The eggs laid in the hen house had frozen

John has gradually thawed the troughs out for the stock, but if the freeze continues, it will be the same job each morning until the temperature warms up.

As I write, John is fetching big bales of straw to stack as wind barrier for the dog runs. Each of the dogs have pig lamps in their kennels so I know they are warm at night. What surprised me this morning was that some of the eggs laid in the hen house had frozen and then burst their egg shells. It is cold.

The sheep are all now in one field as John is satisfied that the tups have done their job and he can put the flock all in together. Before that we had a strict segregation policy for the gimmers he was wanting to breed from to make sure they did mate with the tups that sired them. A few weeks ago he was not certain that the Texel tup as getting on with the job and decided to fit him with a saddle with a red marking crayon.

The saddle ( or raddle) is strapped on him as a harness with the crayon on the front of the tups chest. The theory being that when the tup mounts the ewe, she is left with an indelible mark of his desire in the form of a rosy bum.

Trying to catch the tup was another job however, as Mr Texel was none too keen to be put in a head lock whilst the saddle was fitted and it took John some time to chase him round the field, catch hold of him, get him down on the ground and the saddle over it’s head and shoulders.

I know this because a friend told me. John didn’t until quizzed later, but this friend was passing by in his Discovery, and, as is a farmer’s wont, gazing over the hedgerows to see what was going on in each field.

“I could see John chasing after that old tup” he said “And I was just going to stop and give him a hand when he got hold of it and wrestled him to the ground.”

He stopped at this point in his tale and started giggling. “All started to look a bit intimate after that” he said “John was laid under this tup holding it down on top of him for quite a few minutes. I had to stay there just to see what he was up to.”

“I was just totally out puff” John explained when I interrogated him that evening. “Needed to just hold on to him until I got my breath back, and he is that strong that if I had weakened my hold he would have trampled all over me and got away.”

Tell me anything.