FARM ROUTINE

 We’ll start with winter. Generally considered the hardest part of the year–it does get pretty relentless. However, it does have its compensations as we will see.

Winter starts in November when the cattle and the horses come in to the buildings, over night at least. The weather determines when this begins- these animals do like their creature comforts and I am very well trained. The tendency on my part is to try and leave them out as long as possible as once they are in, it’s an awful long time to May.

The morning starts with feeding the horses. Next comes turning out the cattle if they deem that the weather is suitable, if not they spend the day indoors. Generally a couple of the horses are worked if again the weather is suitable and they are then put out into the fields. Mucking out comes next where the dung or droppings left by the little darlings is removed from the sheds. If needed bales of haylage –the staple diet of both the cattle and the horses- are moved into the sheds ready for their return at night. Haylage is a form of preserved grass, a sort of halfway house between silage and hay- drier than the former but wetter than the latter and wrapped in plastic like silage. Water supplies are also topped up. Now its lunchtime.

First job after lunch is feeding the sheep. I give them a small feed throughout the winter- more of a snack in the early stages but as lambing approaches the amount fed is increased to ensure that the ewes have enough resources for themselves and the lambs they are carrying. Back to the buildings now where straw is added where necessary to both the cattle and the horse housing. Dogs’ favourite time of day comes next when they get to take me for a walk, a good long one if the weather is right as they know I get too grumpy if I am not exercised enough. Cattle and horses come back in for the night – they are generally all waiting for me by the gate when I am returned to the yard by the dogs. If not I will leave them out until later. One of my few rules is that I do not chase black cows in the dark. There have been occasions when they have stayed out until my bed time but only when the weather has been very generous.

In for my tea at last and then an evening often spent catching up on the relentless paperwork- any one else get the feeling that they are likely to suffocate under the mound of paper we are expected to deal with? We always go out and check the stock at the end of the evening, topping up water and haylage where necessary and scratching the odd cow’s backside. Inside for a glass of wine and a “MASH” episode so we unwind before collapsing into bed to do it all again tomorrow…

In amongst all this we find time in the middle of November to get all the sheep in, trim their feet and split the lambs off from the ewes. Generally by this time the ewes have actually weaned the lambs themselves and their udders have dried up. We then turn the sheep back out onto the fields where they are to spend the winter and put the ram in with the breeding flock so we wind up with two groups of sheep; the breeding flock and the baby flock. The gestation period of sheep is –very roughly- five months so if we put the ram to them in the middle of November we should start lambing in mid April.

After Christmas the cattle are no longer turned out into the fields for the day as the land has become too wet and heavy. Also the cows by this time are heavily pregnant and it can’t be much fun dragging their own bodies plus the weight of the calf through the mud. Instead they have the run of the feed passage, a concrete yard accessible directly from their shed where we also place haylage. The routine stays pretty much the same except there is both more feed and muck to carry because the cattle spending the day in the buildings. This however does lead to one of the compensations of the winter. Working so closely with the cattle allows me to get to know them as characters and believe me each has its own personality and little traits. There is Imogen who really likes people, not too sure about other cows though- this year we have been having secret assignations with a bucket of oats when the other cows have not been looking-, Gemma who will do any thing for a scratch, especially when there is a WWOOfer about-she knows they are a soft touch, Daisy who is boss cow but still gets out of the way of Maggie. There is Grumpy Gilda who is not as grumpy as she was, and we mustn’t forget the quieter members of the herd, neurotic Nina and her daughter Poppy and Lily, Daisy’s daughter who is enough like her mum to bully poor Imogen.

A major interruption to the regular routine is calving which we aim to have happening in February and March, I say aim as just like with people the course of true bovine love does not necessarily run smooth. There are several advantages to calving at this time of year. The cattle are more tame at this time of year because we working with them in such close proximity. This makes it easier to keep checking them to assess when they are likely to calf. I do this by groping their udders- as they approach calving their udder fills with milk and generally when calving is imminent the udder becomes taut. Another physical sign is that their pelvic girdle slacks off. This can be felt by running your fingers either side of the top of the tail, gradually that area loosens and allows your fingers further in between the bones. There may be other signs present when calving is imminent- or maybe not! Prior to Gemma calving this year she wanted to steal other cow’s calves as much to say” look I have a brand new baby without doing a scrap of work” or as the WWOOFer at the time so neatly summed it up: she was too posh to push! Three hours later she had a brand new baby heifer all of her own.

