baling the silage

With a week of fine weather forecast this week we cut 20 acres of grass on Monday to make into silage. Although silage doesn’t have to be completely dry (like  hay) when it is baled, it makes a better feed for sheep if it is fairly dry, so this week had been a perfect opportunity to get the job done.

With so much expensive machinery needed, most silage making is now done by farm contractors, so neighbouring farmer and contractor Bernard Worth arrived at 9-30am. With all this machinery on site, all 20 acres was baled and on the way to the wrapper by 1.00pm. A far cry from70 years ago when 20 acres of hay making would have taken 20 men and half a dozen horses a whole week!

photo of the week

This week………

Tupping season is over, so we hope that all of the Borough Farm ewes are in lamb

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Sheep farming diary

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The Borough Farm flock graze across 400 acres of some of North Devon’s most beautiful countryside. At first glance it may appear that sheep ‘just look after themselves’ but the reality is rather different. I often hear sheep farmers comment ‘the problem with sheep is that there is always something that needs doing!’

So with over 1500 ewes and lambs to shepherd,  sheepdogs to train and a summer of displays there’s always plenty to do. Here’s some of the latest goings on on Borough Farm….

Other related  pages  the Borough Farm Flock or Borough Farm dogs .

Mist on tv

Mist

From the night that she was born Mist has been a TV star. Firstly in  ‘Mist-the tale of a sheepdog puppy’  a 90 minute film telling of her path to become a working sheepdog. The film was first shown on Channel Five on Christmas day 2006 and was a huge success. Since then Mist and the rest of the Borough Farm dogs have starred in three series (making a total of 39 episodes)  of ‘Channel Five’s’ series ‘Mist Sheepdog Tales’, the  third series has been broadcast on Channel Five this spring.

‘Mist sheepdog tales’ are gentle, fun stories set around farm life in North Devon. Featuring all of the Borough Farm dogs plus a host of farm animals, ‘Sheepdog tales’ has been enjoyed around the world, and is currently broadcast in 20 countries, and DVD sales topping 200,000 in the US.

Use this page to find out the latest new about Mist on TV, or for more information you can visit Mist’s own web-site at www.mistthesheepdog.co.uk

sheep shearing, june 2009

The sheep shearing season is a short one in North Devon. In the middle of May the weather was too cold to shear, but by early June when temperatures suddenly reached the 20’s the flock were beginning to suffer with the heat. Worse still the blow-flies start lay their eggs in sheep’s wool during the hot weather, and the resulting maggots start eating into the sheep’s skin.

So last Tuesday we were pleased to shear the last of the Borough Farm flock

ps. the hat might look silly but it does keep the sun off!!

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Our Display Schedule

Mist and the flock

Every week during July and August, Mist and the rest of the Borough farm sheepdogs are put through their paces by David in an entertaining display for all the family at Borough Farm. You can see Mist work far into the distance, watch Eddie work with the ducks (and usually get it wrong!)  and marvel as Jake and Fern play ’sheep rounders’. After the show there is an opportunity to meet the dogs and even get their pawprints!

You’ll also be treated to a show of magnificent birds of prey with top falconer Jonathan Marshall. Among his many birds are cheeky Ruby, the wig-stealing Harris Hawk, and Erin the Peregrine Falcon, who flies through Jonathan’s legs at an eye-watering one hundred miles an hour.

Dates and Venues for Sheepdog & Falconry Displays in 2010

Mists’ blog

It’s spring time again and I love the spring!We’ve had about 850 lambs born this year, they are growing really quickly at the moment.

In fact some of them are as big as me, though not as big as Jake and certainly not as big as the visitor that we met yesterday. The boss had a phone call yesterday morning to tell him that there was a big dog chasing the sheep on Morte Point. When we got there, we found a huge great St Bernard (about as big as five of me) chasing sheep near the cliff edge. The boss managed to catch it and give it back to its owner, but the dog had already managed to chase one lamb over the edge of the cliff. The boss climbed down and carried the lamb back up, fortunately it wasn’t too badly hurt. We bought it home and put it in the shed to look after it. I hope that it’s ok. It’s not just new lambs that have arrived at Borough Farm this spring, the ducks have hatched seven new ducklings, and on the island on the pond the geese are sitting on a big pile of eggs. Unfortunately the mother goose seems to get bored of sitting on the eggs, and once a week she takes a day off and swims around the pond. I don’t think that she realises that she needs to sit on them all of the time if she wants them to hatch!I’ll let you know what happens next time… See you soon!

Mist