July 5th, 2008 by cowgirl
(In reply to Roy SmartWalk’s comments)
I totally agree with the points you make, I spent four years studying dogs at university some years ago now! The problem is that not all dog owners view their dogs the same way that we do. There are very many responsible owners out there but the ones that concern me are the ones that seem to be extreme. Some seem to treat their dog as if they are children and tend to spoil them rotten, which inevitably leads to the dog being the boss and controlling the so called “owner”. Then we have the other end of the spectrum, where the owners don’t seem to give a damn about their dog, in fact I’m sure they sometimes forget the even have one!! They seem to neglect the dog, treating it either as a non-living object that has no needs, or some kind of fashion accessory. I fail to understand why they even bother to have a dog, I have my dog to bring joy into my life but also to bring joy into his. It has to be a two way relationship where the owner is the leader, giving the dog the guidance that it needs. We have to be the provider of necessities, from nutrition and water, fun and games, leadership and guidance, training and discipline, exercise and security. With any of these missing, we are asking for trouble with the dog, which in turn then affects what should be a harmonious relationship between one man and his dog!!
Posted in General rant | No Comments »
June 21st, 2008 by cowgirl
So we are heading off to Bulgaria for my first ever Skiing holiday!! My partner has been Skiing a few times before but for me it was a first. He decided that he would enjoy the challenge of teaching me, what a brave guy hey? Things were going quite well until by accident (well, he said it was!) on my first day we ended up going down a blue run. When I say going down it, I don’t mean stood up on my skis, I mean standing there crying in panic that I couldn’t go up or down!! After a few different angles of attack (like on one foot, my bum, elbows, face etc.) I decided that the only way was to lie on my back and slide all the way. And have a well deserved beer at the bottom to calm myself!!
As the week progressed, so did my skill and confidence. I was starting to really enjoy myself, and had mastered the art of jumping out of my skis, and throwing myself on the floor without hurting myself or others. I did have a Bridget Jones moment, where I had to shout to the snow boarders “Bridget Jones here, out of control and coming through”. Which they found highly amusing, and I think slightly impressed by my off piste skiing, and even more impressed that I stayed upright!!
Anyway, back to the title “These boots are made for walking” The xmas before this holiday, I had brought my partner some rather impressive all weather water proof boots from a Germany company called Englbert Strauss. As we arrived for our days Skiing, the staff at the Ski depot were giving the boots a lot of attention, and asking us where we had got them from, and how much I had paid. One guy even offered cash to buy them there and then but he said no way, they were a gift and the only pair he had brought with him. I then jokingly said to my partner that when we returned from Skiing, I bet his boots would be gone. And yes you have guessed right, he went to the pidgeon hole to put on his boots and the boots had walked!! We couldn’t believe it, we complained to staff but they were far from helpful. I was very surprised how they had all forgot their English which they were quite capable of speaking earlier that day. All they could say was that someone must have put them on by mistake, what are the chances that they would fit? And if so, why were there no spare boots left at the end of the day? Is it possible to wear two pairs and not notice?? We insisted that the Police be called, we caused a scene but still they couldn’t speak English. In the end, we had to give in and get the bus back to our hotel, my partner in the hired Ski boots!! “These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they did!!”
The next morning, we were greeted by the very excited staff, who said “we have found your boots, they have just appeared” but when we tried to find out where they found them, they could no longer speak English. Now we laugh about the whole scenario but at the time it was far from funny, I don’t think we will bother returning to Bulgaria again. When we tell this story to other people, we tend to hear of other horror stories and bad experiences with the locals. If you have some good stories, feel free to try and convert me…
Posted in Travel & Holidays | No Comments »
June 21st, 2008 by cowgirl
Just thought I’d take the time to tell you about my experience in Turkey. I must admit that I have always avoided holidaying in Turkey, not sure why but I just didn’t fancy it, what a mistake!
I have been back in the UK for four days now but would much rather be in Turkey. We booked our holiday to Marverde Plus Club, Kuyucak Bay, Bodrum, only a week before we departed. I can’t believe we managed to get such a great deal of £300 per person to an all inclusive, 5* hotel, in it’s own private bay, and including flights for one week. I was slightly nervous what we might find when we got there but all I can say is that it was a very pleasant surprise. Not like my trip to Tunisia but I shall tell you about that another day, when I feel like a rant!!
