Struan Farm

Recent Refinements

We've made some "refinements" to Pet Paddock 2 out the gate in the backyard here at Struan Farm. This follows a few stormy nights this week when I felt compelled to airlift pet lambs Cookie and Buster back to the sheltered protection of their Pet Pen. They are really too little to be out there on their own without mum (in mum's view), are still hanging out next to the gate and the house. They haven't adventured very far out in the paddock, certainly haven't discovered the sheltering branches of the tawa grove further down the hill just yet.  I tried putting out a big cardboard box to provide some shelter in the pouring rain, but that was commandeered by Buster, leaving Cookie huddled up by herself in the driving rain (the box also disintegrated pretty quickly).

In the light of day, Nephew Mike helpfully stepped into the fray between showers with some recycled corrugated iron and a few posts to knock up a temporary "lean-to" for them in the paddock:

I know, it's not perfect, but they can cuddle against the fence or the posts and have some shelter overhead.

The second job for Mike was "Cookie proofing" the fence. Last year we ran a wire along the bottom of this fence to stop the lambs (Rosie and Pip) from getting under and into the garden and down the driveway (you may remember that Rosie got into the bad habit of coming up to our front doorstep). Cookie recently demonstrated an ability to get through the bottom two boards, so Mike has run a second wire to stop all that (fingers crossed).

Can you tell these two wee lambs are keeping us busy? I'm thinking Cookie will be the mastermind, Buster the goofy sidekick, but they may take turns.

Pets to the Paddock

In my view this move is a wee bit premature, but Cookie and Buster have been put out into the paddock near the back gate here at Struan Farm. Somehow Cookie managed to catapult herself out of the Pet Pen, so she prompted the decision. We couldn't have her jumping out and running around the house, down the drive or near the road, particularly if we weren't around to rescue her.

Apparently growing up in John's day the pets were put out in the paddock right away, there was no security of a nice little pet pen with tarp and bench to cuddle under. I tried to reason with John that our fencing and paddocks are quite different now, also that hoggets are roaming around who might butt them (namely Rosie).  He also isn't the one who has to find them at feeding time when they've gone for a wander. 

Everybody's been okay thus far. Now the 6:05 a.m. wake up calls outside the bedroom window begin.....Think I'll send John out on those, what do you think?

Once There Were Three, Then Two

The neighbour rang over the weekend to ask if we'd be willing to take two newborn ram lambs as pets here at Struan Farm. Our preference is for ewes, since they'll get to stay around, but these little fellows would probably die otherwise, so of course we took them. I drove over with bottles and blankets and picked them up.

Meet Bugsy and Buster:

Bugsy was a twin, and abandoned by mum, while Buster, who is a HUGE lamb, was born by C-section. He was too large for his mum, so had a rather traumatic entry into the world. He was quite shaky when I picked him up, but he seems fine now.

Cookie's tranquil world was rocked to say the least. She wasn't  sure about all this, especially since Buster keeps chasing her around the pet pen with his gangly legs!

As you can see I'm getting accusatory glares right now....but they'll settle down I'm sure.

Unfortunately, the morning after their arrival "Bugsy," the little lamb in the middle, passed away. Sometimes ewes reject lambs for a reason, so there must have been something wrong with him that she sensed. We had him briefly in the garage wrapped in a blanket to see if he would recover, also so he was by himself and comfortable. John has buried him. 

So my friends, it's not always happy stories on the pet lamb front, but then they wouldn't have a chance at all if we didn't try to save them in the first place.

The Old Guard Meets the New

I have been curious to see how last season's pet lambs Rosie, Ruby, Pip and Pepper might interact with new pet Cookie, if at all, but didn't know when that opportunity might come about. Rosie, Ruby, Pip and Pepper are technically now "hoggets." They didn't have lambs this year, will be put to the ram next year when they are one year older, which is better for them.

A few days ago John and I were out back with Cookie running around at the same time we were feeding Rosie her daily apple treat. Both Pepper and Pip were quite curious about Cookie, and came up to the fence to look over to her running around "baa-ing." Not sure what was going through those heads, this was the same back fence where they used to get their bottles, and she was staying in THEIR Pet Pen....Pepper looked a little upset, like she actually wanted to help Cookie. This was our anti-social little Pepper, who even tolerated a pat from me. Rosie was more focused on the apple.

John popped Cookie over the fence into the paddock with the three girls (Ruby wasn't around). Rosie got quite aggressive butting Cookie away, which is what mother sheep typically do to lambs that aren't their own. We jumped to Cookie's rescue (she quickly hopped through the fence back in our direction), and told Rosie to behave herself, to play nice or no more apples!

So Cookie will need to grow a bit bigger before she'll be playing with the Old Girls, Rosie in particular. Perhaps Rosie is just jealous of the new lamb in the Pet Pen, the one who gets the bottles now!

A Bit of Baking

I saw a recipe for "White and Dark Chocolate Brownies" in this past week's NZ Herald's Viva magazine. While John and I aren't huge fans of dense chocolate desserts, I don't mind brownies and he tends to like white chocolate. So it was worth the rainy day experiment here at Struan Farm.

I'm not sure about dotting the top with the white chocolate buttons, it looks a bit polka dotty to me...however they taste delicious, and not too sweet. Unfortunately Viva hasn't put the recipe for these on their website, so if you'd like it please email me. 

 

It's Official: Spring has Sprung

Today is the first day of spring here in New Zealand, and good news! The huge magnolia tree in the Homestead gardens at Struan Farm agrees. It's started to pop into bloom.

The daffodils have chimed in, along with one of our plum trees. So I guess there's consensus in the gardens, it's official.