Feeding Sheep On Churn Estates.

Today I am going to show you the feeding process on the Churn Estates farm. This particular video shows me feeding sheep out on the hill. Feeding the pigs back at the farm is similar except they have to have Barley and pellets where as the sheep just need pellets and both need water of course. For feeding you need the hopper for the front loader on the tractor, I think there is a version for a telehandler too if you prefer, the one I have came with the farm. I filled the hopper with pellets from the pig farm but there is a sheep yard close to the sheep field which also has a pellet silo. The water tanker is part of a pack from the LS-UK Modteam, (Download Here) you can fill it from the tank at the pig farm as I did or you can also reverse in to a water supply like a pond for example. To empty in to the water troughs just press the 'Q' as with most other unloading tasks. You may notice there is a feeder in the field with the sheep, later in the year this can be used for feeding your bales of hay or whatever you choose to feed.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the video and maybe find it useful and if you want to ask anything just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

Tippy's Top Tip (Rounding up the walls).

As today is the second anniversary of Tippy's passing.

I am going to remember her with another of 'Tippy's Top Tips' which used to be a feature of my blogs. This tip I think is both interesting and useful. 

Below are two pictures taken of two separate Tayberry plants, the pictures were taken within a couple of minutes of each other (the time it took to walk from one to the other). The difference between the two plants being that one is grown against a north facing wall and the other against an east facing wall. The north facing wall gets very little direct sunlight. In the summer it may get a little at each end of the day, in the winter none at all. The east facing wall gets full sun all morning but none in the afternoon. By looking closely at the pictures it's easy to see what difference this makes to the plants, the one on the east facing wall is in advance of the other by at least three weeks.

North Facing Wall

East Facing Wall

The growth difference of the two walls can be put to use in both providing the right growing environment for different plants, for instance you would have a hard time getting peaches from a north facing wall but a south facing wall would suit them well. In this instance I am using the two different walls to increase the length of the cropping season which it more or less doubles. This will work with many plants, but not all because some like sun and even more sun whereas others are not do fussy.

Dig the lawn.

Today didn't start very well. First job as usual was to go and check the sheep and there I discovered a dead lamb. I called the farmer who came and took it away.

After this I went to my work in the garden and there found the dogs digging up the lawn. A right old mess they made of it too.

So I go to work expecting to get plenty of weeding done and find I have all this stuff to sort out first.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Churn Estates

For some time now I have been playing on a map called Churn Farm, this is the map that I judge other maps by and until today there have been none to better it, at least not as far as my personal preferences go. That was until this morning when on eating breakfast I was checking out the latest news on the LS-UK forum and joy of joy there was a new map entitled Churn Estates. I'm not sure if it's made by the same person who made Churn Farm, if it is they have changed their name but it is of the same high quality and in the same style so one has to assume that the same person who made Churn Farm had a hand in making Churn Estates, if not then it's a good copy and a great improvement.

There was always lots to do on Churn Farm what with harvesting, feeding and milk production, there is even more to do on Churn Estates. There are pigs to feed, apples to harvest and sheep to clip just to name a few of the new jobs. The lay out of the maps is also interesting and varied although I haven't had time to check it all out yet. I played Churn Farm for weeks and there were still some land I never went on let alone harvested so there is always plenty to be done on these style of maps.

Anyway here is the link if you want to try it for yourself: Churn Estates

There was one little problem I had when I first installed the map and that was when I went to play no matter whichever way I tried to unpack the folder it kept on saying that the Map Fruit Change Trigger was missing. In the end I had to go to this page Map Fruit Change Trigger and download it. Then it was just a matter of putting it in my mod folder the same way as you do any other mod and everything work fine after that. If you have any trouble just drop me a line, I'm not an expert but I will try and help if I can.

Hottest day of the year.

Today has been the hottest day of the year in the garden. So I've been cracking on with some weeding at long last, its been pretty hot work though. The head gardener on the other hand has managed to find a way to keep his cool once again proving my point that dogs are smarter than humans.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Clipped

Yesterday the farmer finally managed to get the sheep clipped. This is usually a job done in June but with the way the weather has been they've only just managed to get round to it. I'm sure that with warm sunshine forecast for the next few days the sheep will be glad to get rid of their coats.

Sent from my Windows Phone

The Secret Path.

Today I've been opening up the secret path in the village. It had become overgrown with Ivy and self set trees and was therefore virtually impassable. So my task for today was to open it out so people can now pass from the top of the village to the bottom without having to go round the road.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Pottinger Euro Top

I was recently asked what liner I was using in the hay making post. Well it's a Pottinger Euro Top and can be found here: http://www.ls-uk.info/downloads/33/23331

I will be honest that I have stopped using it because for some reason it misses quite a lot of material, you will see what I mean by looking at the two pictures below.

The rows in the bottom two thirds of the picture were made by the Pottinger and you can see the misses, the rows in the top of the picture was made by a different liner and are cleanly raked.

I haven't posted on here lately but I've been quite busy on Churn Farm and I have also start trialing a German farm called Herlefeld V2: http://youtu.be/uKmpcfne-SA

Inspired by the sunshine.

Its the first time in months that I've actually felt inspired to do any gardening. Life is much better when the sun is shining.

I am busy giving the long Dahlia border a much over due weeding.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Enjoying The Sunshine.

Today me and the head gardener are enjoying some sunshine, hopefully it will dry out our bones a little.

As its a dry day I'm busy trying to get some weeding done even though soil is still not in the best of conditions.

-- Sent from my HP Pre3

Nice Drop Of Rain.

July is living up to its reputation of being one of the wettest moths of the year with another 5mm of rain yesterday and a wet start to thise day. We're already up to 80mm for the moth and its not half way through yet. 

-- Sent from my HP Pre3

British Grand Prix

Today is the British Grand Prix and if it's anything like qualifying yesterday it promises to be a great race. At the moment the weather looks bright and sunny but things can soon change and if it does then the fun should really start....

....Well that's that over with, unfortunately it wasn't the result I hoped for, I really can't get excited about a Redbull win. I was hoping for another with by Fernando Alonzo but unfortunately his tyres didn't hold out long enough and he lost the lead with just a few laps to go. I guess second isn't to bad. Of course it would have been nice to see one of the British guys to win but the car just isn't working at the moment.

a day out

Today Vicki has had the day off work so we have taken Tommy for a car ride. We have seen lots of water, had a paddle and a picnic. Then we went to the garden centre were we had an ice cream and bought a head stone for Tippy's grave. Now we are visiting grandma and granddad who have lots of treats for us.