Other advantages are that if there are any problems or if the cows have too much milk and need milking to prevent mastitis because they are already in the buildings these can be solved with less trauma to the animals and us than it would be in the summer when they are out at grass. Other benefits are that the calves should not be too big at birth because Mom has not been fed rich spring grass during the last third of pregnancy which is when Junior does most of their growing. Unfortunately this year Poppy had not read the right book and produced a big calf which she needed help with but we did not manage to save. Because the food is less rich the cows are not as likely to have a surplus of milk which may need “removing”. What we have found is that sometimes the cow produces more milk than Junior can drink during his first week so we have to help out but the cow does then tailor her production to Junior’s needs.

Disadvantages: The weather!!! New born calves need to be got warm and kept warm else they die. Last year we had 2 calves born in snow storms. Yes they were inside but the long side of the cow shed is north facing and the wind was blowing the snow through the vent slots in the top section of the wall so I had white cattle instead of black! Pleased to say that both calves survived. Believe me it is not much fun getting out of  bed in the  middle of the night when there is a good going gale to go out to the cow shed to check whether any one is has started calving. Regular checking at this time means that you can become aware of problems as they begin-hopefully- and this generally means that they can be dealt with quicker giving a far better chance of a live cow and calf.

 Another problem is that the cows are more prone to mineral deficiencies, which can be exacerbated by the metabolic changes brought on by the calving process, at this time of year because they are fed conserved forage instead of fresh grass. This can be countered by getting the forage tested at the start of the winter and making good any deficiencies by adding supplements to the cows haylage. Finally when they calve very early in the year the calves are making heavy demands on Mom who does not have access to the spring grass to help out- hence the secret assignations with Imogen and a bucket of oats.

Right we have made it through February and March, servicing both ends of the animals and doing other odd jobs, keeping the tractor going, replacing fencing, repairing the potholes in the lane. Here comes April and lambing.

At the end of March the sheep are brought into the lambing fields which are at the front-Front field- and side of the house- Back park. The sheep do lamb outside but once they have lambed I get the ewe and lamb(s) into a pen sited along side the bank that runs north-south through the Back Park. The pen is surrounded by straw bales which effectively makes the pen windproof and keeps a lot of the wet off the occupants. The family spends a couple of days there so that I can keep an eye on them and give them any treatment they may need; I use homeopathy a lot to prevent problems developing. I check the fields at midnight, very cautiously scanning round with a torch to see if there is a ewe away from the flock which would indicate she was lambing. I say very cautiously as I do not want to disturb the flock, particularly on a cold night because the lambs would be tucked up with their mothers and disturbing them would be a bad idea and could cause problems if it led to the lambs getting cold. They are checked again at 5 am –by this time it is light so its much easier to deal with anything that has lambed etc. Lambing lasts 2-3 weeks hopefully depending on how efficient the ram has been.

The best bit of this job are the youngsters-watching the calves high-tailing it around the shed throwing in the odd buck when the urge takes them, seeing the older cows joining in. Then as the lambs get bigger there are the races around the field along with the odd game of “I’m the king of the castle…” There are always those lambs who manage to get out of the field but can’t remember how to get back in – last year I rescued the same chap three times! For most of the winter farmers can feel quite isolated; this changes at calving and lambing. When I am stumbling out at 3am to check if a cow is calving, lights on across the island shows me that I am not alone. Often when taking a look around the sheep just before dark, Kenny, my closest neighbour, is seen doing the same. The stories of other peoples problems and successes filter back in various ways. Another “feel good” treat is going into the cow shed last thing at night when all the cows are lay up, chewing cud- the calves too when they look so grown up- the sense of peace is palpable. Working as closely with the animals as I do strong bonds- I am not the only farmer who misses her cattle when they are turned out in the summer- develop along with mutual trust between us which is quite touching and darn humbling!

We’ve now reached May and have been inspected by the man from the Soil Association- he always comes in the middle of lambing when I make even less sense than usual! The jobs are easing off now. The main cattle herd have hopefully been out in the field during the day throughout April – this does depend on whether the ground is dry enough and whether there is any grass- and are now starting to spend the nights out as well-they generally get to make the decision. The bull will be with them, creating next years crop of calves The horses will have reversed their routine and are now in the stables during the day and out at night. The remainder of the cattle will be grazing the fields we take haylage off to ensure that when the fields are shut up in the middle of May that the grass is short. This means that when we come to make the haylage in the middle of July it will be from “fresh” grasses, not from grass that may have been growing since March and so would have seriously gone to seed and be coarse and woody.

