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Hedging

mole trapper

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We bought the smallholding four and a half years ago, it had been empty for three and a half, so there was a lot of reclamation of land to be done. We don't feel like we've achieved nearly as much as we'd like, but friends tell us we've preformed miracles. Anyhow one thing that has been bugging me terribly is the hedgerow running topside of the field running away from the house.
So new year's eve all day and all new Year's day were spent cutting it back completely, and then burning up the brash and logging all the good stuff.
It was a gargantuan task, only a hundred and fifty years long, but it had come out nearly ten feet into the field.
We were both completely knackered and scratched to hell with many blackthorn stuck in our hands for good measure, but oh! The satisfaction looking at it now is immense, we have gained a huge chunk of ground, this just happens to be attached to my airgun range so more mowing but a greatly increased shooting area.
Hedgerows should be cut back yearly, now this one is back under control it will be easily maintained.
Now we have to move all the raised beds around as we put them up in haste and now realised they are too close together so can't mow between with the ride on.
Poly tunnel has been recovered so we are very slowly getting there.
 
Did you just cut back or cut and lay Mole? A well layer hedge is a thing of beauty. On a more personal note when I move into my house outside of Felixstowe in 1984 the blackthorn hedges were about 20 feet high so l layer them back to about 4feet then trimmed back every 2 years so the bare patches could fill out
 
When we were still farming back in welshest Wales we always laid the hedges but this was just a grade 1 back to the bank. Our sheep farmer neighbour will then top it from the lane side and I'll "prune" field side.
We have realised we need to start working smart instead of hard, as things (in our opinion) have been slipping instead of moving forward.
As an example I stopped putting post and netting wire tree guards around the newly planted orchards considering it too time consuming and expensive, so put just ring fencing around individual orchard plots,only to have our sheep get in and do thousands of pounds of damage, equally putting back commercial cider making by at least two years.
I will openly admit it's my weakness of being a bull in a China shop instead of taking more time to think things through.
Maybe this year? Lol.
 
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When we were still farming back in welshest Wales we always laid the hedges but this was just a grade 1 back to the bank. Our sheep farmer neighbour will then top it from the lane side and I'll "prune" field side.
We have realised we need to start working smart instead of hard, as things (in our opinion) have been slipping instead of moving forward.
As an example I stopped putting post and netting wire tree guards around the newly planted orchards considering it too time consuming and expensive, so put just ring fencing around individual orchard plots,only to have our sheep get in and do thousands of pounds of damage, equally putting back commercial cider making by at least two years.

I will openly admit it's my weakness of being a bull in a China shop instead of taking more time to think things through.
Maybe this year? Lol.

A cheap option would be to smear the trunks with grease, the sheep won't like the taste
 
Nope I'm going to freezerise the damned sheep!!! I'm not great at fencing, I can do it but it looks uum... not professional shall we say, so we decided to get the local contractor in this coming summer and create real paddocks, with real gates! No bailer twined pallets etc. The orchards will be kept competley out of bounds, except for the ducks and chickens, and the occasional roe/red which will keep the demon sheep company, chilled, very chilled!
 
Nope I'm going to freezerise the damned sheep!!! I'm not great at fencing, I can do it but it looks uum... not professional shall we say, so we decided to get the local contractor in this coming summer and create real paddocks, with real gates! No bailer twined pallets etc. The orchards will be kept competley out of bounds, except for the ducks and chickens, and the occasional roe/red which will keep the demon sheep company, chilled, very chilled!


Well a nice piece of roasted mutton can be good
 
Very true, I manage a captive fallow heard on a holiday park, they also have lots of (petting) animals, one of the ewes that was easily five or six years old kept prolapsing so the owners asked me to euthanize her, well I took her off quietly and did the deed, she was in good condition so I thought I'd do her off for the lurchers. Well they didn't get a look in other than offal and bones! It was great meat, just like I remembered as a kid back on the farm. My Mrs absolutely loved it too which did surprise me a bit as she was abut negative about it's being edible.
 
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Very true, I manage a captive fallow heard on a holiday park, they also have lots of (petting) animals, one of the ewes that was easily five or six years old kept prolapsing so the owners asked me to euthanize her, well I took her off quietly and did the deed, she was in good condition so I thought I'd do her off for the lurchers. Well they didn't get a look in other than offal and bones! It was great meat, just like I remembered as a kid back on the farm. My Mrs absolutely loved it too which did surprise me a bit as she was abut negative about it's being edible.
Much to good for the dogs
 
Hi MT.

Sounds like you have a little patch of heaven there:thumbsup:

Re the planters....could you not run up through the gaps with a petrol strimmer......save the space and all the hard work of moving them.:thumbsup:
Good luck to you for 2017 hope you achieve all you want to.... and its a good year for you.

Any pictures you would like to share with us?..:thumbsup:
 
Very true, I manage a captive fallow heard on a holiday park, they also have lots of (petting) animals, one of the ewes that was easily five or six years old kept prolapsing so the owners asked me to euthanize her, well I took her off quietly and did the deed, she was in good condition so I thought I'd do her off for the lurchers. Well they didn't get a look in other than offal and bones! It was great meat, just like I remembered as a kid back on the farm. My Mrs absolutely loved it too which did surprise me a bit as she was abut negative about it's being edible.
I've eaten sheep a lot older than that, once they're mutton age, any extra years don't seem to make a lot of difference. I'd take mutton over lamb any day of the week, tremendous flavour.
 
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