finally back in the saddle!!! in the club once again :D

[Ganymede]

That's funny - I thought of you today too! I keep seeing signs for the Biddenden TractorFest and just assumed you'd probably be there! Also drove past Hadlow College. Nice to see you back Ed.

 

[young Ed]

That's funny - I thought of you today too! I keep seeing signs for the Biddenden TractorFest and just assumed you'd probably be there! Also drove past Hadlow College. Nice to see you back Ed.

why of course i'm heading to the Biddenden tractor fest! i will make sure i'm not working one of the days it's on, after all i couldn't miss such an event! hahha
you should go!


anyway it's nice to know some people think about me! haha
Cheers Ed

 

[ColinJ]

i decided to go down the workshop and sort a few bits out and take the bike out, my idea of giving my buggered back and legs a 'rest' (soon buggers your body when you have a 70 odd kg (11 stone) sheep trow it self at your legs at full pelt trying to snap them or you have a 40 kg (6 stone) lamb run and jump/trow it self at you and knock you over on the concrete whilst you wrestle it! haha
Cheers Ed

I found a sheep stuck in thick mud in a stream on the hills above Oban once. I got hold of it by the horns and pulled it out. I was amazed at how heavy the damn thing was - I almost put my back out doing it!

I had been all set to give up, but the friend that I was cycling with was getting upset for the trapped animal so I persevered. Interesting how she didn't lend a hand with the sheep-dragging!

Perhaps she thought I was strong enough to do it without help? Well, strictly speaking, I WAS, but only just ...

 

[young Ed]

I found a sheep stuck in thick mud in a stream on the hills above Oban once. I got hold of it by the horns and pulled it out. I was amazed at how heavy the damn thing was - I almost put my back out doing it!

I had been all set to give up, but the friend that I was cycling with was getting upset for the trapped animal so I persevered. Interesting how she didn't lend a hand with the sheep-dragging!

Perhaps she thought I was strong enough to do it without help? Well, strictly speaking, I WAS, but only just ...

wrestling sheep and moving hundreds of tons of hay by hand at this time of year my arms must grow by at least double what they are in the winter!
boss had a shetland ram last year and did one season and sold the bugger, they're only small but produce cr*p lambs and are dangerous, angry, fiesty f***ers!

and shetland ram that looks some what nicer than the bosses did, his broke through the side of a barn, a layer of pallets and a galvanised sheep hurdle and then hopped over a fence to 'serve' about 20 ewes all in the night before he was due to go to market!

well done for helping the wee sheep, too thick to be alive they are. i've released plenty of sheep that have there head trapped in a fence when i don't even know who's sheep they are!
Cheers Ed

 

[ColinJ]

wrestling sheep and moving hundreds of tons of hay by hand at this time of year my arms must grow by at least double what they are in the winter!
boss had a shetland ram last year and did one season and sold the bugger, they're only small but produce cr*p lambs and are dangerous, angry, fiesty f***ers!

and shetland ram that looks some what nicer than the bosses did, his broke through the side of a barn, a layer of pallets and a galvanised sheep hurdle and then hopped over a fence to 'serve' about 20 ewes all in the night before he was due to go to market!

You know the old expression ...

"A ram's got to do, what a ram's got to do!"

Well, it was something like that ...

 

[classic33]

Welcome back - I was thinking about you this afternoon!

(I rode along some hilltop lanes and was watching farmers harvesting hay. Or is it grass until it has dried? Anyway, the stuff that their sheep will be eating in the winter! Wrapping it up in big rolls covered in black plastic. I wondered if you were out somewhere doing that.)

That's silage, not hay.
Hay would be spread(turned), rowed and then baled. Not as weather critical.

Would the farms be up Slack Top?

