WEST SOMERSET GROUP
Penny Richards - 01984 624788
Meetings take place at Brompton Ralph Village Hall
TA4 2RU on the first Tuesday of the month starting at 7.30 pm unless stated otherwise. In time we hope to vary the venue to accommodate everyone
(Brompton Ralph is 4.5 miles north of Wiveliscombe on the B3188 - Grid Ref SS 085 336)
We are in the process of planning a sheep day or evening where we’ll look at a number of different breeds including Grey-faced Dartmoors, Herdwicks, Shetlands and Castlemilk Morrits, then cover some basic management. This will hopefully be in June or July and members will be notified
as soon as a date is set.
We are also planning an outing for August to a farm or smallholding to find out all we can about good management.
The evening meetings will start again in September. Do look at the website www.shasomerset.org.uk for dates
of these events.
Penny Richards
Tel: 01984 624788
thisispenny@hotmail.com
WEST SOMERSET GROUP ROUND UP
The group has had a number of really interesting meetings which were led largely by local people.
We started with Kathy Beale who gave us a real insight into the life of a full-time shepherd and the sort of problems encountered when dealing with large numbers of sheep. There were lots of lessons to be learned for the smallholder, the main one really being the importance of attention to detail with good hygiene and care for all the animals. I think everyone felt there is so much to learn and we were definitely inspired to look out for courses and generally get more experience.
Our next speaker was a local goat keeper of many years experience who took us through the management of these animals for milk. As well as providing large quantities of milk, the goats were clearly easy to manage and had become great companions. This was a really useful introduction for those of us who were perhaps thinking about getting some goats, and there may well be a few
more goat keepers in the area very soon!
In April we were fortunate to have John Fisher from the Taunton Poultry club giving us the benefit of his many years experience of keeping pure-bred chickens. There were some very useful tips including how he has managed to have never had a fox attack in 10 years! The secret it seems is to dig a trench 8“ deep, put the corrugated iron into this and finish off with a couple of strands of wire. John never even needs to shut his chickens up at night!
I think we were all feeling a bit sceptical about this, particularly in view of the fact that a number of us had recently lost all our chickens in one go. Could the foxes of the Brendon Hills be particularly canny and were we prepared to try it out?! We also learnt how to identify some of the commonest ailments and the best ways to treat them. The discussion at the end was a really good
chance to exchange ideas and concerns, so we all felt we’d learnt something for the benefit of our birds.
There were also some practical sessions arranged including a 2 day hedge-laying course which was very valuable, and 6 members managed to get their Competance for transporting livestock certificate, thanks to Nick Weaber.
Penny Richards
Tel: 01984 624788 thisispenny@hotmail.com |
