Wednesday 21 January 2009

Frosty morning, wet afternoon



We woke this morning to yet another hard frost, but as it had been raining during the night everywhere was like an ice rink.The car windscreen was iced up inside and out as were the doors. Outside taps were frozen, so were the ponds, drinking buckets etc.
No sooner had the ice melted the freezing rain started, so today has been spent catching up on washing, ironing and general housework with just the essential livestock duties being done.Not my idea of a good day. I did spend some time on the computer looking further into liver fluke and trace element deficiencies in sheep.It appears we have covered everything we can i.e. injections for fluke and mineral licks it's just a case now of waiting to see if the blood test results show anything different.

As I have spent most of today indoors I lit the second wood burner.We have two, one in the dining room and one in the living room.The dining room one we tend to keep in once it has been lit at the start of the winter.Normally this is the only one we need as it seems to heat the whole of the house.The sitting room one we use more as an 'open fire' only lighting it late afternoon or evenings on the gloomiest of days - I decided today was one of those days.
Wood burners are great.We get all the wood for free, either scrap wood etc. from my husband's work ( he's a builder ) or from the hedging, pruning etc. that needs to be done. Very rarely do we turn the heating on and then it is only to take the chill off the bathroom and bedrooms ( mostly for guests ) .

Hopefully spring is just around the corner, with lighter mornings and evenings.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

lethal out there this morning wasn't it.. slip sliding all over

you inject your sheep against fluke? do you have a problem or just preventing it? we use a flukicide wormer.. but thats all...
should i be doing more?

Anonymous said...

ack.. now i just read the post before and see why you are treating for fluke...

Sandra said...

Hi, this morning was miserable.Possibly preferable to rain but not good.
I have never treated for fluke before as our own ground is very well draining,however the sheep have spent several months at a friends.She has only been there for a year or so now but some of her sheep are showing signs of fluke.I think the injections are faster acting and longer lasting so we did them all as a percaution.

How are your eggs in the incubator coming along? I am itching to get started.

Anonymous said...

we candled them yesterday... veins etc.. so looking good. we shall see though.. still lots of room for things to go wrong. you going to incubate some too?

Sandra said...

It does sound promising...but as you say'so near but still so far'Good luck though.

Last year I tried goose eggs with very ,very limited results.Only one hatched unfortunately.

This year I am hoping to hatch some turkey eggs..last year we bought the poults in at 7 weeks.

We are also looking to start breeding some meat birds this year either under a broody ,in the incubator or both.

Anonymous said...

hmm goose is sposed to be hard to get right for incubation I've heard...
want to do turkeys.. and geese.. and quail.. just need some *time* to build everything!

Sandra said...

If you are looking for geese I have a pair looking for a new home or if you would like to give hatching a go you are more than welcome to some eggs once mine start laying...which should be fairly soon now,they will lay for several months so no hurry.

I know exactly what you mean about time !!

Quail have never appealed to me somehow.Would you have them for eggs, meat or both ?