Another few weeks have passed, where does the time go to.

Pinky (belsharose Calipso) decided to have a fight with the pony, i left the stable door open slightly and she saw her chance, flew at his legs and decided not to stop, one broken leg later and more money spent at the vets!

Ghia in the group.

Richmond was last Saturday where it was a very pleasant day, sun was shinning, wine was flowing, only thing wrong i wish they would put the rings together for all varieties of Belgians, we were running back and forth half the day. Ghia had best of breed in Laekenois Harry had reserve best dog, they are starting to lose their coats know so do not look their best, Darlington this weekend will be their last big show till crufts so plenty of time to regain their looks!

In Tervueren we rushed in with coral, almost missing the class and she won (maybe i should do it like that all the time)Scarlet and Georgia have also lost their coats so i was pleased to get a 3rd with Georgia and a fifth with scarlet. All in all a very nice day.













We now have pigs,Mary,Bertha and Jemima, the 3 oxford sandy and blacks, they have settled in great and are now eating out of our hands, just got to get them to follow me next.




The new chickens, ducks, 3 turkeys (hopefully for xmas dinner)2 rabbits have all settlet in now so we have a right menagerie at the minute, oh and i forgot we have put some more eggs in the incubator so hopefully we should have some late chicks shortly.
Here's paul bonding with his dinner!

I Forgot to mention Al the alpaca who is a great protector of the sheep and chickens.

The nights are drawing in fast and after our week of summer last week it is now going cold...winter is closing in!!!!! Roll on spring.

Went to a companion dog show today, it gets the pups socialized and gives the kids a chance to do a bit of showing, i took Saphy along as well as she has not been shown since well before the pups were born
We met up with 2 of spirit and Persia's sisters,Yana (left) and Savy (right)

Saphy went like a dream and won the open class and then reserve best in show. Jordan won the junior handling and me and saphy won the adult handling so we had a great day out.


















The pups all got on great and i could not believe how they both remembered the kids so well, they were all over them.



















It took some time to get this picture of them all sitting











Merlin and Kira, Scott and Jordan's dogs

Paul took this picture of the sunset over the field the other night.









Went to the chicken sales on Wednesday and got a bit carried away.
We now have more chickens, another goose,ducks, turkey's and rabbits.

Here they are in quarantine for a few days

The goose is very friendly and loves to nibble on clothing and hands. watch the video to see him


We have finally located some pigs, can not believe how hard it has been to get a traditional type pig, the breed we have gone for is the oxford sandy and black.

Will be picking them up on Saturday, although its a bit of a trek, we have to go to Dorset to get them which is around 3 1/2 hours away, hope they are worth it!

Thought i should have an update on the blog as its been so long since i have been here, where has the summer gone to, not that we have had much of one in terms of weather.

We have been having a great time at the shows, doing very well, at Wales this week Giorgia took her 2nd cc in Tervuerens, only one more to go, here's hoping, although she is about to throw her coat which is a shame. The Laekenois have been doing extremely well, especially Ghia, she has been best of breed in every show since may, she was shortlisted in the group at working & pastoral breeds and best rare breed pastoral in show, that does not happen very often, then at the BSDA club champ show she had rave reviews, every one loved her on both days(Northern BSD as well) there was an entry of 12 Laekenois that day which i do not think this country has ever seen that many entries before at a champ show, a total entry of 215 Belgian Shepherds.After going best in breed then went RESERVE BEST IN SHOW, all under foreign judges which made the wins even more special.

We have just had the hip score results back for Giorgia who has a 0.0 score, i suppose we should have expected that from her as she would not have possibly tolerated getting a 1!

Heavens knows how we will find a mate who she approves of, (she is very posh)

The Laekenois have all had decent scores as well with Gaby having 5, Ghia, 10 and Haramis, 9.

The Mali pups are coming on well, even though they are very noisy, one goes so the other has to copy. We kept 2 in the end, Persia who is a little star and Spirit who lives up to his name. It will be interesting to see how they finish off.

We have been walking over Kinver edge the last few weeks,one of our local beauty spots full of hills but the views are amazing and it certainly wears the dogs and kids out!

What glorious weather we have had at last.

Went to the Cheshire county show today, wow what a day, Shetland sheepdogs, Jack went best of breed out of over 50 entries, Coral (owned by Pat) went best of breed in Tervuerens and Ghia went best of breed in Laekenios and group 4 in the pastoral group.

Not a bad days showing.Full results will be on web site shortly.

The traffic for this show is unbelievable, so all in all it has been a very long day.

The kids had a great time on the old time fair,and with all the old fire engines and tractors all i keep getting is '' in the olden days '' did we have this and did we have that, like i know, i am not that old!