With the hotel being an ex Sun-sail hotel, the sailing opportunities were amazing, so we booked ourselves in for some lessons and after a short time we were heading out to sea on a Hobby Kat with instructor on board, unfortunately the wind was not being very helpful and kept starting, stopping and changing direction. We found ourselves at a stand still, then out of the blue a gust of wind came from nowhere and we were capsized. The other two were fine but unfortunately I was at the front of the boat and decided to Karate chop the mast on my way out, ouch!! The speed of the rescue team was fantastic, and before you know it I was on the jetty with a nurse tending my wounded leg. The swelling was that severe, they decided I needed an x-ray. After a quick trip to hospital for an x-ray, I was sent back to the hotel with a well bandaged leg (not ideal for sunbathing or swimming, I must say), thankfully no breaks, and some painkillers in hand. I couldn’t praise everybody involved enough, they all did a very good job.
Anyway, I didn’t let it put me off. On my last day there, we went back out to sea with an instructor and had a fantastic experience, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys extreme sport. I will definitely be doing it again..
After a few days taking it easy and sunbathing with my bandage on we decided to go scuba diving. I had done it once before in Majorca and not had a very good experience but I knew that in the right place, at the right time, I would love it.. And boy did I love it. The instructor who was a man in his 50’s, Paddy qualified diver and instructor, and was a mix of Del Boy, Danny Divito and Shrek, with a great sense of humour. He made me feel totally at ease and in control, his english was superb and I understood everything he was teaching me. We had a great day trip out on the boat, where we had lunch, went snorkelling and scuba diving. Their equipment was top notch, and we are planning to return later this year to do our Paddy course, which means we are qualified to dive anywhere in the world. I can’t wait!! We were all given a disc which they had put some video and photos on, taken with their underwater camera’s, what a brilliant idea? Mum and dad really enjoyed the experience too, while sitting at home on the sofa, cool eh?
Well, I expect you are feeling jealous now! There really is no need, get on and book one for yourselves. I know we were lucky where we ended up because we heard some not so good stories on our flight home, so make sure you do your research and check out plenty of reviews on the net. Oh well, happy holidays everyone. Next time I’ll send you a postcard saying “Wish you were here then? xx”
Posted in Travel & Holidays | No Comments »
June 20th, 2008 by cowgirl
Two days ago a little Simmental calf was born (well, not so little!) After a couple of attempts to get him to drink milk from his bucket, I was starting to get worried for him, he had to be hungry but was too stubborn to play ball. Last nights feed went badly, in fact you can’t really call it a feed. He refused to suck my fingers, put his head down into the bucket, or even stand up.
This morning came round too quick for my liking, and I was not looking forward to wrestling with him at 7 o’clock this morning but it had to be done. I knew it would be a battle of wills and I was not prepared to give in. So I took a walk down the yard, armed with my bucket of milk. I got to the shed where he should be in his pen, to be greeted by him at the gate, on the outside of his pen
So this is where my wrestling match started, after a small struggle I had him returned back to his pen. So I climbed in with his bucket of milk, tried to put my fingers in his mouth to encourage him to suck but he was not having any of it!! He put his head between his legs, shook his head and stomped his feet, yes he was having a proper tantrum
He proceeded to drag me up and down the pen, while I refused to let go and kept tying to tempt him by pouring a little milk into his mouth but to no avail. I tried another method, by holding the bucket of milk to his mouth (maybe he doesn’t like to suck fingers in rubber gloves) but all he did was blow bubbles in the milk, then to my surprise he lifted his head and sprayed milk out of his nostrils all over my face, not ideal when you wear glasses with no wipers. (I swear he was laughing at me..) It looked rather like a whale blowing out water but he had two holes, and unfortunately one was facing in my direction.
The struggle continued with me ending up with one rubber glove and one wellie full of milk. We both slumped in the corner of the pen, snorting, panting and looking rather grumpily at each other
Then a miracle happened as I pinned him into the corner of his pen, with his nose pointing skyward. The little rat bag just started to suck my fingers (hooray, I had won) After what had been a 20 minute battle, he decided he wanted to drink but by this time, I was wearing most of the milk. I went and got him some more, and by the time we had finished, he was happily drinking on his own from a bucket at the front of his pen.
I strolled (well, actually it was more of a stagger) back up the yard with a smile on my face. I’d describe the battle to what I would imagine a wrestle with Mike Tyson would feel like, I did actually fear that I may not escape with all my extremities attached, as at one point he nearly bite my finger off. Now he has been named Tyson.. I wish I could have witnessed the whole scene from a different angle, preferably someone else’s wellies! I can imagine it would have been quite entertaining..
![]()
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2008 by cowgirl
I tend to listen to the Jeremy Vine show on radio 2 most week days while walking my Boo. Friday the 29thMarch was no exception to the rule. I found the show very interesting this day. I knew agriculture in the U.K was struggling but was surprised and concerned and how desperate the pig farming industry seems to be.
