Relief and Perseverance

Checking the sheep twice daily provides the opportunity to see them going about their normal business. That routine is then more obvious for being broken by a cough, scratching or, in this case, a limp. Number 28 (I really must memorise their names) showed signs of being lame and 'lame sheep are suffering pain' to quote Agnes Winter and Clare Phythian, authors of Sheep Health, Husbandry and Disease.

It's with great relief that, following treatment, Crest (Number 28) has returned to normal and is one of the first to reach a barley treat.

It could have been different. Her lameness was diagnosed (thanks Dave) as Scald, or Interdigital Dermatitis. This infection is caused 'by a common bacterium, Fusobacterium necrophorum, widely present in the environment.' It can infect the sheep when grazing on long wet grass, a scenario made more prevalent with the dew we've woken up to recently let alone the rain showers and there is a risk that the infection can progress to footrot. Treatment was essential and spraying the foot with a blue coloured antibiotic, Terramycin, is a recognised solution among local shepherds.

Now, on a less successful note, bread making... Attempt one, following a simple Delia Smith white loaf recipe, produced something a little doughy in the middle. I diagnosed that as me selecting the wrong oven shelf and cooking the crust too quickly. I'll keep trying...

1.7 and a New Calculation to Ponder

Back in February this year I found myself asking how the equation for quantifying the amount of gravel required for an area had been discovered. And did it work? So far so good; a 14 tonne load was dropped by lorry last week and has been steadily moved by wheel barrow to lie on top of a special mat that allows rainwater to drain away, while preventing any weed growth.

One of our neighbours is selling his Moor Sheep. He was considering their value and mulling over an equation he had heard of.

As opposed to sheep grazing his fields Moor Sheep, which you'd be hard tasked to tell apart from his others, acquire special significance based on a little observed, yet traditional shepherding technique. Hefting has been carried out for generations in various parts of the country, especially in the Lake District. Over decades sheep from certain farms with common grazing rights would always be led to a defined area of land off the farm. Over time the ewes would pass on the area to their lambs and this knowledge would pass through generations of offspring.

The technique and the knowledge bank of the hefted flock was badly damaged by the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001. A DEFRA report (http://tinyurl.com/ckrsudn) also details market pressures which have meant the decline of the practice. Still, locally, sheep that run on the Moor acquire a unique value:

market value + £8 + 10% of market value

But the question that needs answering first is: what is market value? And which market, Malton, Ruswarp..? Just a small amount of latitude for disagreement there. 

September Heat

It's been ages since I collected my thoughts and recorded them here. I blame the end of the football season; my usual routine was to listen to games on the radio and get on with research and writing on-line. Tonight's England demolition of Moldova certainly isn't captivating but it forms the sound track to me getting back (hopefully) into the blog habit.

A lot has and hasn't happened since my last post in March. We haven't had a summer for a start... Thankfully more recently we've had a dry spell of weather and that's enabled a good run of work, including a program of major earthworks.

I often say I have a list of 27 things to do, but I actually had a list of 27 jobs for the three tonne digger and three tonne dumper I hired last month. Some tasks were easily crossed off the list, for example collecting up broken stone gateposts from gateways across the farm. Not only does that remove a hazard for stock (and us), but grass couldn't grow where they lay. Not a major loss, but an attention to detail matter that was easily dealt with, with the equipment we had.

Plenty of drainage jobs were done, but the most time consuming tasks were to landscape the veg plot, spread the soil produced previously by work on our house and filling depressions in fields left by sheds long since demolished. The latter was essential prior to our Front field being ploughed at some point in the future. The picture shows the second terrace taking shape.



We've gathered together a number of railway sleepers and we'll recycle these as raised beds, using a good heap of top soil set aside for that purpose. The first retaining wall, visible running up from the bottom right corner of the above picture, is set on concrete and is constructed from modern blocks and stone. This will prevent the land shifting toward the house had it had done in the past, to the point where at points along its length the earth was five feet high against the building. The next wall will be a traditional dry stone construction, subject no doubt to local comment/sarcasm as we build it!