East Essex Smallholders Chitchat

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	The lambs are bouncing around the fields, your vegetable garden is springing to life - yes, May does indeed seem like the perfect month to try something new. You could try hatching some chicks, or plant a vegetable that you haven't grown before - the possibilities are endless.
	If seeing all the lambs in the fields is inspiring you to breed your own, order a 'Breeding Flock & Management Planner' to help you plan your year ahead. Our DVD programmes 'Sheep on Your Smallholding' will also give you expert advice on sheep husbandry and welfare. Make sure your buy a copy of the Spring edition of Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas Magazine, which has a comprehensive checklist of everything you need to know about rearing healthy lambs - written by Carole Youngs of The Smallholder Series.
	...cattle breeds for smallholders Dexter - small, great for low acreage, ideal for milk and beef Shetland - small, docile, fast-growing, easy-calving and hardy Lowline - small, easy to handle, excellent for beef Belted Galloway - hardy, distinctive look, excellent beef Traditional Hereford - docile, easy to handle, high-quality beef, thrive off grass and forage For more information, see the list ofcattle breeds on our website
	Simon Dawson, smallholder and author of 'The Self Sufficiency Bible' has written a great review of our DVD 'A Guide to Sheep Butchery'. Here's a snippet, you can read the rest on our website. "The butchery section is particularly good. I loved the way Adam and the butcher showed the steps in such a clear and doable way, and found my fingers itching to have a go, and I'm sure even if you've never butchered anything in your life you'll watch this and feel confident in giving it a go."
	May is another busy month. The days are lengthening and there have been some beautifully warm days to help the growth in your vegetable plot. The warm weather can bring early cases of flystrike though - so keep an eye on your flock. Here are some top tips from our 'Things to Do' pages - available on our website. Sheep - as the weather warms this month, watch out for early cases of flystrike. It's not recommended to use a 'pour-on' product this close to shearing time as it will leave a chemical residue on the fleece. Chickens - if you like natural remedies, offer the hens some garlic granules mixed with their layer of corn - garlic can act as a repellant to harmful gut worms, but don't rely on it totally. Pigs - as the weather gets warmer, make sure your pigs have shade at all times - a hot pig is not a happy pig! Vegetable garden - hoe in the morning so the sun desiccates the uprooted weeds, and water in the evening when the heat of the day is gone. Horses - regularly collecting the muck from your horses' fields will massively reduce their exposure to gut worms and improve their overall health. Keep up with all your smallholding tasks with our comprehensive guides to sheep,chickens, pigs, the vegetable garden and equines. Just click on an image below.
	Farm Diary Lambing 2015 Article of the Month Shearing Your Sheep - Why, When and How Moredun Health Bulletin Treatment Strategies to Control Parasitic Roundworms in Cattle NADIS Health Alert Nematodirus, Worm Control & Entropion Farming in the News One in Four Farms Hit by Crime in 2014 Recipe of the Month Asparagus, Sundried Tomato and Olive Loaf
	Early crop dishes - what's available in your vegetable plot now? Sticky Pork and Radish Noodles		Spring Chicken in a Pot Chard & Bacon Pasta Sauce Asparagus Frittata with Soft Cheese and Chives Rhubarb & Almond Crumble
	FeedbackWe really appreciate getting feedback from our customers - your views on our DVDs, suggestions for articles you'd find useful / helpful, and how you initially heard of us. You can leave feedback by emailing us - see the feedback page on our website. Weekly BulletinsFollow us on Facebook and Twitter for weekly smallholding news.