The main problem the industry is facing at the moment is the ever increasing price of feed, which has almost doubled since Christmas, at a cost of £400 per ton for organic pig meal!! Ouch, that has gotta hurt… This is due to the poor harvest where wheat crops are produced in places such as Canada-brought about by the bad weather conditions. Also, places including India and China having high demand for wheat, pushes the prices up so high that it has a great chance of destroying the pig industry in the U.K. It is said that 95% of U.K pig farmers asked are seriously contemplating packing up pig farming for good.
As the production cost of pig meat rapidly increases, we would expect the super markets to increase the price they give to the farmers but so far this is not the case. The shops are continuing to make massive profits of BILLIONS of £’s, the pig farmers are suffering a massive loss of £26 per pig that leaves the farm to be slaughtered, and winds up in the Super market fridge or freezer, helping them wallow in their huge profits.. If this continues, the main % of pig meat purchased by the U.K public will be imported, which will then lead to serious concern for security!! An increase of £1.30 per kilo to the pig farmers should be enough to save the industry, which I personally think has got to be well worth the increase. There is also the option of feeding pigs on a cheaper feed of left overs from shops and restaurants but this would have to be closely monitored and strict guidelines followed, as there is a concern that disease such as Foot and Mouth can be caused from certain meats in the diets of livestock but if regulated correctly, this idea could be a good option…
At this moment in time, many pig farmers are being forced to slaughter half their herds just to survive!!
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2008 by cowgirl
Why do people insist on having dogs when they don’t seem to want the responsibility that comes with it? I just don’t get it. On many occasions of walking my Boo, I feel like we are running the gauntlet on Gladiator. We have dogs running out at us from gardens with no fencing, owners walking dogs without leads or the clever Muppets who have the lead but believe their dogs are so well trained they don’t need to put them on it, just to find their dogs running across the road for a fight with mine who is feeling very threatened as he is on his lead.
For a couple of years now, I have been having a bit of an ongoing battle with a dog owner in my village who has an ex security German Shepherd and a rescued Staffy x. The dogs are left home alone to wander in and out of the house via a very large dog flap, and stroll around the village doing as they please. After the GSD launched an attack on Billy, I ended up calling the police as the owner was not in for me to speak to direct. It came as no surprise when the police knew exactly where the dog had come from, they had visited the owner on many occasions.
Some time last year, Billy and I were greeted by a very friendly Staffy x, who had no ID tag. She came home with us where I tried my best to find out where she was from. I had knocked on a dozen or more doors but eventually had to ring the dog warden, who informed me that the Staffy was from the same place as the GSD. The owner was reunited with the dog, and received a bit of an ear bashing from me. I then calmed down and offered to help fix the garden fence and damage to her house caused by the dogs but I heard no more from her. I pointed out that her dogs were terrorising the village, the GSD had already bitten people and were frightening kids on the playing field and at the school gates. She just didn’t seem to understand the danger involved. I told her that without tags, roaming free and out of control she risked having her dogs run over or taken and never to be seen again.
Two days later, we are walking down the main road in the village and are greeted by the same Staffy who was running in front of cars, all excited that she had seen me again. She had blood around her face, it appears she has jumped through a window to escape, just as I had warned the owner two days before… This time I had no choice but to ring the wardens who came and collected her but by the end of the day the owner was reunited with her again!!!! She just seems incapable of listening to good advice and taking up offers of help.
I knew it was all going to end in a bad way but nowhere near as bad as it did. Weeks later I hear that the GSD had gone on a rampage killing sheep, and was then shot dead after killing and devouring two Alpaca. The Staffy who was a gorgeous and friendly little dog took fright and ran off across the fields, where she too was found dead. She had fallen into a big ditch and had suffered a long, cold and lonely death. All this tragedy caused by one incompetent dog owner, who wouldn’t admit she was out of her depth and couldn’t cope. Still her attitude has not changed, no apology to the livestock owners, and no offer to reimburse their losses.
WHY DID SHE THINK SHE DESERVED TO HAVE THESE DOGS??? SHE SIGNED THEIR SUICIDE NOTES FOR THEM!!!
R.I.P ALL THAT LOST THEIR LIVES IN THIS UNNECESSARY TRAGEDY
Posted in General rant | 4 Comments »
October 17th, 2007 by cowgirl
So I do my usual mornings work of milking the girls and feeding the calves, chickens, cats and kittens. Then off I go for a well deserved coffee break. After a 20 minute break that feels more like 10!! I call back into the calf shed to bed them, as I walk in I hear a distant muffled moaning noise. Straight away I realise that it must be the little black calf in the corner, who has been nothing but trouble since she was born. Her nick name is
Little Eyebrows, as her grandmother is called
Eyebrows, and yes she does happen to have white markings on her black face that look exactly like a pair of eyebrows. Unable to see her anywhere I rush over to investigate, and find her outside of her pen, with her head completely hidden and trapped between two large bales of straw. Somehow she seems to have jumped out of her pen and landed on her head but to make things worse she has got her back end stuck up in the air, rear leg trapped under the gate, while doing a head stand with her face stuck between two straw bales
I know this may sound amusing but at the time I realised how close she could have been to suffocating herself, which at the time was not so funny, especially as she was wedged and I was alone in the yard. I had to react fast, so out comes my knife (no it never crossed my mind to hack her leg off!!) I had to cut the string that was holding the pen together to allow me more room to free her. After a lot of pulling, pushing and talking nonsense to her, I managed to drag her out by her back legs. She laid down for a little while, then I helped her to her feet while supporting her weight, still waffling on telling her how silly she was!! I was so relieved that she was alive and well that I had to give her a hug, which I don’t think she really appreciated..
