Struan Farm

A Barrier to Entry

I've been away up north over the past week, but in my absence pet lamb Spice has continued to enjoy the fruits of the Garden of Eden here at Struan Farm. She's been hopping up over the retaining wall several times a day.

When home I'd chase her back into the paddock, waving my tea towel, with Clifford watching on and laughing. She'd jump up to munch the lawn, targeting a "My Mum" rose bush nearby in particular. 

Surely this wasn't some sort of statement on her part? We've just weaned her, along with Sugar and Buzz.

Either way nephew Mike and John realised something had to be done. We began closing the front gate in case she wandered down the drive munching the griselinia hedge, and they erected a barrier with standards below the wall to make jumping up harder for her. 

She easily cleared their first effort, but John moved it out a bit further from the wall and that's seemed to have stopped her. We've had wailing outside our bedroom window, and she's paced longingly along the fence by the garden. In fact, I'm waiting for her to jump over the fence.

John tells me that in his dad's day a troublesome pet lamb would have been sent away, in an effort to "dumb down" the gene pool. Suffice it to say that won't happen on my watch!! I respect intelligent women, and that includes those of the sheep-ly persuasion.

Back to the Garden

I'm reminded of lyrics in the song "Woodstock," written by Joni Mitchell: "we've got to get ourselves back to the garden." It seems that pet lamb Spice has no problem doing that here at Struan Farm. The other day she leapt up over the retaining wall onto our house lawn and garden area, and this now looks to be her new party trick.

We arrived home from town over the weekend and found her munching away on the lawn and nibbling the flowers in my gardens! Oh.Dear. We'd just decided to wean the Big Three this week and thought they were doing so well given very few complaints, and even a willingness to try apple treats.

I'm not especially worried about the gardens. Rather I'm concerned about Spice doing this when we're not around to escort her through the gate and back to the paddock. I don't want her waltzing down the drive and onto the road. So until she gets through this exuberant leaping lamb phase we may need to close the front gate. 

 

Lamenting a Lamb Named Cheese

The day before yesterday I returned to Struan Farm in the late afternoon from a day trip to New Plymouth and went down to feed the "gang of five" pet lambs in the paddock behind the Cottage, near the Wool Shed. Only four lambs showed up for bottles: Peaches, Fig, Pickle and Chalk. Cheese was nowhere to be seen or heard.

So I fed the four their bottles and went off with bottle in hand, calling out for Cheese. I figured she'd gone with the mob into the front Pet Paddock, or had gotten through a fence and into another paddock, maybe all the way even down to the river. But after wandering and calling for awhile I couldn't find her. When John got home he hopped on the quad bike and did the same thing, looking in the bush areas as well.

No Cheese. It was really odd. And she didn't turn up for breakfast this morning either.

Later today Mike found her, dead under the trees near the Tree Hut. We won't know if she ate something she shouldn't have or what happened. The other four lambs know something's a bit different, but otherwise are happy and healthy. The Big Three are fine too. Farmer John and I had a chat, and he tells me these things do happen.

Life goes on for everyone else, but still. I'm overtired and lamenting a lamb. A lamb named Cheese, one who liked to figure out her way through holes in fences and tiptoe over cattle stops, with her twin sister Chalk tagging along.

Initial Weaning Woes

We're starting to cut back on the pet lambs' bottles here at Struan Farm. At a certain point the three bottles per day regimen gets hard with busy summer work schedules outside and elsewhere. More importantly, the Class of 2019 is looking pretty happy and fat and eating lots of grass.

This week the "Gang of Five," Chalk and Cheese, Peaches, Fig and Pickle, got cut back to two bottles per day, their bottle at lunchtime has been suspended. And the "Big Three," Buzz, Sugar and Spice, were cut back from two bottles to one per day yesterday. The Big Three especially are big, healthy lambs, John claims they look like hoggets! They are about a month older than the Gang of Five. The lambs' condition drives our decision as to when cutbacks start, at least for me. John always wants to cut the bottles back much sooner than I do. I'm rightly suspicious, since he tends to be motivated by a desire to reduce our expenditure on powdered milk and eliminate his involvement in the morning feed.

The Big Three are getting their one bottle at the end of the day now. And I am getting accusatory looks and baas any time they know I am in the vicinity, especially outside our bedroom window. The Gang of Five is hanging out down behind the Cottage, so if there are any moans from them the Cottage farmstay guests would be treated to those, a true rural experience.

Final cutbacks on bottles will be made after Christmas. I'll start testing apple treats shortly, since when they're moaning for Mum they'll usually give them a try.

 

Worming In Under the Redwoods

The past few days I've been working on seasonal cleanups under the redwood trees down the drive here at Struan Farm. It's a nice shaded area, and we've had a heat wave this week, so it's been a good job to avoid the hot, direct sun.

