Freedom Farm Stud

Bury St. Edmunds Photographic Society

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:03:00 +0000

The stud had a visit from the Bury St. Edmunds Photographic Society last night.

We always welcome visitors to the stud.

Mares and Foals

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:58:00 +0000

Sunday morning had a sensible amount of sunshine and here is some video footage of the mares and foals in the fields by the house and offices.

Playdate - 2

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:44:00 +0000

She did better yesterday in that she won at Tipperary. That is very pleasing for us, as she won as an early two-year-old.

We also have the yearling colt by Whipper out of Far Post and her colt foal by Alhaarth.

Playdate

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:57:00 +0000

Playdate, the Kyllachy two-year-old filly out of our mare Far Post, was second at Dundalk yesterday. She is trained by Kevin Prendergast in Ireland.

This was the first time out, so let's hope that is promising.

Freedom Farm in the East Anglian

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:17:00 +0000

The East Anglian Daily Times has just published a nice article on what Celia and I have been trying to achieve at Freedom Farm.

Click to view the article!

New Trees

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:22:00 +0000

Planting trees is something we should all do.

This is one of the circles in the new paddocks that has been planted with a selection of native trees.

If you plant trees there is an extensive and very complicated Grant scheme that subsidises the trees. It is a waste of time unless you are planting thousands and have the mind of a bureaucrat.

It would be far better to give the grower a subsidy on every tree they sold, probably dependant on size. That would be easy to police as you'd only need to deal with registered tree growers and the public or the plants would probably get larger trees for the same money. Bigger trees are more likely to survive as they are easier to care for and less resistant to attack by deer.

But that sort of scheme would cut the number of civil service jobs used to administer the over-complicated current scheme.

The Simple IP Camera

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:14:00 +0000

It looks like being another glorious February day here today and the picture shows the view from a new camera on the drive.

The picture is displayed in the Daisy Presentation Browser, which is a simple program, that can be used to print and display web pages in a clean format without the baggage of Internet Explorer. For example, if you want to print a web page without the top and bottom headers to frame for your office wall, then this is the program.

The picture below shows the camera and the aerial that links the office network to the house.

This camera and the aerial were purchased from Solwise.

The camera uses a Sony camera tube, is IP65-compliant and is installed by just plugging one cable into the network and the other into a 13-amp socket. When it is first installed it sets itself up on your network with a default IP-address of 192.168.0.20. You just log in to this from your browser and adjust the settings of the camera accordingly.

It takes you longer to screw them to the wall, than to get them to work properly.

If you want to setup a camera at a remote location, all you need is to pair the camera with a wireless AP/bridge and arrange a suitable aerial that links to your main network. It is very easy to setup a range of about fifty to a hundred metres.

Watch, Cook and Eat

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:26:00 +0000

One of the great advantages of using IP cameras instead of CCTV is that you can watch the pictures on any computer.

Here, I'm using a laptop, whilst I'm cooking my supper.

I prefer the second picture, as all the hard work has been done.

The software on the laptop is currently showing up to four cameras. If required it can show up to sixteen.

Racing Days At Freedom Farm Stud

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:55:00 +0000

Most people love a day at Newmarket races. It is a great way to relax and the great advantage is that racing can be very much a family day-out, with something to appeal to everyone. Note too that children go free at the race course.

Why not couple a day at the races, with a visit to Freedom Farm Stud?

A typical day might start at say eleven, with a tour of the stud, to view the horses and what we are doing to create an energy efficient stud.

Note that as the stud has a wireless network and full business facilities, why not hold that important business meeting and then go off and enjoy yourselves?

We can provide refreshments, from a picnic to a full lunch, if required and also organise someone in the know to mark your card.

But above all what we do is flexible and geared very much to the needs of the client.

First Foal

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:52:00 +0000

Our first foal is now successfully on the ground.

It's always a good thing when this happens, as you know the New Year has properly started and the nights start to get shorter and hopefully a bit warmer. Not that it's been anything other than freezing for the last few days.

New Guard Dog

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:54:00 +0000

This is Wilma, which is Lyndsey's new puppy.

Space Savers Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:48:00 +0000

The kitchen for the offices is a pre-built one from Space Savers. You just lifted it in, wired it up to the plugs and then fixed it to the wall.

Our kitchen came with a built-in microwave, hob and fridge.

Almost Complete

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:06:00 +0000

This picture shows the almost complete new offices as dusk approaches on a rather dank winter's day.

Note the disabled ramp.

Creation of an Efficient Thoroughbred Stud Farm

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:18:00 +0000

I have created a document, which talks in some detail about the philosphy of the stud. It is a large Word document of about 17 Megabytes.

View the Document
So download with care.

LED Rope lights

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:54:00 +0000

LED rope lights are a very exciting development in the field of lighting.

The outside of the new offices are lit at night by a single LED rope light. As you can see in the first picture it downlights the walls and sufficient of the concrete outside, so you can see where you are going.

Note that because the light is in the eaves of the building, there is no wasted light and all of it goes where you want it. There is also no visual intrusion of unsightly fittings on the outside of the building.

The second picture shows the rope light screwed behind the beams on the front of the building.

It is only when you see it in this shot, that you realise all the advantages of using an LED rope light in this situation.

1. There is no visual intrusion on the outside of the building.

2. The light is continuous and there is no variation due to separate fittings.

3. LEDs can be dimmed and this light is fitted with a dimmer control.

4. The whole front of the building is lit by one twenty metre LED rope light, which is only connected to the electricity at one end. This means that although the rope light costs just over twenty pounds a metre, in many cases you save a lot of money on installation costs, as you only need to run the LED rope light rather than electricity as well.

5. LED rope lights are available in lengths up to fifty metres and are full IP65 compliant. The only thing you can't do is submerge them in water.

