Ups and Downs
Despite the weather playing havoc with farming, some good came from a new purchase
THE LAST couple of months have been very busy here on the farm, with lambing in full swing and, as I write this, we have just released the last ewe with her three lambs out into the fields. Lambing this year has been a struggle; the weather was totally against us, with a mix of rain, wind and, of course, the white stuff! We ended up with several days of snow, which created havoc with all the water pipes in the lambing sheds freezing throughout the day and night. The next issue we then had was the lambs that had been born early and were ready to go outside, but couldn’t so had to be kept inside for far longer than normal. This meant we had a backlog of sheep in the lambing sheds and we were struggling for space.
We always make sure that once the lambs are fit enough to go outside the weather forecast for the first few days of their new venture into the big outdoors is fairly decent, in that it is dry and a reasonable temperature, but the weather gods had different ideas. We had a few bright sunny days, where it was warm enough to be outside without a coat on and then the following day we had a foot of snow. Winter did seem to drag on this year, with the snow giving way to rain, and lots of it. This also caused a problem for the young lambs as we do not want them getting wet through during the day and then turning very cold overnight. It is very difficult for them to warm up again. The cold weather also meant nothing was growing, so we were turning out lambs into already saturated fields, which meant we had to continue feeding them for longer than what we normally would to give them a good chance of survival.
Thankfully we are now enjoying summer-like temperatures; everything is nice and green and growing well, too. In total we ended up with 580 lambs and all round it was a successful lambing despite the very unpredictable weather!
Just before the snow I did make another unplanned purchase. It was indeed another vehicle – yes, believe it or not, I did actually need one – I had gone from four vehicles on the road down to one. With my red 1986 Range Rover broken down with poor repairs and my silver 1987 Range Rover now needing far more work than originally planned, I was in need of something that I could just get in and use. A friend of mine told me he was about to sell his classic. It was in need of a few little odds and ends, but nothing serious, so I bought it and so far it has proved to be particularly useful over the last few months.
Its a 1988 Range Rover Classic, with a Mazda diesel engine fitted (was originally a 3.5 V8). The car itself is in very good condition having had a lot of work done to it in the past and a full respray had been carried out recently, so overall it was a tidy car. Apart from the engine it’s nice and original, and my plans are to get a V8 back in it again at some point once I’ve got my 1986 Classic back up and running. With a vast improvement in the weather, I will certainly be more motivated to do this.
During the cold spell I must confess I did not venture down to the sheds to tinker with any Range Rovers. However, as soon as the weather did break and the lambing situation eased up, I got straight in there and finally I have been making some progress with one of my restoration projects in the form of a 1984 four-door Range Rover.
This was bought back in May last year, and was supposed to have been a recommission rather than a full rebuild. I stripped it over the summer last year, the chassis was cleaned down and repaired in a few places around the fuel tank and middle crossmember, I then bought all the bits and pieces to rebuild the suspension, bushes, hubs, with new nuts and bolts throughout, but that was as far as it got. So, with some warm days forecast I made the most of it and got the chassis all painted with no fewer than five coats of paints, including rust neutraliser, two coats of undercoat, and two coats of top coat. The same has been applied to the axles, and any other parts that bolt to the chassis.
I have to say the results look very good and now I’m building it back up again with all the new bolts, springs and shocks, and it’s starting to look very smart. I don’t intend to do too much with the engine other than replace a few seals and a good service while access is easy. As it ran and drove fine, I have no need to do too much to this and the same applies for the gearbox. It will be nice to see the body reunited with the chassis; my shed is littered with all the parts of this car and its surprising how much room they take up when in bits. Let’s now hope this warm spell we are having continues, and hopefully the 1984 Classic may once again start to look like a Range Rover.