I'm raking up heaps of dried redwood "fronds," for lack of a more technical term, also weeding. During my raking I uncovered an absolutely HUGE earthworm, which prompted me to go grab my phone to take a quick photo before it wriggled away. Also to do some homework to try to learn more.

This worm was about 12 inches long, and very fat! It looks to be a native variety, of which there are 171 different "Megascolecidae" species (23 non-native "Lumbricidae"). The former tend to hang out in native bush and tussock. It looks like we must have enough native trees in this part of the property to attract the natives, which this one looks like. Read more if you're interested here. Apparently they can get as long as 1 1/2 metres, I'm relieved I didn't uncover one of those.

Struan Farm: where one continues to learn things, even about earthworms!

Trip to the Wool Shed

A few days ago the lambs here at Struan Farm got their second instalment of injections against bad "stuff" from Farmer John. Of course this included my eight pet lambs: Buzz, Sugar, Spice, Chalk, Cheese, Fig, Peaches, and Pickle. Last time Farmer John travelled up to see them in their respective paddocks. This time Hubby John decided we should escort the pets down to the yard at the Wool Shed to make it easier for Farmer John.

Moving the pets out of their paddocks is always an interesting exercise, but Hubby John managed to get them down. I then did a royal tour to assure all the pets, both young and old, that everything would be fine. At a certain point they learn to distrust Farmer John, since he tends to do scary things to them like shearing, crutching, dosing. Sheep are smarter than you think, but then if you read this blog you will already know that.

Above you might be able to see that Bambi, one of last year's pets, decided to jump into the section of the yard with Buzz, Sugar and Spice. The Big Three had been pretty scared about leaving their home paddock in the first place, and this freaked them out a bit more. Bambi wasn't all that excited about them either. They eventually calmed down and munched some grass.

The Gang of Five are relatively at home around the Cottage and the Wool Shed, so thought being in the yards was rather fun!

Later in the day, once they were liberated from the yards, two of this group decided to waltz across the cattle stop into the Homestead gardens. This is not a good thing. Once they learn this art we have to be very careful about what paddocks we put them in. So they are now in the paddock behind the Cottage, which is without cattle stops. John and/or I are now travelling down to them with bottles, making it just a wee bit inconvenient for us to feed them. The trials and tribulations of pet lambs. But we love them!

The Stakes are High

At least the tomato stakes are here at Struan Farm.

I went to collect my wooden tomato stakes this past week from "my" garden shed, only to discover that they had been taken by someone. I suspected they might have been used for signs related to a recent political campaign, or to support some trees planted out around the property. (Yep, both it turns out.) I had purchased a decent stash of tall, heavy, wooden stakes last year to support my heirloom tomatoes properly.

While not confessing, the culprit employed nephew Mike to make me some new tomato stakes. The stakes are high, 2.1 metres. The job got done in record time, so I know the culprit was guilty as charged.

And people wonder why Karen gets grumpy. Tools, stakes, pots. Things get taken and not replaced, or don't get put back where they belong when they're taken. Grumpy, me?

A Great Pyramid, Perhaps

I had to laugh a few days ago seeing several lambs lounging around the pyramid shaped limestone rock down at the bottom of the "bowl" from our house here at Struan Farm.

This oddly shaped rock was uncovered by the digger when the macrocarpa trees were taken out last year and the associated rubble cleaned up. One wonders if it's a bit like an iceberg, and what lies beneath. It might be a substantial, interesting rock. Another great pyramid perhaps? Not sure we'll go there, but it could become a feature of some sort when time and landscaping focus permit.

In the meantime it will serve as a meeting point for the lambs. Lambs and limestone, alliteration works for me.

The View, Continued

Sometimes there are days when I see the view from our house here at Struan Farm and just need to share it.

I remain fascinated with the changing light on and lines in the hills and trees, the sheer beauty of it all. Feel very fortunate to look out on all this here at Struan Farm!

Piopio's Next Top Model 2019

It's getting to be that time of the year. When Karen goes into the closet here at Struan Farm and digs out the reindeer antlers and other Christmas bits and pieces to try to coax the season's pet lambs to be cute and photogenic for our annual Christmas card shoot.

It's become a tradition over these past several years, and I rather enjoy it. But the weather delay in the shoot due to all the rains we've had may have had some impact on the degree of cooperation I received from my models. Typically the older they get the harder it gets. Although like most things there are some exceptions due to personalities.

There were two stars for 2019: Buzz and Peaches, with some limited willingness expressed by Spice and Chalk. The latter didn't result in terribly good photos, unfortunately. Sugar wouldn't come near me, and while Fig, Cheese, and Pickle were curious, they weren't wanting to feature. I do like to have more of a contest, so I may give it another go on another sunny day. Here's where we are so far:

At a certain point I've worn out my welcome, it's time for a rest, and I get that.