Our installation is twenty metres long and consumes about 110 watts. It gives out 560 lumens of light which is directed downwards in a forty degree angle.

If you want to know more about the LED rope lights we used, then this is the data sheet. We obtained them from Excled.

Clamping a Broken Water Pipe

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:59:00 +0000

As you can imagine on a stud you have a lot of water pipes and valves.

It has been very cold here lately and one of the valves froze solid and broke, sending a spray of water everywhere. As sometimes happens, I couldn't locate where the stop-cock was located, despite going down some very wet and cold manholes looking for it.

In the end I gave up, as I was wet through and frozen, and retired to a hot bath.

But I did find a tool at the Drain Centre in Cambridge.

In the first picture you can see the rather fearsome tool clamped around the pipe, with the broken valve still in place.

Note the big crack in the valve. But the water flow has stopped.

In the end, I just cut the valve off with a saw and then cleaned up the pipe.

The final picture shows the new valve attached to the pipe.

Note the dent in the pipe, where the clamp was applied. It actually shows how strong these plastic water pipes are.

Having seen the power in this tool, I hope people don't ever misuse it.

Anna on her Back

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:10:00 +0000

For some reason all our dogs seem to lay like this at times.

Here is Anna impersonating the bassets.

I should say that she was very tired last night, as she went to London for the first time and had a walk on Hampstead Heath. She travels extremely well and just cuddles down in the back of the car with Lizzie. I think she slept most of the way.

A Night Visitor

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:24:00 +0000

We are renewing the drive that leads past the front of the house.

There is a hole about twenty metres long and thirty centimetres deep, where the drive used to be. Obviously, the builders, Rose, are very safety conscious, so they have coned off one end with some heavy road kerbs and parked a substantial digger at the other.

You'd think this would stop all accidents.

Wrong!

Look at these first pictures, where a White Van Man, decided that he wanted to get in front of our house to deliver a parcel to another address. We share a post code and the centroid is outside our house. Any normal person would have seen the digger, realised that the road was blocked off and drive round the stud buildings.

But not this intrepid White Van Man, who then drove across the grass and into the hole from the side at about six yesterday evening.

The first four pictures show his predicament.

We did try and tow him out with the Teleporter, but there wasn't really room to get the machine directly behind the van.

Eventually, he was pulled out by a specialist recovery firm and these last two pictures show the aftermath in the morning.

I bet White Van Man doesn't do anything as stupid again. Especially, as it was a rather cold night and he didn't seem to have a decent coat.

The only good thing, was that it was the day after Celia died and in a strange way, it gave me somewhere to vent my anger.

But I'd very much rather neither had happened.

Stallions at Lanwades

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:07:00 +0000

On the second of December, 2007, I went to St. Simon Stud to see the presentation of the stallions at Lanwades.

Hernando

Piccolo

Selkirk

Sir Percy

With Approval

Celia

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:00:00 +0000

Celia finally succumbed to her cancer at one fifteen this morning.

Yesterday, Henry, our middle son, and myself had lifted her from her bed at home with its beautiful views of the Suffolk countryside and sat her in a comfortable chair. Most of the morning she had chatted with the nurses and doctor from the surgery, those from Macmillan, and family and friends.

Just after lunch, we lifted her back into bed and she fell into a sleep induced by the morphine she was taking.

Except for a one or two brief moments, where she spoke lucidly and calmly, she did not really wake up until she passed away.

It has been a short but difficult illness for her as she has visibly declined day by day and even hour by hour. At the end of September, we’d had the wettest holiday of our lives in Valencia and she’d walked miles in the rain with no ill effects. Six weeks or so later and she could hardly walk up stairs. For the last two weeks even that had been impossible unaided.

But she bore it all with a massive bravery and very few tears.

Now she is gone and we must all carry on without her.

For some it will be harder than others, but then she would not want people to dwell too long on her passing. They must remember all of the good times and handle problems in the same sympathetic and practical way she always did.

I sensed that in some ways, Celia was overwhelmed by all the cards and messages she received and I thank everyone for what they did. She never felt that so many could feel so much for her.

Celia has donated her body to medical science and for this and other reasons there will not be a conventional funeral. Arrangements have not been made as yet and I will advise people in due course.

Golf Buggy at Work

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:45:00 +0000

We are now using the golf buggy on a regular basis. Typically the longest trips the buggy does are the morning and evening feeds, when it probably carries two to three 25 Kg sacks of feed.

The first two pictures show it working much harder, as it carries about ten thirty or so kilogram sandbags, which are being used for a bridge.

Note how down on the rear wheels the buggy sits.

Bear in mind though that total payload was about 300 Kg in addition to about 65 Kg of driver. So this is really only the equivalent of three averagely-obese American golfers.

The last picture shows the bridge being completed.

One advantage here is that the buggy has a very good turning circle and can thus turn round easily without going off the track too much.

Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:31:00 +0000

The tracks to save the grass are now more or less complete. Or at least Phase 1 is, as I suspect, they'll be extended when we see which bits get worn.

They are based on road planings and as they are rolled in further they will become a good solid track for the buggy and the John Deere tractors.

Milk It Mick

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:24:00 +0000

Milk It Mick is a stallion who for the 2008 season will be standing at Lone Oak Stud. This is our old stud and I walked across the fields with Anna to see his presentation on Sunday.

Needwood Blade - Bold Bunny

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Celia sold a colt foal today at Tattersalls.

Lot 548 wasn't the top lot of the day (it was sixth!), but it gave us all a lot of satisfaction as the rather nice Needwood Blade colt out of the unlucky Bold Bunny, sold for forty thousand guineas.

Making Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (James Miller) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:35:00 +0000

The picture shows some of the tracks we're putting in for the buggy.