Rosie and the Lambs

Our beautiful (now deceased) English Mastiff, Rosie, acting as a foster mother for the orphaned lambs. She was the gentlest, sweetest natured and quietest dog I have ever known!

Pinkerton versus the world

The world's bravest cat

Pinkerton the cat has been teaching the dogs to respect a cat's authority since they arrived in the house, but on this day she decided to give them a group lesson. Holly, the 4 year old German Shepherd, took off and went into the back garden as soon as she saw Pinkerton. Holly is very aware that things can get ugly when the cat gets a notion to take on the dogs.

Ivy, the German Shepherd, and Dan, the American Bulldog, are both 10 months old in these photos and have already had quite a few individual lessons from Pinkerton on how to behave around cats. This group lesson is both confusing and exciting Ivy, who does not quite know what to do. Ebony, the very unfortunate 5 month old refugee Poodle from Perth was never destined to enjoy life on a farm with three other much bigger and older dogs, but this day she was most unhappy. Now the cat was also trying to dominate her. How far down the pecking order could she actually go, she wondered?

Pinkerton is irritated that Ivy still hasn't quite learned the lesson

Dog well retreated behind the tree, Pinkerton surveys her territory and gives all the dogs the 'evil eye' to remind them of what will be waiting for them if they ever get cheeky enough to challenge her supremacy.

Pinkerton, you are my hero!

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumper over (and broke) the (brand new) fence

Oh no, here she comes and we are in this paddock with the newly planted trees and we really shouldn't be in here eating them and trampling them into the ground. Let's get out of here before she sees us.

Hey! How did you guys get out so quickly? Wait for us. She'll flip out again if she finds us in here.

She's seen us. What do we do now?

Come on you sissy, jump the bloody thing. We aren't waiting here all day. She might have a rifle with her this time

Stuff it. I'm outta here. She'll never believe that we ran out of grass over here.

Wait for me.

 Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have eaten so many of those trees- my gut has got stuck on this thing. 

Phew. That was close. Compose yourself and act as if nothing happened. She'll never suspect a thing.

Love a (Muscovy) Duck

Once we (thought we) had mastered the art of chicken management we were keen to expand our skills to other poultry types. So we bought ten Muscovy ducks and seven Pilgrim geese from a local farmer. I will talk about the geese later. Today I would like to share with you the joys (and drawbacks) of having ducks in your life.

We got ten young Muscovies and they moved in with the chickens. We soon discovered that they were great "sitters". They would be walking along and just drop onto their bellies and sit, like their legs suddenly stopped working. At first we were worried they had some kind of leg weakness but, as we have come to learn, all Muscovies like to sit- a lot. They have heavy bodies and like to take a load off. The drakes especially are big, heavy birds which seem to find walking a huge encumbrance, and really get a waddle on just to go from A to B. They do not like to run and you can in fact cause them leg injuries if they are forced to run. This is why you must never chase them to catch them. If you want to catch a Muscovy you must trap them suddenly and unexpectedly, or round them up slowly so they do not have to run.

They were happy in their new home and grew surprisingly quickly. Two weeks later they looked like this

How to Know when your Ewe is Lambing

Ewes generally follow a similar pattern when they are about to give birth. Most of the following signs will be displayed, but possibly not all of them. 

Your ewe will remove herself from the flock a day or two before she has her lamb, standing on the periphery and generally not being very active. She may seek out a sheltered secluded spot and just hang around that area for a day or two. She may not do this, she may stay with the flock, but most often she will prefer to be away from the others.

She will still eat and drink at this time but as the labour progresses, she may stop eating and just stand or lay in the same area. She may continue to eat- I have seen both things happen. I have seen a ewe eating between contractions.

She will try to urinate frequently once the labour has begun.

Your ewe will get a certain "look " about her that you will come to recognise the more often you see it. She will look hollower in the sides, just under the spine and in front of her hips. Her tail will be elevated. She will hang her head down and look at her sides.