 

Afternoon Naps

We had a bit of sunshine today, so I decided to venture out with my camera and some Christmas things to see if I could get the pet lambs to cooperate with a photo shoot for our annual Struan Farm Christmas card.

That's another story for another day, but at a certain point they settle and accept me as one of them, at least when I'm not waiving reindeer antlers or wreaths at them. In the front paddock the "Gang of Five" tend to curl up against the fence, right near their "bottle gate." That way they know they're close to bottles when they magically appear.

I was sitting on the grass beside them. Sometimes one would come up to chew my hair or shirt. Eventually we all got a bit dozy. So I picked myself up and dottered back into the house, leaving them to rest.

 

Pigeons in the Plums

This is starting to get a bit serious. The kereru, our native wood pigeons, have taken quite a fancy to my plum and nectarine trees in the orchard here at Struan Farm. Last night I discovered four of them gorging on the tender young leaves. And while it's great for close up photography of these beautiful birds, it's not great for my fruit trees. The birds need to be discouraged. There's plenty of other food for them around the farm.

They seem to be coming in the early evening, late afternoon, so I will try to shoo them away from now on. I will. I want some plums this season!

There's a Spring in Our Step

Finally! Some sunshine and a full day in the gardens here at Struan Farm. I've got a long way to go, but I'm starting to make a visible dent here and there. I haven't conceded defeat and put the SOS out to sister-in-law Anna to come back just yet.

With the sun and warmth everything's starting to look and feel a bit better, myself included.

We'll get a few more blasts of cold weather and rain going sideways I'm sure, but this has helped.

Invasion of the Hoggets

John and I had a rather hilarious thing happen a few days ago when we were out feeding the "Gang of Five" pet lambs at the front gate here at Struan Farm. Last year's pet lambs, Jam and Jelly, Camilla and Fergie, and Bambi, who are now running around the farm with the mob, came barrelling up to the gate and the bottle feeder. They butted and pushed Peaches, Fig, Chalk and Cheese and Pickle out of the way to drink bottles of milk!

They must have been having a flashback to earlier days to say the least. John had to intervene, telling them they were big girls now, well past bottles. They are such big and fat hoggets that it took me a minute to recognise them and figure out what was happening. John moved them into the next paddock, and four of them (minus Bambi) decided to try the same tactic with Buzz, Sugar and Spice. Sugar was so shaken by the incident she almost didn't drink her bottle, she had to be coaxed to settle down.

Here's a photo of Jelly, who featured on the Struan Farm Christmas card last year, so you can see how much they grow and change in just one year:

I'd just given her some apple treats, and she seems to be looking back at me longingly, doesn't she? Once a pet lamb, always a pet lamb here at Struan Farm. Privileges apply, to a point.

Post "NoseGate" Innovations

After my recent "nose meets gate" incident while feeding the "Gang of Five" pet lambs here at Struan Farm, John decided it was time for nephew Mike design a bottle feeder for the front gate. It's gotten hard for any one person to feed them without considerable chaos, let alone me. And they resemble one another so closely that someone could get shortchanged by accident. We don't want that.

So the edict was issued and Mike got to work. We just used his new feeder yesterday, and it works really well. He's added a second tier of holes to the original design at the back gate, which keeps the bottles more stable and less likely to get popped out. It also can be taken off the gate and stored until needed next year.

Most importantly, the kids have adjusted to it like lambs to bottles!

An Incident at the Gate

Of course you will remember that this year's pet lambs Peaches, Fig, Pickle, Chalk and Cheese are in the front paddock near our house here at Struan Farm, separate from the "Big Three" Buzz, Sugar and Spice. It's easier to manage groups of lambs the same ages for feeding, although feeding five at a time is a challenge either way.

The "Gang of Five" have shelter under the redwood trees and are starting to wander around the wider paddock, down near the pond and the Cottage. But they know what time their bottles arrive and are back by the gate like clockwork.

It's far simpler when two of us are available to feed them. I'm able to feed three lambs at once bending down with a bottle clutched between my knees and one in each hand, while John feeds the other two. I thought we'd pretty much found our rhythm until yesterday, when I stooped down to put a bottle between my knees, the lambs banged up against the wooden gate, and the gate smashed solidly into my nose!

I dropped the bottles and sobbed out loud, accompanied by a chorus from the five lambs. They were far more concerned about their bottles than my nose. I definitely thought I'd broken it, fortunately my glasses weren't smashed. I left John to deal with the lambs on his own and ran into the house to grab a bag of ice.

The good news is that it's not broken, but I now have a bump and a bruise across the bridge of my nose. Just the thing for the wife of a candidate for mayor. Pet lambs and a wooden gate, yeah right.

