Tuesday 25th May

Surprise, Surprise! nature has taken its course and Ella had her first (litter?) of piglets. Ten little pink curly tailed rascals. Only a few hours old and already play fighting with each other and escaping out of the farrowing pen! She is a good mum and as we have had so much contact with her through the pregnancy she tolerates us coming in and showing an interest in them. Bella (lady in waiting!) in the pen next door is feeling a bit neglected so she gets a special tummy rub when we are around.     (photos by Andrew Hepburn)

Peeking in back window at newborns!                                  " Are we allowed out here?"                    Too cute for comment!

Friday 14th May

A very busy time at the moment. Lambing is over for another year. Thirty new lambs running out in the fields with mums.

Ronnie and Reggie seem to be taking their roles of 'flock bouncers' seriously. But this means that our dog Mango is made to feel very unwelcome! If the alpacas see her in the distance they head towards her making a very strange high pitched noise. She hasn't hung around very long to see what might happen! Shearing is next on the agenda for sheep and alpacas, so please let us know if you would like any lovely high quality fleeces! 
Ella and Bella our two Saddleback pigs are definitely looking pregnant now. So Steve has been building two farrowing pens for them to use as maternity homes.  They are best friends now but once the piglets come along in a few weeks it will be a different story!            

 We have been planting beetroot, broad beans, peas, mange tout and corgettes.  Not to mention some exciting new crops like salsify and Sorrel!

                                                                "they've got me working like a dog!"

Steve looking 'pink with pride' with his new seasons crop of rhubarb!   

Sunday 21st March

       Some of 'our Girls' lined up on a favorite branch watching the world go by!

                                                                                                     Mother and lambs enjoying the sunshine           

Sunday March 14th

At long last it seems Spring has finally arrived! A spell of dry sunny weather so we are finishing off the rotovating of our vegetable plots.  Even managed to get the first crop of Jerusalem Artichokes into the ground with the help of the family.  They are easy to grow and their tall plants will make a windbreak for the more tender crops. Its good to see the first small stems of Rhubarb pushing their way through the piles of compost we have put around them.  Delicious Rhubarb ready in a couple of weeks!

 Tuesday 26th January: New Arrivals!!

Great excitement at the arrival of two alpaca geldings!  They are so cute! but are here on a mission to hopefully guard against foxes and stray dogs harming the sheep.  We collected them from Tim Hey at Inca Alpacas near Dorchester.  We in fact have two others as well, grazing at Winterbourne Steepleton, so if anyone is interested in buying two from us please get in touch.

                                                                                                             Photo by Andrew Hepburn

   8th January 2010

In the biting wind we found our first lamb of the year cuddled up against mum! A little Ram Lamb, he was 'Baa-ing' very loudly, We decided to carry him, with mum following dutifully behind into the covered Barn area as the weather is so freezing at the moment! He is the typical pretty rusty red colour of the Portland Lambs.

                                                                                                     photo by Tim Bunce                                

Little Ram Lamb 'Peter', very chilly start to life but soon made comfy with mum in the barn!

          Our Butcher

We are so delighted to have found the Blackmore Vale Butchery Service near Henstridge.  Dave and Gavin are real experts at their trade and nothing is too much trouble.  They sell the most fantastic quality local meat and offer a meat cutting service for small farmers such as ourselves.  This is where we hang all our Portland Mutton and Hogget.  They also make our lovely sausages for us.  Click the link above for more details of what they do. 

• Portland Sheep Fleeces, fantastic quality wool for spinners or felt makers, £2.50 each
• Suri Alpaca Fleeces : weighing around 3 kilo each. £10.

•  Fertile eggs can be sent by post for those wishing to hatch out chicks under a broody hen or in an incubator.  

           Hens, Goose and Turkey   available now   Please ask for details.

E-mail:steve@steeptonbill.plus.com or tess-steeptonbill@live.co.uk 

 Directions: google map link enter Steeptonbill Farm in search bar.  Multimap

Phone: 07824702398 or 07891079615

Steve Gould & Tess Evans

Many thanks to our photographers Andrew Hepburn and Tim Bunce

Contact Andrew for fantatstic photographic services.  He has many years of experiece doing a wide range of picture styles including pets and potraits!
heppydog@myspace.com