OH MY WORD THIS BLOG SHOULD BE CALLED THE COMEDY CAPERS AT CLOWN TOWERS

I don't think I could make this up!! If I ever succeed in turning Nunnery Farm into a successful smallholding then I will eat my hat!
I set off with the back of my Landrover completely pig proofed and ready for the journey - a towel on the floor and two sets of baby gates tied together with the pony's halter and stuffed down the back of the front seats clearly marking both our and the pigs travelling areas. It was going well so far.
We arrived after a short journey, baby gates still in place and the guy who was extremely professional just swooped them both up one after the other and hurled them into the back of the Landrover. I was on closing door duties and so thought I did well.

Bean, Minnie and Dave go Rabbiting!

Dave is stuck to Bean's side like glue so wherever she goes he goes and of course Minnie has to go too so off they all went down the field trying to catch the rabbits. This is a daily event for Bean and Minnie neither of whom rarely come back with anything thankfully and true to form both of them came back empty handed this time. The problem was not only did they come back without a rabbit, they came back without Dave.
I shouted him and heard faint bleats so I knew he was at the bottom of the field and not very happily I set off down the slope to retrieve said lamb right to the bottom of the field. Bean and Minnie came with me which would only make things worse. When I got to the bottom I saw Dave in a state of panic - he had followed Bean through the sheep netting and into the stream where he had become stranded not knowing how to get back through the fence.
There was only one thing for it, I had to climb over the fence to the stream and get him back and there was no easy way I had to climb up a tree then when I was as high as the top of the fence hurl myself over to the other side. Dave ran off further down the stream at seeing this and I landed in a clump of brambles which immediately snared me with all their thorns and clung to my leggings for dear life.
As you can imagine I am at boiling point by now and have no option but to kick my legs about trying to free my legs from the brambles but at the same time trying desperately to keep my flip flops on. This took ages. In the meantime Minnie had decided to chase Dave the other side of the stream!

In my flip flops I had to cross the stream almost falling over twice whilst trying to grab Dave by the tail. He got flung back over into our field. I re-climbed the tree and hurled myself the other way and stomped back to the house not talking to any of them. Dave is on his first warning!

The Class of 2011

I cant believe its a week since the last Bernese Bubba left me for his new home. All the puppies are having a brilliant time in their new homes and have got the most amazing families caring for them. By the sounds of it they are all becoming expert diggers!!

The Pigs Are Coming Back!!!

Well its all very exciting here today as my new pig area is almost complete. The pig ark however is still flat pack and in a pile which I keep walking past hoping its put itself up the next time I pass. I am quietly confident however that all will be ready for the two Saddleback boys I have arriving this evening. It has been some time since I had pigs on the farm mainly because I put the old area up by hand and it didn't take them too long to destroy most of the fencing and then the house fell apart so I have completely started again from scratch. The boys are 14 weeks old so a little older than normal but it means the sausages will be ready sooner! I still have to collect these two in the back of my Landrover so we may still encounter problems! Things will be much easier once I find a little trailer!
Apparently if you produce your pork right the pigs completely pay for themselves so I am about to compile a Pig Accounts file and note down all my cost to date and see if in a few sets of pigs later they are starting to make me a profit!
I have to make a "Free Range Pork Sausages Coming Soon" sign for the bottom of the gate too!

The Luddenden Four Have Gone but Dave turns a corner!

Well Dave has truly amazed everyone by how well he has improved and continues to improve on a daily basis. He has been adopted by Bean our Newfoundland with the assistance of Minnie the Great Dane. He is a fully fledged member of the gang and I feel it is going to be quite a task to get him to go back into the field!

Poppy Lost the Fight - Its up to you now Dave

Poppy  Then I lost Poppy (the girl) she had given up the fight and there was nothing I could do to change her mind. However I thought Dave had a good fight in him but then he too took a turn for the worst and I thought I was going to lose him too. He was so weak and had lost the ability to walk and was sitting in his own dirt and wee and I had decided to take him to be put to sleep the next day. Then my vet called rount to see Libby the resident Dartmoort and I asked him his opinion. He said because the lambs had not got the antibodies from their mum they had very little immune system and living outside for just a few hours would mean that dirt would have got inside the belly button and traveled up through his body and was messing around in his joints hence he could not  walk or get up. The vet asked me if I wanted to give it a go with Dave and give him a chance and I said ok. So the vet left,  I gave Dave an antibiotic injection
whipped him up
gave him a bath
wrapped him up and let him rest.
I had to get him, up every 30 minutes to go to the toilet and do a few steps with him to get him mobile again so that was a little demanding.
The puppies were still with me at that point and a baby
But I had made a decision to give it my best and thats what I intended to do.

Nunnery Farm is about to quieten down ... Or is it!!

Nunnery Farm is about to start quieting down.
Earlier in the year I took Molly, the lovely Bernese down to a wonderful place called The Rock where Molly met a rather handsome chappy called Rocky and 9 weeks later we were blessed with 4 gorgeous little pups -  BUDDY - BARNEY - TOMO AND TIA and this was a lovely exciting time but the pups have been slowly leaving me over the past 2 weeks and finally they are all in their new homes causing mayhem and mischief!
I am now left with the general goings on a The Nunnery which on a daily basis can be more than chaotic!- Just recently my sheep have been lambing and all has been going well, they were managing themselves really and then my chief sheep Tuesday - decided to get mastitis quite badly and so when her twins came along there was no first milk for them from mum and because she was poorly I put them both together in the shed and faced the fact that I would be hand rearing them. It was only a few hours later and quite unexpectedly that they both started to fade and this happened so quickly I thought that I would lose them both before the night was out and so made the decision to take them indoors, wrap them up and nurse them in the hope that a bit of TLC would save them.