HELLO AGAIN!!!

I know its been a long time since I blogged, have been having a hard time of late.... lots of bad things have happened.. any how what have we all been up to??

Well we took to the abotoir 2 pigs we had bred on the farm here ourselves... young mother of one litter and  the father of the same litter. We had them made in to sausages, ham and bacon... I was prepared in the freezer, got all my customers ready, but the one thing I wasnt preparred for was the cost £288... I'm still in shock, we managed to cover or costs and leave some over for us, also on the same day we also took our black Dexter in too, she had quite a journey, firstly I neglected to contact DEFRA in time for a special movement license as the farm she was on was under restricton. There TB test was cancelled by the vet due to his ill health, panic!! I rang Defra after we had loaded the pigs and they said it would take at least 5 days to get it though, I begged and grovelled, gave them all the details CPH number, ear tags, passport ID etc addresses where she was from and where she was going to, and with in 1 hour they actualy did it, they faxed the papers through to the fax office in town and as we loaded her I had confirmation, Well stress over I thought....yeah only just started..
Oh I forgot to mention that the pigs had to be transfered to my friends trailer which is larger and had partitions in so we could then load the WILD, KICKER that she, the Dexter had become known as..... she was really bad tempered dangerous girl, she took some pushing in, after we had put her in the cattle crush to put her new ear tag in, I then chased her up the barn and in the trailer and promptly had a huge asthma attack.It was so cold it got to my chest it was actually -16 that morning, it dint rise above -6 all day, any how we got to the abotoir eventually.... pigs off loaded and we were told how good they looked and yes hey did look good fed our way... they were just about to ask us to unload the Dexter when he asked how many months was. She 60 months old, oh he looked relieved, thanks goodness he hadnt said unload, as if we had they would have shot her and burnt the meat they aren't licensed to kill over 30 months I think it was, just stupid, so we then had to drag her miles off in the freezing weather to another abotoir who was prepared to kill her... she is still hangin now as we like our beef hung for a good 28 days, she will cost us £250 not cheap but wow what meat it shall be.....

Now what else, well since the pigs were dispatched we changed our feed we are now buying in bulk, it costs us £160 per ton, so instead of £7 to £8 per bag, we now have an equal amount for £4 its 45% barley 45% wheat and 10% soya beans, they are fattening so well, if not too well one piglet looks obese,  we think Babe the Belgium Blue is in pig from the young boar too....

The Welsh Smallholder site is born on face book I set this up to share ideas likes and info with fellow small holders in the area to share surplus produce and advertise farm stock... promoting local quality produce.. We shall have to see if it takes off....so far there 4 that use it...

DOTTY THE DALMATION.

Well yes I've done it again I've taken in anther dog in need, She is or was a red zone dog suffering from severe dog aggression, not safe with kids, and quite nervous, nutty and not well adjusted, her ex owners were going to put her down as they had tried everything they could to fix her.. well straight away she mixed with our pack, showing good behaviour, she groweled at a couple of dogs a tiny bit in town, but nothing too bad.

The first night she slept by the side of my bed and screamed in terror in her sleep, the next day she seemed fine, after that she got better and better, I just treated her like a normal dog with no problems, expected her to do as told and behave well, which she did, shes so perfect, and loves me to bits, so far so good... another success story, I think her old master worried too much about what she was going to do as she had behaved aggressively in the past, she is confident most of the time, and giving up screaming, the more she walks and is exercised the better she feels about her self, she is always by my side and into what ever we do...

Joe had an acident and cut through his knee with a circle saw, had to have 1 hours plastic surgery, we had upto 2 foot of snow that day and I was at the abotoir, so he rang me and calmly asked me to come home as he realy needed o get to the hospital, after he told me exactly what he had done well he had a 8 cm gash  by 1 cm wide by 3 tp 5cm deep, he had realised what he had done andbefore he passed out with shck, he put a peice of kitchen towel n it and celotped his leg together, I rang the docs and they said he needed an ambulance, i calmly explained that he was up a huge hill under 2 foot of snow and that no ambuoance could get to him, he was home with 3 kids, I had to get home to him as I had the 4x4, it took me nearly 3 hours to get to him, Andre and Louis 9 and 10 years old knew what to do, Andre let me know how bad his leg was and then set to feeding all the pigs chickens dogs etc, then packed a bag for themsleves as I was leaving them at a friends on the way to the hospital, they also helped Joe pass the time and get him ready, They paked Lilys stuff to and nappy incuding there meds, I'm so proud of them, eventually I got close to home the weather conditions were getting worse, 2 cars span out in front of me, then the road was closed after me there was no use in tryinh to get back out on that road.... We dropped the kids off with friends who had to walk down a hill to get to them, then eventually after visiting 2 hospitals he was treated...Next, well...  2 days ago I thought I would have my last cadburys Whisper bar and start my diet, I sooo wished I hadnt bothered..... It had some foriegn object in it and broke half my back molar off and below the root, you could bury a baked bean in there......aaarrrggghhhh. thats a few of the bad bits.....

I'm off to write our Wish Want and Need list for next year... will post it on here for you to see later on... byeee! Have a really good celebration and I hope you all have an easier and better year than the last..