Snow warning

We had an yellow snow warning, then we were upgraded to an amber snow warning, I always thought snow was white - ah ha!  I now know what the forecasters were on about........................

 

Amber snow! or is it yellow? pretty rare stuff I doubt coz most places you look it has a whiteish hue about it.

Aye! It snowed, quite a change from Thursday

 

Thursday saw the covering of snow we'd had melting away nicely, okay, this isn't exactly a picture of snow, the hard frosts we'd experienced made the stuff run off roofs and duly freeze, now the freezing was dripping (yes you're right, it took me ages to catch that drip in mid air, must have nowt better to do!) 

So, that was Thursday. Friday saw hay being frantically laid out for sheep, Friday afternoon saw sheep being hounded in to lower ground, where the hay was laid out for them, ready for the onslaught, and it came, right on cue, this was the yellow snow we'd been warned about. It wasn't until today, Monday, that the amber stuff appeared, again right on cue. The weekend had seen as much feed put out for sheep as possible before the onslaught of wind and snow hit them and had them blocked out from the comfort of feed and security.

This picture may not exactly show signs of comfort and security but at least if they should get happed with snow in these driving winds I'll know where to find them.

 

As for old Glen, so long as his lugs are sticking up I'll be able to find him an' all!

Thought you'd all enjoy this link, showing the highs of farming, a cheery compilation http://youtu.be/iWdFTa7UNPs

F******* gather

Foggy gather. Final gather. If you were thinking it was any other eff ing gather you need to wash your minds out with mustard. Take it from me, it is an ideal way to ensure you'd never touch mustard again!

The view - if you could call it that. Every morning, without fail the view hardly varied.

I guess a different spot made the view seem slightly different, but initially it was all the same, visibility extremely poor, in fact visibility was crap, there wasn't a polite way of putting it really.

A week had been allowed to gather the sheep away out bye. 7,000 + acres to cover to find 1,500 sheep. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, an inconvenience maybe but not a problem, there is always tomorrow. However, the scan man was due in a weeks time and so a problem it was.

Every morning saw us climb out into the thickening gloom, like two intrepid explorers on quads, setting out to find what no man could see. Headlights on the bikes were of little use as neither of us could see each other until we almost collided. We went forth and made noise, whistled, sang, hollered (shouted)....... whatever the moment necessitated, it would be fair to say we persevered.

As we dropped further in apparitions began to appear before our very eyes. A marvelous sight!! Sheep know where they belong and they know the spot to gather up to, they also know when we can't see them..........

Fortunately, blocks had been put in place to encourage the sheep to run to a designated area, an area where years back the sheep were gathered together for tup time and have since always been gathered to the same spot. Which means that generations of sheep know where they're meant to gather up to, they know feed blocks will be available to them on the run up to lambing time at these particular spots on the hill. These blocks were put out to help hold them to the spot, specifically for this particular gather.

It was a great help with the conditions we were experiencing, giving us a sporting chance of tracking down the sheep when visibility was so poor.

Ironical that you couldn't see a bloody thing out on the tops then drop away in with sheep in front of you and it is as clear as a bell. A quick count to see if all are present. Then the inevitable - all aren't present! There were a variety of discrepancies, ranging from a couple short, to 30 odd short and one day apparently over a hundred short (the day Shep had to go elsewhere, can't be blamed for that one!)

Those present were taken further in and held in fields whilst bikes and riders turned around and headed out to look for more.

It seemed like a long week, much bouncing around on the hill, I'm sure my arse (backside) was tenderised like the finest steaks by the end of the gathering, it felt like every muscle, joint and bone in my body had been pulverised, far cheaper than paying for a deep muscle massage that's for sure, probably not quite such a pleasant result tho'! Ground was covered and re covered in an attempt to have all sheep present for the scan man.

Did we succeed? Well almost........ The final tally saw a handful missing, a handful unaccounted for, we ran out of time and luck but under the circumstances were also highly successful. Let's hope those missing few are fit and healthy and come in on the next gather.

I started the posting with Foggy gather.Final gather?

http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2011/11/springing-into-winter.html

This link takes us back to the gathering for tup time where I wrote the following:

I mentioned to the shepherd that this ought to be our last day out here, a day to hold strong in our memories, a perfect day. There are changes afoot on this particular farm, a parting of the ways. Neither of us knows if we'll ever be out here again to gather, let alone be in each others company doing so. This was the first day of many to gather sheep forward for tup time, wouldn't it have been perfect if it had been the last day of many.

At long last we had the final gather. 'Twas a shame we didn't quite go out on a high! Although there were high moments, and much leg pulling. There was probably also a sense of relief.

A relief that at last there was a shepherd on the farm, a farm which has been unoccupied for four months, four winter months at that. I think there ought to be a party!!! A leaving do?? A pre lambing bash - now there's an idea!

