Both myself and Mrs D have worked non stop this weekend. A lot of our motivation is to get everything ready for our lambs which should start appearing around Friday. The sheep are already in the lambing shed, so that’s all done. This weekend was all about getting the outside areas ready for when we turn them out.
Following a recent robbery, we decided to put a hedge at the bottom of our field. As well as making it hard to get in (it’s all thorny bushes) this would have the added benefit of blocking the view of our field from the road. However, sheep are very partial to thorny bushes, so with the sheep indoors, now was the perfect time to plant the hedge and fence it off. It was only about 35m, but still a lot of plants (83 in total).
On top of that, there were 25 apple trees waiting to be planted. Being bare root, they had to go in soon. These trees were going in the orchard and as this is also used for grazing, had to be fitted with tree guards, Rather than buy hugely expensive ones, I fashioned some out of some galvanised wire mesh. Those jobs kept me occupied!
Mrs D had already cleaned up the field and was now working on securing the fence. Sadly, our neighbour has three rather aggressive border terriers. They truly are bad cases of “small dog syndrome”. The last thing we want is for them to take an interest in the lambs and try to get into the field. Which, truth be told, is quite possible, dogs being dogs. So Mrs D has been on her knees making sure any rabbit scrapings or gaps under the fence are well and truly blocked.
And in between, we found a small dunnock lying on the ground. So that was duly nursed back to health.
Still, nearly there, preparation for lambs is looking good.
