The latest addition to the Croft. Here is Bramble, just 2 hours old...:
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Saturday, 17 January 2015
We hate to boast...
...but we couldn't resist:
We keep Ripollesa sheep, so we are members of the breeders association, ANCRI. As part of their improvement programme we keep records of lamb births, weights and ages. ANCRI compile all of this data - from 48 farms around Catalonia - so that each of us gets a picture of how well, or not, we are doing.
The 2013 data has just arrived...and the Croft is the most productive Ripollesa farm in Catalona. Yes! Un-B-Leavable!
The numbers: Our "Numerical Productivity" (the numbers of lambs that went to slaughter, divided by the number of ewes) was 1.8 in 2013. The average across the 48 member farms was 1.03.
And of course this is where the boasting ends. We are managing our tiny flock differently from other farms. We don't keep lambs to grow up as ewes - because we have just one male (Phoenix), so if we kept the lambs he would be mating with his own daughters (er, not good.) So all our lambs went to slaughter, boosting our "Numerical Productivity." And the fact that ours is the smallest flock in the data set also makes a difference.
But we are also the top in one other score, which is more relevant: our lambs are the heaviest births in the national Ripollesa flock. Average birth weight here at the Croft in 2013 was 4.8kg, against the national average of 3.5kg.
All of this is no credit to us, because we are rank amateurs compared with the other Ripollesa shepherds. But it is credit to Pep Martinez, our wonderful vet, who has been able to transmit to us innocents a load of sheep-care knowledge. Thanks Pep!
We keep Ripollesa sheep, so we are members of the breeders association, ANCRI. As part of their improvement programme we keep records of lamb births, weights and ages. ANCRI compile all of this data - from 48 farms around Catalonia - so that each of us gets a picture of how well, or not, we are doing.
The 2013 data has just arrived...and the Croft is the most productive Ripollesa farm in Catalona. Yes! Un-B-Leavable!
The numbers: Our "Numerical Productivity" (the numbers of lambs that went to slaughter, divided by the number of ewes) was 1.8 in 2013. The average across the 48 member farms was 1.03.
And of course this is where the boasting ends. We are managing our tiny flock differently from other farms. We don't keep lambs to grow up as ewes - because we have just one male (Phoenix), so if we kept the lambs he would be mating with his own daughters (er, not good.) So all our lambs went to slaughter, boosting our "Numerical Productivity." And the fact that ours is the smallest flock in the data set also makes a difference.
But we are also the top in one other score, which is more relevant: our lambs are the heaviest births in the national Ripollesa flock. Average birth weight here at the Croft in 2013 was 4.8kg, against the national average of 3.5kg.
All of this is no credit to us, because we are rank amateurs compared with the other Ripollesa shepherds. But it is credit to Pep Martinez, our wonderful vet, who has been able to transmit to us innocents a load of sheep-care knowledge. Thanks Pep!
Saturday, 3 January 2015
What are they? The 2015 Quiz
I saw these three over the Christmas holidays. I have almost no idea what they are, so that's the 2015 Quiz: tell me what they are.
This brightly coloured bug was in the bark and ivy of a
willow tree near us. He appears to be wearing the Estelada - the Catalan national flag. The distinctive white spot on the tail must be an
identifier, but I don’t know of what. He might be a Fire Bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus. But then again
he might not.
 |
| L'Estelada, en insecte? |
I found this one inside the underground box that protects
our water pipe and taps, on the edge of a mixed (holm oak and pine) woodland. My
guess: Rana temporaria, the Common Frog. But s/he does not have the distinctive
V shape (chevron) on her back.
 |
| Je suis le frog |
I found this on the edge of the track above the house.
Distinctively white droppings, with a spiral twist and a pointed end. According
to "Animal Tracks and Signs" by Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom these are characteristic
features of fox (Vulpes vulpes) droppings. So, maybe a fox?
 |
| The Swiss Army drops in |
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