 The weekend prior to 15 May is hectic. First the sheep come in and have their feet trimmed. The lambs are all tagged and the male lambs castrated by the vet –ouch! They are then moved on to the field where they will spend the summer. The cattle are also relocated to their summer grazing. The morning after all this relocation I go round the farm with my fingers well crossed to make sure that everyone has stayed in their new quarters.

June is generally a quiet month when the prime activities include waging the ongoing war against ragwort-poisonous to horses and cattle- and docks – simply a darn nuisance. One thing in the favour of docks is that they are believed to be natural wormer so they help the animals rid themselves of internal parasites- well, they would if they would eat them and the sheep do. The war is waged manually, either with our lazy dog tools- a specialized fork- or with a scythe or by simply hauling the ragwort out of the ground. Another ongoing job at this time of year is tidying up the tree plantation. We planted 250 trees in our first spring here and some 150 have stayed with us. Again using the scythe the undergrowth- overgrowth more like- is cleared and the stakes and guards checked and cut where necessary to prevent rubbing. On wet days its back to the muck shovelling. All the animal housing is cleared of bedding during May and June and pressure washed out ready fro the next winter. At some stage during all this the garden gets dug over and planted with vegetables for our own use.

The pace picks up again in July with preparations for harvest- all the machinery will be overhauled as we do not want breakdowns during the harvest. We can start cutting grass after July 15 so long as no corncrakes have been heard on the ground- if they had we would have to wait until August 1. As 15 July approaches much frantic perusing of weather forecasts take place – we look at about 4 , via the Internet. The ideal is 3 or 4 dry days, preferably sunny with no haar-sea mist. There are 6 fields to be harvested. To spread the risk we do them in at least 2 sessions so that we do not have a lot of grass at risk at once. We have contractors in to cut the fields. It take about 5 hours for one tractor and mower to cut one of our fields. The grass is then left in the swathe for a day and is then all fluffed up with the hay bob to allow the air to get to it to dry it. Depending how quickly it is drying- and the weather forecast – it may well be baled  in big round bales the following day and then wrapped. In order to make haylage the grass needs to be allowed to wilt but not to dry as much as it would for hay- there is 1 or 2 days difference depending on weather. If the grass is too dry then it will not keep once wrapped as the air cannot be excluded properly. Next day is spent lugging the bales off of the field to where they will be stored until winter. Another job for July is shearing the sheep, again a job done for us by a contractor. The sheep always look really strange after clipping – I struggle to recognize the individuals, let alone the poor lambs. We also take the opportunity to trim feet if necessary.

We hope to have finished harvest by show week which is the second week in August in Orkney but quite often it has been a close run thing. All the individual parishes and islands hold their own shows during this week and the culmination is the Orkney County show on the second Saturday in August. The Shapinsay show is on the Tuesday and we generally show the horses there. It is a cracking day, particularly if the weather is kind. In the evening there is the show dance- Wednesday is a very quiet day on Shapinsay!

The remainder of August, so long as harvest is finished, is generally quiet except for muck spreading onto the fields that we harvested.

The principal job in September is getting the straw home. This we buy from another farmer literally just down the road and is lugged home for us by yet another farmer as Stew is always away at this time…My job is to stack the straw. The cattle are moved around again at the beginning of September as they are to graze the Point. First the bull has to be split off though as he goes and makes eyes at the neighbours heifers much to the disgruntlement of the neighbour’s bull who is about 3 times the size of Frank so discretion and all that…

Things then generally chug along quietly as we make preparations for winter. When I say quietly this from a routine aspect. In the “ quiet” periods the stock are checked daily, the main flock of sheep are given a small feed, more like a tidbit, as it helps keep them tame which helps tremendously when we have to move them. At these quiet times we try and get on with the major projects on the farm. In 2002 this was building a midden and installing an effluent tank for same, in 2003 installing an arena for working the horses, 2004 saw a major rebuild of the tractor, 2005 looks as though its going to be the year of the drainage projects.

Ok folks that’s it we are now back to winter

If this has intrigued you and you would like to sample farm life yourself then you could try being a Wwoofer.