I found a breed of sheep today that i liked,

called the hebriedeans, all black with horns, might be something to add to our managerie

The pigs made me laugh, we saw a saddleback there that was the biggest pig i have ever seen, might have to rethink what type of pigs we get after seeing her, she was masssive

A future farmer in the making ?

The allotment is coming on well, space has been cleared for the polytunnel, should hopefully be up by the end of the week.

The potatoes and runner beans are looking well.

We have also planted a whole range of veg and fruit.

For the first time in a few years a lot of our apple trees have a good crop on them.

The foal is doing very well and is no longer the ugly duckling. The sheep have settled in well and are not bothered at all by the dogs and noise coming from the kids.

And finally but not least, the mali pups are doing great, still 2 pups waiting for that special home.

Took them down the field for the first time on Tuesday, a bit unsure at first but soon got the hang of it and then there was no stopping them.

Will upload more pictures of them in the next few days on the website.

Bed early tonight cause i am shattered.......

Where has the time gone to, i hadn't realized it has been so long since last writing on here.






We had a good day at southern counties with the laekenois, with Ghia taking best bitch and best of breed,Gaby had reserve best bitch and Haramis with best dog. At Three counties today there were no classes for laekenois but Ghia had a first in AVNSC junior bitch and reserve best bitch, she then came fourth in the Pet plan junior stakes out of an entry of 45. Cerise and Coral also won their classes in Tervueren.

We had some sheep last week, pedigree Jacobs, i put them in the field with the agility equipment at first until we had time to move it, you should see these sheep run over the A frame, they would give any collie a run for their money, i only need to teach them to jump on command and we may have ''Babe'' in reverse. Talking of pigs, i have finally talked Paul into having some pigs, although they are a lot harder to get hold of than you would think, we have some oxford sandy and blacks on order and are still trying to locate some saddlebacks. Watch this space..

With the allotment coming on in full swing and hopefully the polly tunnel will be up this week we are well on our way to being self sufficient!













The Mali pups are nearly 10 weeks old now and most have gone to their new homes, the time flew by, only 2 bitches left looking for new homes. They are really starting to grow now and can't wait to get them out and about.We took one to the school sports day last week and he took it all in his stride playing in the flower bed and meeting all those children, its a great way to socialize.











I think we have a budding star in Jordan who won every race she was in, and Kai won the egg and spoon race.

We went to see Rhydian (from X factor) last night,his voice is amazing, can't believe anyone can sing like that live, he was brilliant.

Went off to the chicken sales again today and came back with a load of growers again, managed to get some hens this time, white ones, very pretty but they are very aggressive, every time you pick one up it attacks you!

The mali pups are coming on well know and getting bigger by the day, we keep trying to get them in the garden but it has not stopped raining here for about 3 weeks. They did venture out for a few minutes the other day but quickly decided it was far better inside.

WOW What a day we had at Birmingham National champ show, In Tervs, Coral ( Belsharose Chardonnay who belongs to pat Cashmore) had a very good 2nd in a strong class, especially as we have been having a few problems with her she is now coming on great, then Giorgia won limit bitch and to our utmost surprise then went on to win the bitch CC, we were over the moon. We have put a lot of hard work into Giorgia the last 2 years, she is what you may call temperamental, but it all paid off on Saturday, we always new if we could overcome her shyness she would do well as she is such a quality girl. We then went on to have a somewhat rushed but successful day with the Laekenois, with Best dog, best bitch, reserve best bitch and best of breed.

Thursday we had a new addition to the herd with a colt foal being born in the early hours, not planned but gratefully received although i had hoped he may have been a coloured but still.

















I went to the chicken sales again this week after an unsuccessful trip there last week to acquire a new cockerel after the fox managed to kill my last one. Last week i bid up to £20 for a Welsummer cock but failed to get him, this week i had more luck and got a beautiful welsummer, he soon settled in but boy does he like to crow.


















We managed to hatch out 8 chicks from 15 eggs last week, not a great percentage but you have to start somewhere, they are doing well as are the chicks we brought from the sales, they have now gone outside in the ark until they get bigger.



Strange but chickens are very addictive once you get into them, you get some beautiful marked colours on them and can become quite attached!

The geese have settled in well as well and they seem friendly, not like the ones we used to have , they would chase us out the field.

The fox managed to have a couple of chickens again the other night, practically in front of our eyes, luckily one of the dogs spotted it and chased it off, unfortunately not before he managed to do 3 of them. So off to the chicken sales today ( i don't need much of an excuse). Came back with everything i don't need including 2 geese!







I also brought some young chicks although heavens knows why when i have some due to hatch out tomorrow in the incubator.Still it made the kids happy.













The sun was glorious today with the crops in the fields at their full bloom




























The Malinois pups have opened their eyes and are now starting to explore. They are beginning to lose their fat look as well so we can start to see how they are shaping up. Won't be long now before the fun begins!