Today it was time to start rolling the fields - we've had a couple of weeks of dry weather - hardly any rain, and the ground has been drying out nicely. In a similar way to haymaking...timing is crucial. If you wait too long then the ground is too hard and you've missed your chance. Margaret, Jenny and Faye had a big effort moving the electric fencing out of the way and then Ted set to work on the little tractor. It's just the perfect size to pull the roller and it's lighter than the other tractors so doesn't mark the ground as much.
As you can see, it made quite a difference very quickly. The area next to the yard is where all the drainage excavations were in the autumn so the ground is still all churned up and rutted...and of course there are all the pony hoof prints.
Unfortunately someone happened to mention during the tea break that it was all going perfectly so far(!)...and about 10 minutes afterwards the tractor was stuck in the mud! There are still some very wet, boggy patches - even though the ground surface deceivingly looks alright...so out came the Massey Ferguson and the tow rope and we were soon back on track again. We needed to be rescued again on two more occasions! Despite the getting stuck, it was an overall success. We just need to wait for the boggy areas to dry out a bit more before we roll those!
Frodo was a very good pony - he had to stay in the yard as we couldn't risk him with the fences having no electricity running through them. He was quite happy with his haynet and Margaret gave him a brush - now he's extra soft and fluffy!
...And of course, we must say Happy Ponyversary to Jeremy and Rowan!
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| Ted set Faye to work with the tractor too |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| A clean Frodo! |
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