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Lesley

The Good Life......continued....

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Fond memories Laura? :?:lol:

 

I had a terrible night - panic attacks, lights on, fitful sleep and gnashing of teeth so my jaw hurts and I have tooth pain again...... I kept worrying that the cows would die in the trailer even though I knew there was plenty of room and water for them :roll:

 

We were up before 6am, checked on the sheep........ no lambs yet!

 

We were at the abattoir just before 7am. The one bit I didn't mention yesterday - because I was seriously worried about it - was that cows have to have two ear tags each. One of ours lost a tag a couple of weeks ago. I managed to buy just one tag (usually sold in runs of 50+) .......... but even with her in the crush yesterday, we couldn't get the tag in :( She nearly took Carl's hand off with her horns :?

 

I kept thinking of different things to tell the man at the abattoir........... when it came to it, I just told him the truth....... :?

 

He was totally unconcerned :shock: - as long as she had one ear tag in then that was OK :shock:

 

We were third in the queue at the abattoir. It is a small place in a small village so not much room for stacking :? Carl reversed the trailer up to the ramp.......... and the girls calmly trotted out :shock: The only calm thing they had ever done in their lives :shock: The man was ready for them......... and off they went. It was so calm and quiet, we've never heard any distressed sounds from this abattoir. It couldn't have gone any better. We were so pleased that it was stressless for them but also so relieved that we don't have to cope with them any longer...... we struggled to keep it all together :? I think the abattoir staff were aware that we were finding it difficult and were so nice to us as well as the cows!

 

We're going to miss seeing them slowly munching their way round the field - but glad that they had a happy, long, life..... not many cattle make it to nearly 3 years if they are raised for beef. We had intended to breed from these but soon realised it was never going to be..... we had them at 11 months old and they'd never been handled.

 

Goodbye to Grace and Ella........ :)

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you should write a memoir you know. So many people aspire to your way of life, it would fly off the shelves. Throw in the odd humourism and you're away ;)

 

Bet you don't have time though.

 

Glad to hear that they had a peaceful end. What's happening with the meat, is it just for yourselves?

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I laughed too :oops:

 

Glad it all went well in the end :lol:

 

If you got some calves at about 8 weeks of age and started handling them they would be okay until they become 'teenagers' then they crash around a bit but do calm down again :lol:

 

I wouldn't recommend any younger though as milk fed calves seem to have one mission in life and that is to die :cry: Very suddnely and for no real reason :roll:

 

You can get minature Dexters but I don't think there is anyhing smaller than that :?

 

To be honest the bigger breeds can be easier to handle and more docile the trick is to get them young and keep going in and scratching them when they feed to get used to the contact 8)

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I wouldn't recommend any younger though as milk fed calves seem to have one mission in life and that is to die :cry: Very suddnely and for no real reason :roll:

 

With cows and sheep both determined to die as is their lifes mission i would just stick to the piggies and chooks from now on Lesley! :wink::lol::lol:

 

In fact hows that giraffe doing? :?

We never hear any tales about it - its obviously very well behaved :wink::lol::lol:

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The giraffe is just fine Emma - so well behaved that we hardly know it is here...... :wink:

 

A book? - I don't think i'd find the time ......... unless I stopped coming in here :lol:

 

If we have any more cows they will be ones without horns, whatever breed they are! :roll::wink: We could have a Hereford Simmental cross from a local farmer who we chat to at the Farmer's Market. Carl would like a house cow - and would be quite happy to be tied to having to be here to milk it twice a day, every day :roll: - I could do without having cows at all :lol:

 

We've dismantled all that we put together yesterday for the cows and have reassembled it all in the sheep field. We are now ready for any lambs. The timings were all a bit awry - the cows should have gone before the sheep were due to lamb.

 

We are now another step closer to being self-sufficient - although we have had to order a new freezer for all that beef :lol: We've also got some lovely strawy manure to help the fruit and veggies along :wink:

 

I don't think we'll be short of burgers for the barbecues this summer :lol:

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It's a shame that they got spooked and all 'ornery Lesley on the last day:( But then they have been awkward from the word go, and it's not been for want of trying on your part. I remember scratching them when they were little, but they've got wild since then and a bit scary.

 

Give us a shout next time; no problem if you're stuck.

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One door closes...... and another one opens...... :D

First arrival - this morning at 7am!

2008_0507FirstLamb20080007.jpg

 

Curious onlookers - the second from left is due to produce as well....

2008_0507FirstLamb20080008.jpg

 

Mother and son doing well.....

2008_0507FirstLamb20080011.jpg

 

After the goings on of the last few days, we both slept later than the usual 6 'o' clock - we went out at just past 7 :roll:

Carl was working from home yesterday....... but had to go in today, typical :roll: He was in work for 11.30........ and I had my breakfast at 11.30 as well, I hadn't even had a drink by then :roll:

 

He is tiny and Mum wasn't letting him feed for a while so I've given his some colostrum in a bottle, just to give him the strength he needs to be able to attempt to feed properly - fingers crossed now. It certainly gave him enough energy to escape through the small gate enclosing the little maternity ward area :wink: My son was working in the Ducks enclosure and so we were able to get him back in quickly.

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