Both Nick and I grew up in the countryside, Nick in Cornwall and myself in Wales and so we both have a love of nature and wildlife. I was lucky enough to grow up on a smallholding, so from a very young age you could always find me outside either playing in streams, making dams and ponds in the streams for the ducks, building tree houses, every day pretty much enjoying freedom that many children can only dream about.
I also helped my parents rear the animals, I had my own responsibilities and did chores around the small holding which gave me a great insight into animals and their behavior. You may think hurding some sheep out of a field, through a gateway and into another field is easy, however if there's only you and perhaps one other person and no sheepdog you have to be aware and watch the animals at all times to pre-empt what they are going to do next. There are things you pick up with experience, sometimes you can foresee what they are going to do a few seconds before they do it. A slight movement of their body, the direction of their head can all be clues as to their next move. With each animal its different too. Guiding chickens where you want them to go is different from herding sheep or pigs!
We had quite a few pigs at one time and I was always the one who fed the runt piglets on a daily basis. I helped them to grow strong and enjoyed every minute of it. I was also the one to bottle feed the lambs, although as a teenager when the animals needed their 6 o'clock feeds it wasn't so much fun : )
The sheep and the chickens were always my favorite and our neighbours use to call me Miss Doolittle as I was able to befriend most animals on our farm. Even if neighbours grazed their cows on our fields, normally one of them would go back after the summer much tamer than it arrived!
I still have my pets to this day. I have 5 pet sheep -
Curly Sue, Buffy, Twinkey,
Sable, Spot and One-eye.
At one time we had a herd of over 100 sheep and I would know at least 30 of them by
name and another 20 to 30 distinguishable by sight and they would recognize me by my voice and the colour of my coat. As soon as they saw me they would follow me around the field. I would keep a few tidbits in my pocket for them. Sheep love to eat all sorts of things and a favoruite is a slice of fresh bread.
I have included a few of our photos from our smallholding, we go back at least once a week as my parents still live there although we don't have as many animals these days. I hope you enjoy them! |
