Making the most of the weather

Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and Santa was kind to you all. Paul & I got some excellent walkie talkies which will be a great help when one of us is in the paddock - they have been very handy to order cups of tea from my dad over the past few days too!

Despite the festive period we still have lots of jobs to get on with, and with the weather being dry for a number of days now we have certainly made the most of it.

The whole herd have had their vitamin AD&E paste which is vital at this time of year. Some are much easier to deal with than others, Gabby and Loki love it and would happily eat the whole tube given half a chance. Then you get others who think you are trying to poison them so injectable AD&E will be required there. If I can give it in paste form I would rather do than that give them an injection, but on occasions an injection is either best or the only way to ensure they get it.

I did every one's nails too, that was 256 nails to check and almost of all them needed a little trim or in some cases a lot of a trim. Again some animals are more co-operative than others, Blossom & Kate are always difficult and all of the boys are very well behaved. Kate takes her spite out of everyone else and was spitting at anyone that came within a few yards so in the end we had to put her out.

It is amazing how much some animals change, when we first got Willow she was an absolute nightmare to try and cut her nails but she now tolerates it well, albeit usually whimpers and sits down. Angelus, one of the pregnant females we have for sale, is another that was very nervous when we first got her, she completely trusts me now and she stood quite happily whilst we did everything that was needed. She was the first of the sales girls to eat from my hand.

Alice is another of the 'sales team' who has gained enough confidence to eat from my hand, I'm sure Aria won't be much longer either before she is eating from my hand. Another of the sales team Molly is looking very pregnant. She is pregnant to EP Accoyo Remarque and only has about 12 weeks to go now. She will be the first of our births next year unless she has gone to her new home before then. Molly, her sister Millie and their friend Aria would make starter herd, all are pregnant and are due to birth early in the spring.