much as we should have done.
It did better than the outdoor chicken coop, as you can see in the photos.
A result of Storm Henry
Sixteen eggs today, so production is looking up. I suspect it may be down in a day or two due to wind and temperature, but that’s what happens when you produce your own.
In preparation for the birdwatch next week we’ve been reading bird books and making birds to hang on the “tree”.
No more lambs at the moment, though we did have the main flock scanned last week. 195 ewes in lamb, including 120 with twins and 33 with triplets. Sounds good, but in the words of the old song there may be trouble ahead. The trouble with sheep is that they can only feed two lambs, so triplets are a mixed blessing. That is one of the reasons I prefer pigs. sausages and bacon being the others…
I really dislike that design of chicken coop – it’s exactly like our original one, which is currently in pieces awaiting conversion into a more convenient little house without attached run. Oh and the pup is cute, but the puddles less so 😉
We are picking up a donated chicken run on Friday and Men in Sheds will be refurbishing it. Men, power tools, design by committee – what can possibly go wrong? 😉
I await pictures!
The plan is to put it on wheels, so watch this space!
Wow!
The best laid plans…
‘inconvenient puddle’ – I like it
We had a meeting last night and she lay between my feet under the table – picture of innocence!
At your convenience, no doubt
I do love Border Collies…and lambs.
I like them too – they both seem to bring more people to the blog!
That is a very cute border collie puppy! I love them – my parents had 3 border collies as pets and they were all exceedingly intelligent and loved herding anything that could possibly be bullied into being herded. The first one we had wouldn’t let the guinea-pigs out of their hutch and the third one enjoyed forcing Mum and Dad’s other dog (a daft spaniel) into the sea when on beach walks.
We have noticed how noisy ‘Henry’ has been too. No damage here as yet.
Fortunately it’s mainly noise. She was crouching down yesterday ready to herd people. can’t wait to see her with the farmyard chickens now you’ve told me about your guinea pigs and spaniel! 😉
It will be interesting!
I’ve just had an idea for the seated yoga class on Thursday when we have a centre full of creaky pensioners. Could be fun…
😀
Such a cute puppy :). Do any of your animals ever react to storms? I assume the chickens weren’t in the coop at the time it ended up like that. 😮
No, it was empty at the time. Yes, poultry can go off lay if they are disturbed – I used to work on a poultry breeding farm under an RAF flight path. The first time a new flock got flown over they would panic and production would dip. After the first time they ignored it.
The wind has definitely been very noisy today – and blowing debris about like nobody’s business.
I hope your polytunnel survives and egg production continues.
Tunnel seems OK for now – we were planning a new cover for spring so no harm done as long as we can retain the cover till then. 😉
Sorry for the puddles. Puppies. What can you do? Sounds like you’re going to have quite a clean up job to do after the wind dies down. Wishing you the best of luck on the polytunnel.
Thanks, we’re keeping up with it at the moment – but we’re going to need a day in spring to recover the tunnel.
I wish you luck and send you love.
Thank you. 😉