Well, it all started back in September 2002.

Lorraine and I had been looking around for somewhere we could keep a horse or two but nothing suitable could be found until, on our Council's internal adverts website, I noticed "Three bedroom cottage with 2 acre paddock to let on Farm Business Tenancy". I jotted down the details and spoke to Lorraine - asked her if she knew what a "Farm Business Tenancy" meant. We spoke to a nice man at the council and he informed us that it just meant that we had to run it as a business, use the land and not let it go to waste. As it was only 2 acres then just a couple of sheep or goats would satisfy. As luck would have it the Council's Intranet went down for the rest of that week so the advert was not seen by very many and the advert in the local paper was small and they seemed to omit the details of the cottage - so, it seemed to be just 2 acres of grazing in the middle of nowhere.

As soon as we could we arranged to view. The nice man from the council met us there and we had a good look around. The cottage had been empty for some time and builders had just finished rewiring so every room was in need of decoration. It was cold and smelt a bit damp, but we could see there was some potential. Sadly no farm buildings were included but there was a penned off area behind one of the neighbouring barns which could be utilised. We expressed our interest and application forms arrived through the internal mail a couple of days later - along with a guide price for submitting a tender ! Being new to all this it was a difficult decision... do we offer the guide price or more, or less. We decided on slightly less, purely as it worked out as a neat monthly sum. Also, we had to state what use we would put the land to so we just said "some sheep, maybe a goat or two and hopefully a horse." The forms were filled in, sent off in the internal mail system, then we sat back and waited.

Thankfully the nail-biting didn't have to go on for too long. We got it ! Then, panic. Where do we start, what do we do. So it begins...

Having just 2 acres meant that we would have to limit grazing. After consideration and advice from friends, we decided on a small flock of 5 sheep. Goats had been considered but we'd been advised that it would be difficult to keep them contained.

So, we were on the lookout for some sheep. Initially we'd thought about buying 5, bringing them on and then breeding them the following September. After a bit more thought we decided to buy "in-lamb" ewes so we could recoup some of our outlay quickly.

Gerald, from up the hill, helped us out with tracking down some suitable stock. Off to Ludlow market on 10th January 2003 with Gerald and his stock trailer to look at 5 in-lamb Charolais cross ewes. When we got there the farmer had only brought 3 of the Charolais cross so Gerald persuaded him to put one from another group in to make it up to 4. The odd one was an in-lamb Suffolk but we didn't mind as the black faced Suffolks look OK. Gerald examined each one, checking their teeth and udders. They were classed as "aged", most had few or no teeth left but seemed to be in reasonable condition. When bidding got around to the group of 4 we stood back and allowed Gerald to bid on our behalf and we managed to get them without going over our limit. They were coaxed into the stock trailer and taken back to Village Farm.

There we were then, our little 2 acre paddock with 4 large ewes. They must have thought that they'd died and gone to heaven, all that grass for just the 4 of them. We painted a large flourescent orange "V" on each to identify them as our stock and decided on names. The Sufflok we named Geraldine and the 3 Charolais cross were Mabel, Maud and Rosemary.

Within 2 days they seemed to have settled in very well and were eager to trot down to the gate when we arrived with their bucket of feed.

Well, certainly "in at the deep end".

Late on the night of 13th February 2003 we popped out to check on the flock. We'd moved them all into the penned off are at the rear of our neighbour's barn. Bales of straw were stacked up to make walls and a large tarpaulin over the top. Apparently this is refereed to as a "coup".

There was Maud, with a little lamb's face poking out from her. Ah, "no legs !". This looked like some assistance would be needed. I telephoned Gerry and he arrived a few minutes later in pyjamas, overcoat and wellingtons.

It was a bright moonlight night, clear enough to work by but we had torches too. Gerry showed us what had to be done... push the lamb's head back in far enough to be able to get a hand in, find the legs and draw them forward and then pull the lamb out. We cleaned the lamb up. made sure it was feeding OK and then left them in peace.

Truly fascinating and a wonderful experience. I'd never seen anything like it before though Lorraine had experiences with horses, cattle and dogs.

Adam was doing well, feeding OK and putting on weight. We checked on the rest of the flock regularly, even setting the alarm clock so we could pop out to see them at night. The nights were cold and often frosty and even sometimes snow on the ground but we didn't seem to notice.

