Our Farming News for August

News Article on Waterfall Farm

Did you see the article about the farm on the news website Digital Print News? Click on Cottage Industry to read it. It is a really nice article and focuses on the real grass roots farming and food industry in Ireland.

News On The Farm

Normally at this time of year the silage making would be done and dusted for the most part, but this rainy season… I mean summer has been a little different. So Michael is still a little bit caught up with that but he is also getting the ewes and ram’s ready to flutter their eyelids and make coy smiles at one another when the mating starts in September/October time! This involves foot bathing them to prevent foot rot and other lameness and also trimming their feet. The ewes have already been done but the rams got a trim yesterday. One of the ram’s was a bit frisky and Michael managed to stick the point of the hoof trimmer half-way into his hand. Which made a nice, bloody, gaping hole! Lovely! Some of the ewes have been “sponged” to bring them into season earlier than normal, so they’ll lamb in February as opposed to March. ‘Sponging’ the ewes involves inserting intravaginal sponges (pessaries) of hormones (progestagens) into the ewe for up to ten days. Then removing the sponges and injecting the ewes with PMSG and the ewes should ovulate within 48 hours. The ram is then kept busy as all the ewes come into season at the same time! When it comes to spring the flock’s lambing starts a little earlier and is spread out a bit more and although it’s longer it is not as intense.

With the sort of muggy, warm-ish wet weather we are having at the moment the flies have been a real problem. Some of the sheep have been getting sores on their heads, around their eyes and ears made by the flies. Pretty yuck! The poor sheep are then tormented by the flies and lose condition. So we have to bring them in away from the flies and dry out and treat the wounds so they get a chance to heal and then put the condition back on. We hope to have the sheep ‘dipped’ this week which will help stave off the horrid maggots and other creep crawlies. ‘Dipping’ the sheep is when they are run through the dip-trough, a long trench filled with water and pesticides, deep enough to briefly immerse the sheep and ensure the creepy-crawlies get zapped. We are ‘spray-dipping’, the same idea but instead of dipping the sheep we are spraying them to achieve the same result.

One of the official Southern Ireland Lleyn sheep sale is coming up shortly and Michael will have some sheep at that. He was also at the ram inspections recently, where he had some ram’s inspected and passed. This is taken very seriously by the breeders and there are no sub-standard rams passed. They must meet the breed criteria and even a little brown hair or tiny bit of pink on the  nose is not allowed. I think it is good that they adhere to such high standards as it maintains the integrity of the breed and gives buyers confidence.