The Lazy Gather

A need to get some sheep in and treat them for lice. They were running on an enclosed piece of hill ground alongside cattle. The cattle are fed on silage, which is laid out on the ground for them each morning. The sheep can't help themselves when a free bite is on offer and they come forward to share the fodder with the cattle.

A lazy mans approach, but it was hoped all the sheep may have congregated with the cattle, if this was the case it wouldn't be necessary to bounce around the hill ground on the quad to gather everything in.

So it was then that old Glen and I cut some corners and collected this bunch of sheep from where they were sharing a bale of silage with the cows.

Glen soon encouraged the sheep to leave the tasty silage behind and do as they were told, gather up in a bunch and move where they were required to move to.

All was going well until we had this obstacle to pass through. Just a gateway, but the brakes were engaged, sheep did not want to move forward.

Poor old Glen found himself having to do some leg work as sheep tried to break back to whence they had come. Whichever side the dog ran to saw sheep trying to break away on the other side. He had his work cut out for a while.

Eventually one kindly soul decided to head through the gate, it only takes one, the others will soon follow.

Glen still acted as back stop, ensuring no sneaky creature got a chance to turn back.

The sheep were streaming away across the next field whilst the last few were tip toeing through the gateway.

The gateway in question. The reason the sheep were reluctant to go through it. A huge puddle across the width of the gateway which had also been frozen. The bike, on the journey out to get the sheep, had broken through the ice but the sheep were more concerned about getting there feet wet than anything else, they really don't like clarty gateways.

The next gateway was drier and sheep were willing to go through it. Upon reaching the sheep pens the sheep were counted. 212 was the number I arrived at and upon enquiring how many there ought to be I was told 212 - great news! It meant the lazy gather had been succesful, there were no sheep left out on the hill ground, all were accounted for. The ploy had worked and had saved a lot of time in the process.

A couple of hours in the pens and home they headed, far more enthusiastic to go through the clarty gateway this time, in main due to the fact that this direction was taking them home.

I shot forward to open the gate onto the hill, the one which had been closed to ensure the cattle didn't wander away in, whilst Glen quietly followed on, he had no hard work to do, these sheep were heading for home, knew where they were going, didn't need steering or encouraging just needed Glen to gently wander along behind them. He was happy in his work.

Tups off

Aye, the boys are back home, they've had their fun for the year, it's now all over for another year and gathered in they are. Not everyone fetches their tups in, some seem to leave them running with the flock, I've never been accustomed to this, the tups would always be fetched off the ewes, you always knew when the lambing would draw to a close, it can help the sanity in the spring, knowing that the lambing will come to an end.

Once all gathered in off the ewes the boys found themselves going through the sheep pens. A bit of a health check was required. Much to young Kales pleasure, he found himself with the opportunity of working in the pens or ought that be learning in the pens?

Some of the fellas found themselves heading off for a journey to the mart, never to be seen again, they may have been old sheep or maybe just spares which had been kept should an emergency arise at tup time, regardless, if they are no longer wanted there is no point in feeding them, off they went.

Those remaining found themselves walking through a footbath, horns checked and sorted (will write about this sometime), dosed and of course squirted for lice, although they seem to show no outward signs they will indeed be infested, the ewes were so the tups will be also.

Tups in a tight area are not always the safest of creatures, young Kale found himself on the wrong side of the gate on purpose, his enthusiasm could see him hurt, if not him then probably me. There are some bolshy characters and I didn't wish to see either the young fella or myself get injured. He watched the proceedings with great interest and a longing...

Finally all the doings to the fellas had been done, left to stand on concrete for a short while to allow the chemical which was in the footbath to soak into their feet, odd ones started to hold a foot up - a good sign, obviously they had a touch of scald (similar I guess to athletes foot), for all they had been showing no outward signs, in other words weren't limping, they must have been starting with something, the bath would hopefully sort this up and prevent it from worsening.

The last of these boys were fetched off the ewes on 4th January, allowing the five months less five days thing you would say the ewes would cease lambing at the end of May, however, we all know that some carry their lambs over their due dates, it will be fair to say that by the end of May/beginning of June there'll be nowt left to lamb - hurray! But then these sheep wont be bothering Shep as she heads elsewhere to go lambing.

The boys eventually found themselves returned to their pasture

much to young Kales delight, as he found himself being allowed to pretend to be a sheepdog, he hasn't had the work he ought to have over tup time but proved to be enthusiastic and willing when given his chance.

He can run faster than I of that there is no doubt, still learning the ropes he did very well with the boys. They are ideal to work a young dog on, due to their bolshyness as much as anything, they can teach a keen fella a bit of respect, whilst the keen fella also teaches the boys a bit of respect, the arrangement works quite well.

The boys get their reward for the inconvenience caused to them, Kale received a well deserved pat for listening and learning and walked out of the field feeling he'd achieved something.