Farming Friends

What an honour it is to be tagged by my new blogpal, Curtis @ Growing Thumbs. So You Think You Know Me is a tag that asks you to reveal some facts about yourself. The facts can be funny, random and weird! I have decided to link my facts to my life on the farm, so here goes;

Funny Farm Fact - I have to confess that I talk to my animals which some of you might think is a little funny but I can assure you that all of the animals respond to my voice. When the poultry hear my voice in a morning they know that I am about to let them out of their hut and they start running up and down. On a night when I want to get the hens in I just shout “C…’mon, c….’mon” and they come running. It’s an amazing and funny sight to see which I will try to capture on video for you all to watch! When I call the pigs by their names before they can even see me they get up from their sleepy laying down positions and are sniffing around the barns door. My cats call back with a miaow when I call their names which is great when you think that they are outdoor cats. The time that I have spent talking to them and petting them has certainly paid off.

Random Farm Fact - I seem to spend much of my day looking for eggs laid by my guinea fowl or Hatty the hen. The guinea fowl like to lay their eggs in the hedgerows and particularly like to find a large patch of nettles to lay in. This year I have been competing with the magpies that are circling the hedgerows looking for eggs too! To date I have collected 725 guinea fowl eggs and the magpies have taken approximately 300+ eggs. I am beating the magpies in my hunt for eggs but only just. Hatty’s eggs are not so difficult to find as she has her favourite spots to lay eggs. This year she has laid her eggs on top of the mill in a pile of grain, on top of the silage wrap mountain and in the silage feeder machine. To date Hatty has laid 101 eggs. So this year I have collected 826 eggs - no wonder I’m tired!!
Weird Farm Fact - I love the livestock on our farm and every morning I get up early (well early for me!) to feed my pigs, guinea pig, cats, hen and guinea fowl, however the weird thing is I am still a little afraid of the cattle that we farm. We normally have about 80 cows on our farm and I am still gettting used to just how big they are when they are in the field. When I have to go into the field with my husband to round up the cattle or bring in a cow and calf when the cow has just calved in the field, I get all nervous and behave like a little lap dog following at my husband’s heals hoping that the cattle will not notice me and won’t bound up to me in their curious, inquisitive way. The more time I spend with the cattle, the less nervous I am becoming. It’s amazing how confident you get when they are in the fold yard and you have a strong metal gate and wooden feeding trough between you and these beautiful strong and inquisitive beasts. Are there any animals you are a little nervous of?

Well I hope you have enjoyed my funny, random and weird farm facts.

Now I would like to tag;

Sunk Island

Bird Table News

Smallest Smallholding

Not A Proper Farmer

Family Natters

TopVeg

This Is My Patch

The guidelines for this tag:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules
2. Write some facts about yourself: some random, some weird, some just plain fun.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)
4. Let those 7 people know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.