Saturday 30 Jan

 All 50x sheep counted. They were grouped in the far north-eastern corner, all seemed fine, no concerns.

Friday January 29th

 The sheep were in the eastern section of the field. They were close up in the Lee of the median hedge/fence line . All 50 counted,  some trying hard to entangle themselves in the hedge. One or two are limping slightly but I don’t think too much to worry about at this stage. By the way forgive my ignorance but what breed are they ? saw four roe deer  Trough ok .,have a good weekend . 

Julian bevis . 

Thursday 28th Jan

 50 sheep all in the East field. Very calm with half of them lying down & half grazing. All content with no problems. Red Kite overhead this morning. Gates & troughs fine.

Wednesday 27th January

 50 sheep counted.Very friendly and inquisitive today.One was limping (front right) but otherwise looking good.

Cows Moved Off Site

Hi all,

They cows have done their job breaking up the thicker areas of grass so have been moved off. They are now on a butterfly conservation reserve Magdalen Hill Down.

Thanks,

Jack

Tuesday 26 january

 My first visit to Barton meadows . All stock in the eastern section. All fifty sheep and five cows accounted for . No issues with the cattle , they all feeding well and looking well and alert. Sheep also feeding well and no obvious laggards or other signs of problems . Saw a couple of  deer just the other side of the middle fence . 

Julian 

Thursday 21st Jan

 All sheep and cattle present, grazing happily in the Western field. No obvious limpers. Well scattered in the field. Deer in the East field and a number of starlings & redwings around this morning. Kestrel and Stonechats. Few people about. Perimeter path very muddy now.

Sat 23 and Sun 24 January

 All 50x sheep and 5x cattle counted. No concerns.

On the Sunday, sheep #1 was quite stiff in its movement. No obvious limping, but just lagging a bit behind the rest of the flock. It came over to say hello when I called and seemed ok in itself - was happy to take nuts from my hand. Not worth raising with the grazing team, but worth keeping an eye on. #1 is light coloured, with only buds of horns.

Removed ice from the troughs. Plenty of water in them, but the supplies were frozen on Sunday.

Friday 22nd January

 All livestock back in the eastern enclosure today. All 5x cows and 50x sheep counted. No significant limping and no concerns.

I was in a rush today, so took a bucket of nuts with me - which brought the cattle thundering over as well as the sheep. Not a problem, but will stick to a voice call in future..!

Wednesday 20th January

 A very wet and windy day! All cows and sheep in the eastern compartment. I'm yet to see them in the smaller compartment. 

All looking well. There was one slightly lame white faced woodland but nothing of great concern. 

Water working well. 

As mentioned in my email, the cows will be coming off in the next couple of weeks but the sheep will stay out on site. 

Fri 15th and Sat 16th Jan

 All 50x sheep and 5x cows counted. All sheep seem well - a few are very muddy, but back ends seem fine. Didn't spot any limpers at all.

Wednesday 13th Jan

 

Sheep and cattle all together so made it harder to check without getting too close to the cows! 50 sheep counted,no problems,very friendly today.

Thursday 14th Jan

Sheep and cattle all present in the west field. Enjoying the drizzle! All looking relaxed and no obvious limpers. Flock is all together.

Tue 12th

5 cows and 50 sheep, all well and came to bucket. 

Sat 9th January

All 5x cows and 50x sheep counted. They were all pretty chilled today and no-one seemed that inclined to come and say hello. Ollie eventually spotted me and rushed over for some fuss.

No limping seen, no concerns.

Troughs still ice-free from yesterday and refilling fine.

There are two huge, bold foxes prowling the meadows at the moment. They thundered past me yesterday evening, their feet sounding more like deer as they ran across the hard ground. I'm double checking the hen coop before bed each night.

Fri 8th Jan

50x sheep counted. They came over to see me as I cleared the ice from the troughs and none of them seemed lame. No concerns with any of the livestock and the ballvalves are working freely on the troughs.

Updated sidebar

 Hi all, 

Some of you might like to know a bit more about the livestock. I've updated the sidebar with the sheep breeds and the names of all the cows. 

Thanks

Ellie

grazing team check

We have been over to have a look after ellie informed us about a fairly badly lame lamb. As far as well could see they were all fine and the lame one had gotten over its issue. Cattle all looking well.

Thursday 7th Jan

Went over to check on the livestock but found the grazing team on site.

Wednesday 6th January

 50 sheep in one field and 5 cows in the other,One sheep is still limping badly(front left)Otherwise looking good.

Monday 4th January

Hello everyone! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year.

Firstly, it is extremely difficult to count 50 sheep whilst there are 5 big cows in the way. We all like a challenge!

Cows are all present and looking well. If anyone would like some further training on cows then let me know. You are looking for exactly the same as what you would look for on the sheep. The cows can be friendly as well but they are obviously a lot bigger. Please try and avoid getting too close to them - they kick - in my 30 minutes up here I saw a few sheep learn that lesson. Main thing is that if they come too close for your comfort make yourself big and noisy. Arms out and big loud voice shouting "no". They're not aggressive, they're just inquisitive but sometimes forget their size. Sounds silly but exude confidence and approach them and they will most likely back off. 

Sheep, shee, sheep. I like to count the correct number at least 3 times in a row if I am struggling to get the right number. Safe to say after 30 attempts getting numbers ranging from 44 to 52, I got my 3 x 50 in a row. 

One white faced woodland lame on its back left leg. A couple of others with minor lameness on the front feet. I will report to grazing team. 

Saturday 2nd Jan

5x cows counted - I walked round each of them and they seemed fine. All grazing happily.

50x sheep counted eventually.... They're actively browsing the central hedge today and kept going back into it, so it was very difficult to count. I will double-check numbers later when they move into the sunshine. No limpers seen.

I checked both troughs - they're free of ice and working fine.

Update: all 50x counted in the afternoon. No limpers. All seem well.

I found the chewed remains of a drone near the southern boundary of the eastern enclosure (Colley Close houses). It will once have had lithium batteries in it..