Damp Days

www.alpacas-for-sale.co.uk
Looks as though I accidentally saved this post as a draft.  It was dated before the photos of the Gotland Sheep.  

Every time I think I will go out with the camera to take photos of the house, or indeed anything of interest, the weather steps in.

The good news is that the house now has a full complement of lovely windows, most of the outside has its wooden cladding on and we are dashing around choosing flooring for the large living room and the porch.

Yesterday we went to collect our new Gotland Sheep from an agility friend who lives near Okehampton.   I had already found a company who sell stone flooring which was on the way - well that is what I call it - Mike is more sceptical and calls it a  big detour - at least that is what he usually says, but this time he agreed that it would kill two birds with one stone and save some fuel.  We were due to collect the sheep at 1 - 1.30 p.m. so only had quite a small window to view the flooring and given the small Devon lanes we had to travel down, that window was even smaller by the time we got there.   We expected the yard to be big (which it was) but most of the space was taken up with stock so we had to park the truck and trailer outside in the lane.

We finally chose Lodge Stone from Egypt, which is apparently a very recent import to this country and at the same time fell in love with their water features which were made of granite and very graceful (this would be for the garden).  They gave us a frightening quote but we decided when we started on the project that we would try and get what we want, even if it means waiting longer.  In this case it cannot wait because the floor is the next thing on the list of building works.

We arrived on time to collect the Sheep but Jenny , my friend, - hope there are no Inbetweener fans reading this -  had had a bad morning so I helped her tag the sheepand she kindly checked and trimmed their toe nails whilst I watched.   They got quite flighty and jumped over the gates of their pen, which was a bit worrying.   Our alpacas never do that and even the goats who can be very naughty only stick their heads through the fence or occasionally get under a gate or through it if it gets left open!!

We are downsizing the goat herd because we have not found a way to make any profit out of them.  I had visions of having the fleece spun and selling breeding stock, like we do the alpacas, but it has not really worked.   We have got our original investment back, and make enough to cover the cost of shearing with a small profit when we sell the fleeces, but I fear that when we feed them through the winter we are definitely out of pocket.

The Gotland sheep have beautiful grey fleece and apparently are good to eat too, so the plan is that the 4 ewe lambs we have bought will be mated this time next year and lambing in the following spring and will provide fleece and meat for friends and family.  We will keep the numbers down so that they are easier to manage.

The chickens are also disappointing at the moment - still only one egg a day and sometimes that goes missing if Millie or Romie get there first.

We have had health problems with all our animals over the past few weeks - worms, bad feet, out of condition Mums and really sodden ground all the time.   It makes everything such hard work and depressing when all the coats are wet, the dogs are constantly muddy and wet, skies are grey.   Still it makes you appreciate the sun when it does come out.  We have brought all the goats inside now in an effort to get their feet in better condition.  Neither of the Big Bucks could walk properly a few days ago.  I cut their nails, dug out the dirt, sprayed them with blue spray and gave them long acting antibiotic and they are at least walking normally now, although their feet still look wierd.