really old style living?

Rowan9

mardatha wrote: »

I was once on a very lonely country road high up on the moors, on my wee Yamaha going to work. Saw something odd in the mirror and pulled in. Whole flock of sheep came galloping past me doing about 60, headed up the hill to the crossroads and did a smart right turn. Not slowing down in the least, they galloped away into the distance. No shepherd, no dogs. Just sheep onna mission :rotfl:

We used to 'help' my uncle dip sheep when we were young. He and the other farmers would get stuck into a few drams and we thought we were in charge of getting the sheep 'home' - it was years later that I found out they all knew their way! I know it sounds daft but they did - they all turned up the right farm road! No farmer or sheep dogs as they wouldn't leave him and he was quite happy with his cronies. Odd things sheep. I once saw dancing sheep :rotfl:. It was at the Wayland Show - an Australian had an act with his dancing sheep. He did remind us that they were sheep, so not to expect much but one moved its hoof in time to the hokey cokey:T
W

Red_Doe

I used to hand milk for an old woman who kept a herd of about six or eight dairy cows. One of them had horns and as I put the treacle lick bucket down for her, she turned her head to say `Morning to me and her horn caught my face and knocked one of my teeth out, which, though repaired, hasn`t been straight since!
Dangerous beasties, cows...
also, I took a short cut through a seemingly empty field one day and around the `corner` of it, from out of sight, came an entire herd of stirks, full tilt at me. I broke the speed record and went through a barbed wire fence.
Moved house though and here, all we get are free range sheep. In the Highlands, nobody seems to fence! They wander through my croft and around the house and occasionally vandalise the wheelie bins and try to scratch their bums on the door handles.

mardatha

I am scared of cows, I stay well clear of them. My eldest son worked on a farm when he was a teenager and the farm manager got attacked and rolled on. We get lambs in the garden and the wee sods eat my flowers.

BitterAndTwisted

I had to look up the word "stirk". I always thought that up there in Scottishland cattle were always coos. You live and learn

RAS

ChocClare wrote: »

I know you're joking but cows on the road is a bit of an occupational hazard where I live - and when I take DD to her job in Burley it's like being in India (except cold and wet and actually far more like the New Forest if I'm honest) for the number of cows ambling up the road. And ponies. But the cows often have these big horn-deelies which mean that touristy car drivers won't overtake them so you get stuck in a VERY long queue. I have been known to get out of my car and go and shoo them off when I get particularly annoyed by some numpty in the car in front who sits there taking pictures while one of the cows stands in the middle of the road with her back to him while all her friends snigger by the side of the road. You can hear them saying "how many cars behind me now girls? Shall I move? Shall we go for a new record today and see if... Oh no, here comes that ChocClare, better scarper smartish..."

I know what you mean. And when tied up for milking, don't they just love waiting until you walk between them with their rations, then both stepping sideways to block the exit? I grew up with sharp elbows.

The one that makes me laugh tho, was camping in a wee single person tent for a few days. The grass under the outer tent grew very well. I woke very early one morning to a chomping sound right by my ear. One of the locals had decided that the new grass was much better than the rest and was pushing under the outer tent to graze, muzzle nudging me as s/he rasped the grass.

The beast was a lot taller than my tent and a misplaced hoof could have caused serious injury. I reacted instinctively and brought down an elbow on the muzzle then rolled over to the other side of the tent. A bit of noise made them back off further.

I had to get up and move them off a bit before I could go back to sleep.

D&DD

Thanks for sharing all your tales I'm hoping it will go ahead it'll be nice to take DS3 over there he loves animals.At least it'll feel like living in the country!

charlies-aunt

stitching_witch wrote: »

I found the girls picked out all the bits they liked from the mash and I wasn't sure they were getting their nutritional requirements. They can't do that with the pellets, and I still sometimes mix them with hot water or porridge in the winter. I only buy organic pellets for them. More expensive, but I garden organically so I feel they are getting the best of everything now.

I think it boils down to personal preference in the end.

Looking back to my childhood in the late 50's, my mum used to keep all the potato peelings and veg trimmings and boil them until soft and use them together with the water that they had been boiled in to mix in with the mash - uses up veg waste and gives the mash a bit of extra taste. . . . in winter she had had a big bag of paprika ( coarse ground not culinary fine ground) and woud add a big spoonful to each feed as the spice was supposed to help them keep warm in winter.

Try buying a kilo of barley from the petshop and bung a cupful with plenty of water in your slow cooker overnight - it will swell up dramatically (its ready when the grains are split) and add a cupful to the mash - they love it, its warming & filling and helps give a nice gloss to the feather s. . . and its cheap - which is nice too

mardatha

I've got one of those slow cookers with two compartments and I never know what to put in the wee side - when I get my hens I'll do this, ty!

Ballymackeonan

When I was young, a man came round regularly with a galvanised bin on a trolley for "the refuse" - ptonounced as in "deny" rather than "waste". In his case it was for his pigs, something that can't be done now!

I've been looking through my Edwardian thrifty cookery book with a mixture of horror and envy. Envy in that there are recipes for oysters, halibut, guinea fowl... but horror at some of the other recipes. Can you imagine Burnt Flour Soup - cook flour in margarine until "quite brown" then add water and simmer for an hour, add a little cheese, salt and pepper and serve over toasted stale bread! If that's OS I don't want to go there.... or to potato and cabbage soup (cut into small pieces with a little onion, simmer for 2½ hours and add margarine and seasoning..)

mardatha

We always wonder what happened to the pig pail and why they stopped collecting them. It sounds so sensible and so much what we're trying to achieve now with organic self sufficiency etc etc - but there must have been some problem because they stopped it. Must've been money, everything's always about money !