Checking on Mabel one morning we noticed a very large swelling on one side and decided that this definately didn't look right. Gerry popped down and took at look but he'd not seen anything like it either. Mabel seemed generally OK so we decided to leave her. The next day it seemed worse so I called the vet, who asked if we could take Mabel down to the surgery. Gerry brought his trailer down and off we went. Luckilly it was only a few miles.

The young vet examined Mabel and informed us that the problem was caused by a split in Mabel's pubic muscle and the only option would be an immediate Caesarian operation.

This was something entirely new to me. Being a bit squeamish I wasn't sure if I could watch so explained this to the vet - she told me that if I was going to faint at any time to make sure I didn't fall in her way ! It was quite an experience and not as gruesome as I expected. The vet explained everything she was doing - I probably got in the way trying to see better. There were two lambs but only one was still alive. Mabel was stitched up and put in the trailer with the lambs, we had to take the dead one home to bury. Now we had Barry.

Back home, Mabel and Barry were settled into the coup and seemed to be doing fine. We managed to find a spot in the garden to bury "C".

Mabel lasted a further ten days (much to the vet's surprise) so Barry had at least got off to a good start. We bottle fed him from then on.

Next to lamb was Rosemary, on the 9th March. I'd popped out to check on things are found she'd given birth right up the top of the field. We carried the twins (Dennis & Eve) down to the coup and Rosemary tagged along.

These were followed on the 16th by Floyd & George who were Geraldine's twins. FLoyd seemed to be rejected so we decided to bottle feed him too.

The lambs all seemed to be doing fine, two were being bottle fed and the rest we with the ewes. We decided the bottle feeding was such a nice experience that we'd find another couple of lambs !

A farmer in Penybont had several sets of triplets so we arranged to call in and pick up a couple of these "tiddlers". One of them was so small she almost fitted in Lorraine's pocket. These were then named Hilary and Iris (the little one) and settled in with the rest of our expanding flock. These last two were a Texel crossbreed so looked very different from the rest.

I was able to pop home at lunchtimes to bottle feed Barry, Floyd, Hilary and Iris. Sometimes, if the weather wasn't too bad, I'd sit on an upturned bucket in the field to feed them.

Everything progressed well through spring, grass in the field was growing well so we were then able to stop giving the sheep hay. I managed to knock up a "creep" feeder for the lambs so the ewes didn't steal all their ration. We continued giving them all some hard feed, mainly just to keep them tame :-)

Early summer and it was time for shearing. Gerry came down with his equipment and did them for us. I kept hold of the cable and Lorraine was on hand with the clipper oil. The ewes looked so much smaller without their fleeces.

Very little else needed to be done with the sheep but by then we'd bought some hens and we'd bought a pony from a friend of mine near Brecon.

The pony was a bay filly, Welsh Mountain (Cob Type) of about 2 years old. Very pretty and seemed friendly even though she'd never been handled before. Lorraine had spent a few hours with her in the barn at the farm she came from, getting a head collar on her so we'd be able to catch here when she was delivered to our field. We decided to name her Seren - Welsh for "Star" as she has a crescent shaped mark on her forehead.

Lorraine worked with the pony, getting her used to being handled and led around and I did my best despite having no experience at all. Lorraine tried to make sure I did the right things but no doubt I made many mistakes !

After some time we noticed Seren was putting on quite a bit of weight. We realized that she was "in foal", no doubt due to her being with that stunning black stallion on the hill she came from. That put paid to the training so we just handled her as much as possible to get her tame and comfortable.

Everything seemed to run quite smoothly, lambs continued to grow, chickens were laying eggs in the henhouse I'd built, we bought a pair of Welsh Harlequin ducks. We also bout a cheap incubator and hatched a few of the hens' eggs. That was another wonderful experience, watching the little chicks breaking out of the shells.

September 12th 2003 and a very special day... Fado arrived !

Fado is an Andalusian ex Spanish police horse who, after retirement from service, went on to take up a career in acting. He warrants his own page on this site and it's being written now so please return in a few days time to read all about him - there will be a link here and maybe even one on the home page.

There's more, 2004 (still typing.....).

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