 

[classic33]

other than that, oh well it's just marvelous when you're not injured (never), not sleep deprived (virtually never) and swearing like a trucker at broken tractors and thick and sh*t sheep!
we all just walk bout in tweed jackets and moleskin trousers with a well kept collie by our side whilst we we lean on a traditional shepherds crook looking vacantly at some clean, good looking sheep grazing gently on a lush green field with soft blue skies overhead (or maybe not!)


i would say it's always hay when we're harvesting it, after all we say 'i'm going to cut that field of hay on friday'

can't believe you were thinking of me! although today was my 'day off' one farmer is trying to struggle on by him self for a few days now as the last 2 lots of lambs he sold were terribly cheap and he's worried about how much he owes me now! and it's too wet for hay making or gardening for the moment and i've lost count of how many days in a row i've been working now!
so today i decided to go down the workshop and sort a few bits out and take the bike out, my idea of giving my buggered back and legs a 'rest' (soon buggers your body when you have a 70 odd kg (11 stone) sheep trow it self at your legs at full pelt trying to snap them or you have a 40 kg (6 stone) lamb run and jump/trow it self at you and knock you over on the concrete whilst you wrestle it! haha
Cheers Ed

Or a needle shy cow, which gives you flying lessons! Along with sore ribs.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Good to have you back, @young Ed ! Illinois has had a plenitude of rain this year, unlike our western states. (And lamb costs a king's ransom in the supermarket)

 

[raleighnut]

Good to hear you're back on the bike.

 

[Ganymede]

Good to have you back, @young Ed ! Illinois has had a plenitude of rain this year, unlike our western states. (And lamb costs a king's ransom in the supermarket)

This is one reason I always serve lamb when we have my American friends to stay. The other reason being that it's practically the only meat we cook at home since we have a freezer full of the home-grown stuff!

@ColinJ, we have a silted-up pond on our land which is a real danger to a dim sheep when the leaves fall. They think it's dry land and end up chin deep in it. We nearly lost our best ewe to it so now we make sure they stay away from there in the autumn. Heroic of you to rescue that one!

 

[Arjimlad]

You know the old expression ...

"A ram's got to do, what a ram's got to do!"

Well, it was something like that ...

Yes, and a ram's gotta know his limitations !

My local arable farmers have been very busy with the hot dusty harvest, which has meant that the pigeon shooting has taken a turn for the better too !

When I was young my parents had a Soay ewe. She could see off a Labrador-sized dog..

 

[Drago]

Welcome back Ed. Shot anything interesting or annoying to liberals while you've been away?

 

[young Ed]

That's silage, not hay.
Hay would be spread(turned), rowed and then baled. Not as weather critical.

Would the farms be up Slack Top?

some people do wrap hay bales, it makes them more weather resistant and you can even stack them out side then without them rotting due to rain. IMO hay is more weather critical than silage, if it rains on hay before it's baled with anything more than a light shower and it's scrap whereas silage can tolerate a lot more rain before it's a gonner and silage has a much shorter window in which it can get rained on. silage cut to baled: 24 hour. hay cut to baled: 2-5 days
although some people might well argue that the moisture content for silage is when baled is more critical than hay

Or a needle shy cow, which gives you flying lessons! Along with sore ribs.

This is one reason I always serve lamb when we have my American friends to stay. The other reason being that it's practically the only meat we cook at home since we have a freezer full of the home-grown stuff!

@ColinJ, we have a silted-up pond on our land which is a real danger to a dim sheep when the leaves fall. They think it's dry land and end up chin deep in it. We nearly lost our best ewe to it so now we make sure they stay away from there in the autumn. Heroic of you to rescue that one!

lamb isn't un common to be on the menu in our house!
i think i'd be tempted to put a decent stock fence round that old pond

Yes, and a ram's gotta know his limitations !

My local arable farmers have been very busy with the hot dusty harvest, which has meant that the pigeon shooting has taken a turn for the better too !
When I was young my parents had a Soay ewe. She could see off a Labrador-sized dog..

harvest is in full steam round here too, seen lots of people spreading chicken much too, i'd say chick mucks the latest craze! really strong stuff that

rule number 1 of sheep keeping, don't go anywhere near native breeds (such as soay, shetland etc)

Welcome back Ed. Shot anything interesting or annoying to liberals while you've been away?

not really had the time TBH. the odd 'cute fluffy' bunny wabbit! haha
if i had a shot gun and the time i would no doubt try and get friendly with a local arable farmer and sit on his combine shooting the pidgeons
Cheers Ed

 

[classic33]

Its haylage when its baled and wrapped. Falling out of favour in many places.
If you think chicken muck is bad, try pig muck! Then you'll know.

Be on the trailer when horse muck is used. Throwing it off with a fork. Then you'd have something to put on your CV, sh_tspreader.

 

[jowwy]

Who is this @young Ed guy