Not sure I'll be living this one down any time soon. Struan Farm: never a dull moment.

Pigeon in the Plum

This is the third year we've had a native wood pigeon, or "kereru" decide to munch on the largest plum tree in our orchard here at Struan Farm. Just as the blossoms are transitioning to tender young leaves.

I'm tolerant to a point, I love being able to get up close to photograph the bird, but I do want it to go elsewhere to feed. Especially since we have plenty of other options around the property: willow, poplar, etc. etc. We do not have a shortage of food for native birds. And this is my favourite of all of the plums we've planted, so I really don't want the tree decimated. Perhaps it's decided this is the creme de la creme too. 

It usually appears in late afternoon, so I will start shushing it away each day in fairly short order, once I get some better photos. They are beautiful birds.

Lounging Lambs

Well, I'm certainly not doing a lot of lounging around here at Struan Farm at the moment, but it seems the lambs are! I'm a bit jealous.

It makes me smile to see them stretched out sunning and napping in the paddocks, or enjoying John's Awanui flowering cherry trees.

p.s. I've taken these photos with my phone rather than my proper Canon camera. The colour is quite different, hmmm.

Free At Last!

Of course "free at last" is part of the closing line of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. The "March on Washington" recently celebrated its 53rd anniversary, so perhaps that's why it floated into my mind.

But here at Struan Farm I'm appropriating it to provide an update on the pet lambs. Pickle, Chalk and Cheese have been liberated from the confines of the Pet Pen in the backyard, joining Peaches and Fig out in the front paddock. John laughed as they all went running and leaping around in their new found freedom. We're keeping them separate from the bigger lambs, Buzz, Sugar and Spice, thinking this will keep bottle times a bit easier. Hopefully. At times things approach Armageddon regardless, especially when it's pelting rain.

Right now they're hanging in a cluster by the gate. They know this is where the bottles magically appear at the appointed times. Peaches and Fig have figured out the shelter provided by the nearby redwood trees, so they will teach the newbies the lay of the paddock. I had to laugh seeing them jockeying to stick their heads through the gate to say hello.

My only problem at the moment is trying to tell which lamb is which. Peaches has a black spot on her leg and Chalk has black spots on her nose, but I'm going to have to spend a bit of time sorting out the others so I don't call someone by the wrong name, prompting an identity crisis and years in therapy. We've recently removed Peaches and Fig's collars since they are growing fast, and catching them to loosen collars starts to get tricky.

With this number of lambs at this gate feeding is fine with two people, but it's going to get messy for one person (Karen) to try to cope on her own. So I'm thinking about engaging nephew Mike to construct lamb feeder #2 on this gate. It might not be pretty, but it could make feedings over the next three months easier for me if we can get them to settle into using it.

A Few Pickles in the Pet Pen

We've actually got two different sorts of pickles in the pet lamb "Pet Pen" here at Struan Farm right now.

This week our newbie pet lamb was christened "Pickle." Mostly because she's behaving like someone who is going to get herself into a pickle of trouble regularly, trying to grab the other lambs' bottles. It's taken me awhile to come up with the right name for her, something out of character for me. Normally I can look at a lamb, size it up, and decide on a name right away. Perhaps this year after losing Mamie my naming super power needed some recovery time. But "Pickle" it is. "Cheeky" was the other contender.

The other pickle I've got right now is that Chalk isn't drinking her bottles. She starts to drink, then gets spooked off by Pickle and Cheese bunting her. She's walking away rather than coming back to finish, even with me running interference for her. This is definitely not normal lamb behaviour. I've had this happen once before, with Trixie, who was a very gentle and hyper-sensitive lamb. I ended up having to put Trixie with younger, gentler lambs so she calmed down and didn't starve herself. In this instance I'm hopping into the pen and sitting Chalk on my lap to get her to drink as much of her bottle as she will (I won't call this force feeding, but sitting on my lap would not be her choice). After that she stands and quivers a bit, the poor anxious little thing. It may be that we put Cheese and Pickle out in the paddock with Peaches and Fig, leaving Chalk to feed up by herself in the Pet Pen. But then that risks isolating her even more from the other rambunctious lambs.

Aside from the possibility of having a neurotic lamb on my hands, this could mean Chalk isn't well. She might have an infection or some other type of health problem or congenital defect. I put out an SOS to Farmer John, who came over to give her an injection of antibiotics. I suspect he sometimes rolls his eyes when I fret too much about the pet lambs, but over the years I think I've shown him that I pay attention to little things that sometimes signal a major problem, like contagious pink eye for one. And lambs not drinking their bottles is usually a sign something or other is wrong.

Lambs are far more complex individuals than most people realise.

Stay tuned.