HOUDINI ........

So we're thinking we should rename Netty to Harry, as she's a brilliant escapologist (Houdini!).
As well as her pen in the sheep field she has a pen in the sheep shed, she gets a lot more exposure to them in the shed (as it's a confined space ). As in the field, we're gradually increasing her time with the sheep; last night we were aiming for an hour, so at 55 minutes we prepared to walk up to the shed to get her but .... who should come out of her box on the decking to greet us ? A very pleased with herself Netty, that's who !!!!! She'd managed to climb out of her pen, walk through the flock of sheep and goats, crawl under the gate to the sheep shed (a gap of 4 - 5") and walk all the way back home! So now we've got to buy a crate to keep her in while she bonds and gets used to being with her flock - according to the 'experts' it shouldn't be this hard - it's supposed to be instinctive.
Today we went, with our friends Thomas & Diane, to a sheep dog trial festa. It was a very friendly, laid back affair, the afternoon heats were over an hour and a half late in starting (typically Portuguese!), but once they started the judge was very strict, I felt quite sorry for some of the eliminated competitors (one had his dog just run around the field but never managed to collect any sheep, another was doing really well until his enthusiastic dog nipped a sheep!). It was a fun day out.

BEES & HONEY ......

Last autumn we became the proud owners of two hives of bees ; this week, as we are going to have rain soon, our bee keeping mentor told us we needed to check our hives as the bees will probably need feeding. "Just lift the hive and see if it feels light" she said - anyone know how heavy a beehive should feel???? 

As we had no idea whether they felt light or heavy we decided to put some food in the hives anyway (just in case). 

"You need to put the food in early morning or at night, when the bees are inactive, there's no need to wear your bee suit" she said !!!!!!

So this evening we drove into the field with the bee food (sugar syrup) and the feeders; we carefully filled the feeders, Brett climbed into the area we've fenced off for the bees, he took the lid off the first hive, prised up the cap from the hole that the feeder fit over and ...... immediately a few hundred bees came pouring up (can you pour up?) out of the hole, buzzing around Brett and stinging him (why, oh why, wasn't he wearing his bee keeping suit?) - at least we know we have a hive full of bees ! 

The second hive went much more smoothly, as he knew what to expect and managed to get the feeder in place before the bees came out.

This evening Netty managed and hour and a half in the sheep shed, and she wasn't making a noise when we let her out.

We have a list of jobs we keep putting off (mainly boring, time consuming, paperwork, form filling type stuff) this week we've been trying to work our way through the list. So far we've signed Brett up with the medical centre (so he has a health number), started the process of exchanging our British driving licences for Portuguese ones and opened a Portuguese bank account - it's been mind numbingly boring, hours sat on hard chairs whilst forms after forms are filled out on (seemingly dial up speed) computers! But we're getting through the list - next week we're going to apply for subsidies for our animals and olive trees.

I'm getting rather adventurous with my cheese making nowadays, today I made another camembert and a blue camembert. They will be aged in the cold store that Brett built me last year.

The door, decorated with fauna from the quinta

MARCH:
Netty is settling in nicely. She still doesn't like being shut in her cage in the sheep shed, but it's for her own protection until the sheep get used to her (and to stop her escaping!!!).

BRAG ALERT!
Today we sampled the 'camembert' that I made in January ..... wow, it tastes good !

LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOG .........

February 2019
After a year of not blogging for various reasons I am going to try to restart my diary of our life in Portugal  (mainly for my own benefit as my memory is atrocious!).
Just before Christmas we had yet another dog attack on our flock - one lamb (Paul) was disembowelled, another (Steve) bitten through the back of his neck (we thought he was dead but he pulled through) and others had less severe bites. We called the GNR (now that our animals are registered and legal), he said if it happens again to catch the dogs and call him to take them away. Since the attack our animals have been put in the shed overnight and we find it very hard to relax when we're away from home.
One of our neighbours allows his dog to wander off quinta, unfortunately it's taken to coming here. She's not actually chasing our sheep but she worries them, they panic and run around or huddle in a group. We're concerned as we have pregnant ewes and we know that stressed pregnant ewes are prone to dying (we had four die a couple of years ago when dogs got into their field). Our neighbour won't  have it that his dog is still doing harm, all he can focus on is the fact that she's not chasing them he can't understand that a sheep can die from stress.
So our long term solution is ... a Livestock Guardian Dog.
Meet Netty...

Netty (short for Nettle)

She's an Estrela Mountain dog (an ancient Portuguese dog breed that instinctively protects their flock and will fight off wolves!), perhaps not Netty yet, as she is only seven weeks old!

TRAINING NETTY:
We've read up on how to train your LGD; it is important that they are bonded with their flock from a very young age (preferably under eight weeks). We've had Netty for three days, she has been sleeping out on the decking (she is not a house dog - this is so hard ... she's still getting used to being taken away from her siblings and mum) . We're currently bonding her with us and our animals (dogs, cat, chickens, ducks etc). Gradually she will be spending more and more time with the flock, until she's living with them day and night (some of the experts say to keep them with the flock from day one, but that seems a bit harsh).
Today was Netty's first day in the field with the sheep. We made her a little run so that she was safe from any aggressive sheep or goats. Unfortunately Netty had other ideas .....

She's small enough to squeeze through the stock fence !!! 

So we had to reinforce her perimeter. She still wasn't keen - she had her head back and she was actually howling like a wolf (the 'experts' say to ignore whining, barking (and presumably howling) and to only go back to the dog when it's calm). We're only leaving her in the field for short periods, the goats and sheep seem quite inquisitive.