We're back in Ireland!

Yes, we are back in our Irish home: Jessie, Floyd, Jai and Suki are with me.
This time, I am trying to accomplish one big task: fencing the land behind our house. This piece of land comprises 6 small fields and our little hill is in it too. We are clearing the hill and the dry walls of all sorts of weeds and saplings, and the fence will go around the perimeter, so the sheep will be able to move around unless we block the gaps in the walls, and we hope they will not jump them (too much).

Our little hill was covered in shrubbery, wich we took down and made a bonfire of :)

 

 The rest of the rubbish that isn't burnable, we're burying.

How empty and big the hill looks now!

 

 The end result looks pretty good...

I can already imagine sheep wandering on it, eating their belly's full of lush grass :)

Happy New Year!

We wish everyone all the best for 2016, and I hope you enjoy this poem:

Another year, another chance
 To start our lives anew;
 This time we’ll leap old barriers
 To have a real breakthrough.

 

We’ll take one little step
 And then we’ll take one more,
 Our unlimited potential
 We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents
 Everyone will be inspired;
 (Whew! While I’m writing this,
 I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits;
 We’ll read and learn a lot,
 All our goals will be accomplished,
 Sigh...or maybe not.

 

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

By Joanna Fuchs

Moving Sheep on All-Souls Day

We didn't know there was going to be such a fog when we decided to move the sheep today, but we did it anyway. I took Jessie and Suki with me: Jessie because she knows the drill as she has been doing this every year for 5 years now and Suki because she is very good covering the flanks.

The sheep that was in a nearby field for 2 weeks now jumped the ditch without hesitating to join the flock again, what was a relief to us because that meant we didn't have to make a detour to pick it up.

It was a bit tricky when we had to walk on the road a few times but everything went well, considered. We picked up two groups in Steendorp and walked through Temse village to Tielrode where we put them in the marsh there, a walk of about 5 kilometers.

There were two times when a small group in the back took a wrong turn, but Jessie brought them back on track, while Suki helped me to block them so they turned in the right alley and caught up with the others again.

Finally, we reached the marsh and drove them in, and the flock disappeared into the fog....

Well done, Suki...

... and Jessie!

The Looking-for-Treats Game

Sometimes it's fun to do something simple, loooking for treats in the grass for example. All you need is some treats, cheese cubes in our case, and a place to throw them on to, preferably somewhere not too easy to find them. The dogs take this very serious, and do their very best to find them all. Jessie however has some other serious business to do.......

Aaaargh! Or when you have a bad day

When moving sheep today, we had one that decided it didn't belong to the flock. There's always the one... sigh. It started even before we gathered them, this one brown ewe was standing apart from the others. And the moment she saw the dog started to run out, she turned the other way and ran away from the flock. The flock itself moved the way they were supposed to, but she kept going in the opposite direction. So I told Jessie to look back and go and get her, which she did. But the whole way that darned ewe kept on defying the dog, and I must say Jessie was very patient but stern too.

The ewe had to turn and follow, even when she didn't like it and kept on challenging Jessie. But Jessie never budges, so we got them all together again.

After 50 meters however, the same ewe suddenly turned away and ran down the dyke again. So we had to bring the flock back to her this time, as I was afraid the ewe would jump in the ditch she was standing next to looking at it as if she was saying: if you try to get me back I will surely jump in the water! After that we decided to move the whole flock alongside the ditch until we reached the new grazing area, which she seemed to be happy with.

Jessie did a good job, as usual. But then I noticed I lost my car keys somewhere along the way. We kept searching for an hour, but I couldn't find them. I must confess I had visions of that sheep on the BBQ then, even though I am a vegetarian.........

Our new Irish (holiday) home

So it's been a while since I updated this blog, very sorry for that! It's just we've been in Ireland so much the last year, and we have been very busy there. We have bought a holiday home with some land attached in county Mayo, and I have been working hard to get the house in good shape. Not only for our family, but also for visitors. And my next visit will be all out about fencing the land now, so we can put sheep on it. Yes, sheep!!

Here are some pictures from the garden around the house:

These are the fields behind the house:

In the meanwhile, the dogs and me explored the fields that belong with the house. They had a great time there, checking everything out and running and playing in this wonderful setting.We even have a stream at the boundaries, which is fun in summer for the dogs, but also will provide water for the sheep!

These are the fields at the other side of the road in front of the house:

I'm sure we're going to have a good time in our new Irish home :)

Bringing pregnant ewes home

Today was the day we brought the pregnant ewes back to the sheep farm.The first group was a small one, and on the way to the farm we picked up another group. In each group was a ram too, but they gave us no trouble.

We walked the streets and the fields to the farm, but there were only a few cars who had to slow down behind us so we were quite relaxed on our walk. The sheep even decided to try some grass along the way.

When we left the road, we walked via a small path to the big fields.There was a long line up there, really funny!

But then we got on to the big fields.

There is always one, isn't there? A ewe who gets a bit annoyed at Jessie because she urges her to follow. But nothing Jessie couldn't handle, though she had a bit of a stand off with this ewe. The ewe gave up in the end and rejoined the group.

We had to make the sheep jump over some ditches, that was a bit exiting and some of us got wet feet ( Not me, I have Muck Boots! ). Finally, we reached home...

The beautiful Suffolk ram didn't want his picture taken, but Jessie held him for me so I could taken one anyway.

A job well done, thank you Jessie!