Wednesday 15 August 2012

Baaaaaking mad

Having got Coll and Tiree we were keen to get a couple more Ouessant ewes so we could grow the flock slowly over time. The aim in the end being to keep the grass down in the orchard and round the barns and perhaps one day (the fencing would be a big job) on the drive).
We spotted an advert on Angloinfo (useful website with different sections for each region) from someone who needed to cut down on the number of sheep she had.
Now the flock has expanded rather faster than intended. We went to get them yesterday. It was about a two hour drive pretty much directly North.

We hired a van and put cardboard down on the floor covered with hay (not the new stuff we just made - older hay)
We drove past loads of sunflowers.

 Poppy came too (of course) and was pretty well behaved. She travelled most the way on the floor

But was very lucky for a few minutes and got to see the view

As we drove it got noticably drier and the design of the houses changes from steep slate roofs to gentler tiled ones.

We went through some historic looking towns and villages. This is Auch.

The place the sheep came from was amazing - with plenty of other animals. Cats, donkeys, goats, chickens and dogs. The people running the place could be described as 'a bit mad' but in the nicest possible way. We would have to admit to being 'a bit mad' too so we mean that as a complement.
The sheep had all been rounded up in to the barn except one. We had a bit of fun catching her. The gardener and a friend were driving around after it in a buggy and car and people on foot were trying to guide it in to either a corner or against the barn so someone could grab it. She is a frisky little thing though and kept breaking through the line. We and the previous owner were a bit worried she was going to drop dead of a heart attack with all the running in the heat. However eventually everyone was loaded and we sped home as fast as possible (allowing for gentle cornering) to keep the can cool as well as to get the journey finished as fast as possible.

So now in the field we have
2 Ouessant rams
1 Jacob ewe plus 2 (male) lambs
1 Suffolk plus a  (female) lamb 
2 Ouessant ewes with a lamb each (one male, one female)
1 Ouassant (female) lamb

12 in total.





We now need to do some more fencing as the current field is fine for them all now but is not really big enough to keep them all in grazing. Also the Suffolk particularly has started eating leaves off the trees and perhaps it is only a matter of time till she gets on to the bark. Typically the Ouessant don't eat trees as much as other sheep so perhaps we will leave some of them there and have a mixed flock around the barns where it would be a good thing if some trees were eaten.







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