Slightly shaken and unnerved by the whole experience ( I mean me, not
Little Eyebrows)
, I walked off and carried on with my day……
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »
July 19th, 2007 by cowgirl
Yes, I’m talking cows again!!
Today I witnessed a fall out between two best friends-316 AKA M Norjeana, antennae teats (to me, her back teats look just like a pair of antennae), and 318 also known as M Norjeana. Not only are they good mates who hang around together but also half sisters who share the same dad (not that they would know that!).
I was doing the afternoon milking and happened to look out the door across the yard to see 316 setting about poor 318, she gave her a blow to the ribs with her very hard head, knocking 318 off her feet into a concrete pillar. 318 got back to her feet and walked away but unfortunately for her she tripped over and tumbled off the concrete yard and landed on her feet in the straw bedded crew. She then turned and stood eye-balling 316, who by this stage had got herself well worked up for round two. They both stood there heads hanging down ready for impact, staring at the other and breathing hard and fast with the adrenaline rush.
Along came an old cow we call eyebrows (she has two small white stripes on her black forehead) and gave 318 a butt as she walked past, talk about kick someone when they are down!! Most of the other cows in the shed had stopped eating (which I must say is very rare), and were stood there watching every move of the pair. You could almost hear them chanting “scrap, scrap, scrap”, reminding me of my school days, and how bullying goes on in every walk of life. 
I had to go back and check on the girls in the parlour. When I returned to the scene of the crime, 318 had made her escape and was standing all alone in the field. I went over to her and had a bit of a chat, checking that she was ok and telling her to go back in the shed with the others. She looked a little sorry for herself, probably more to do with the fact she was embarrassed about tripping over, rather than the beating she had just incured. If she didn’t have a hairy face, I swear she would have been blushing. 
Last I saw, they were both trying to stare each other out from across the shed. Looks like “it’s not over till the fat lady sings”. I get the feeling that the girls are not going to get a peaceful night sleep tonight!!!! Lets hope they have kissed and made up by morning……
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »
July 14th, 2007 by cowgirl
Friday the 13th
Not that I am superstitious, just slightly unnerved by the date!!
I went off to work as normal, milked the girls, and all was going well, until I went off to feed the new born Limousin bull calf, he was born Tuesday evening but his mum 231 AKA M Ambrina, or more commonly known as Big 5 teats was taken poorly with milk fever. She was too poorly to come across and join the milking herd on Wednesday but soon responded to her treatment, and was fighting fit and ready for milking on Thursday morning . The little calf must of had a big pig out on milk during this period and refused to drink from a bucket.
So down the yard I went, armed with my bucket of fresh milk but to my horror, the little rat bag had vanished So out went the search party, looking high and low for the little chap. Panic started to kick in at the thought of us trailing round the countryside looking for a very small needle in an extremely large hay stack!! Thankfully I decided to check in one last barn before we started to search further afield, and there he was laid down fast asleep in the corner, completely oblivious to all the commotion going on around him. We still can’t work out how the little rat bag managed to find his way back to his place of birth, Is it nature or nurture?! Needless to say, he had worked up an appetite and drunk quite happily from his bucket of not so warm milk….
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »
July 12th, 2007 by cowgirl
Well, how awful has the weather been? We are not the only ones who suffer at the hands of mother nature. Poor 007 or otherwise known as Bond, or her official Sunday name M Anjeana, has slipped her twin calves which unfortunately means curtains for her. She has suffered on and off with mastitis for her last lactation, and been a little steady for some time but the bad weather really seemed to take it’s toll on Bond, resulting in her aborting and unfortunately for her she was not far off calving which means it would be impractical to AI her again. It’s a real shame as she is a real BFG (Big Friendly Giant). Compared to many farms in this country, we seemed to get away fairly lightly in the floods, which is more than can be said for the farms within a 20 mile radius of us, who have destroyed trucks, spoilt crops, and severe loss of livestock…. Good luck with rebuilding your future, hope everything comes together for you all. Ta Ta for now, will chat again soon, hopefully with some cheerful news. 
Posted in Down on the Farm | No Comments »