In the aftermath of storms Ciara and Dennis the animals of Fern Farm have been keeping us entertained and cheerful as we battle with the weather. Dogs climbing everywhere, chickens in the lorry and helping themselves to the feed bucket. As you can see from the pic the dogs don’t mind staying in the dry, with the horses also having to have a few duvet days as it’s been somewhat challenging to keep things going. Uncle Nick has been out in the fields in all weathers in the tractor haying up the retired gang, whilst we’ve been managing to get the holidayers out for a few hours a day and keep everyone else to the work schedule. The forecast for the next few days looks equally foul and I have heard a small rumour that storm Ellen is on the way.
I am sure I speak for many others in saying that Ciara, Dennis and Ellen can just do one!! Myself and the team have had enough of this wet weather, we all work so hard and maybe just a bit of spring sunshine would be nice soon?! That said, our thoughts have been with the many people in the UK – many not so far away from us in nearby counties and the Midlands – who are struggling to cope with flooding, losses, being displaced from their homes and fighting the terrible conditons to care for their animals. Though we can’t think when we’ve know Adlestrop so soggy we know we are relatively lucky here and are counting our blessings.
There have recently been a few days in my job that are dampened (quite literally at the moment!) by things going wrong in the day to day running of the yard. However one of the highlights of my week has been watching Sonny, the 2 year old by Dunaden, having his first proper ride out round the yard, you can see a little video of him being a brave boy here. I was really happy with his progress, Vics has done a great job with him and it’s been lovely to see him develop so well over the past month. Again due to the rain and everywhere being so wet, his education has been slightly different to our usual regime with the breakers but he has taken it all very well and has impressed me with his attitude to this point. As he is a big 2 year old and still a growing baby he will probably have a break at the end of this week for the rest of this year. We are very fond of Sonny as he arrived here as a weanling so it makes it all the more pleasing to reach this stage.
So my conclusion; when things get tough at times, it’s always important to stay focussed on the animals, they are why we do what we do and the most rewarding and satisfying parts of the job are what keeps us going.