I’ve just bribed the dogs with various chews –it’s a wet, mucky night so they have missed their normal walks- so hopefully now I will get some peace to write to you.
Our first calf of the season was born at the end of December and proved me wrong! I was convinced that our bull did not know how to make girl babies- all I had to do was be patient (not my strong point). As the cow was Nina the birth was not without its drama- the calf came out backwards! So it was Billy, Kenny and Stew to the rescue and we managed to get Poppy out and breathing although it was touch and go at first. She is a cracker and was much admired when I took her photo with me to Shetland later in the year. As I write this Nina is due to produce her third calf any time soon –third time lucky?
Must admit
can’t remember much about January. No, nothing to do with
too much ale at New Year, probably too much accounts work. We expected
the rains in February and they never happened! It just was overcast with a
fairly persistent south-easterly breeze.
This
heralded a fabulous year here weather wise. Our second heifer calf was born in
February- Daisy’s daughter, Lily. No problems at all, must get Daisy to have a
word with Nina…March time saw Stew’s workshop almost complete. Well, complete
enough to start getting some of all his equipment into it. Basically,
over the winter he and Billy had lined out one end of the Old Byre to
effectively make a “box” and had put shelves into it along with enough
electrics to light/power a cross between an operating theatre and the control
deck of the Enterprise.
The pace hotted up in April when lambing started two weeks earlier than expected- one of last year’s male lambs had been slightly heavier than expected at weaning last year so had gone in the freezer earlier than intended but not early enough. A good but prolonged lambing followed with several ewes producing single big tup lambs and when you think that the tups are born with their horns already protruding….We had one dodgy session which was when Maisie lambed. She produced twins: one strong strapping adventurous male and one weaker female with breathing problems so that she could not bleat. Cutting a long story short we brought Molly inside, put her in the bottom oven of the Stanley and set too with the homeopathy. We continued to treat her throughout the night. Once daylight came we were able to get some of her mother’s milk into Molly. After that I fell asleep in the lounge with Molly on my lap which was fine until Nature took its course and the milk came out the other end. By morning Molly was strong enough to put back in the pen with her mother and brother. There was final twist to my adrenaline levels when I checked the sheep early one morning to be met by Maisie bleating. My instant reaction was “oh no, what has happened to Molly”. Nothing! Molly and brother were still in bed and Maisie wanted to go off grazing but did not want to leave them! Sounds familiar? Molly has grown on just fine and will be joining the breeding flock with the rest of her “class” next year.
At the end of April we had all the windows and back door replaced with UVPC double-glazing (the racket a good going gale with the occasional hailstorm makes has to be heard to be believed). Nice windows, shame about the fitting! A lot more work for Stew to sort. He and Noel –one of the principal helpers with the Midden and Effluent Tank sagas of last year who was mad enough to stay on the strength this year as well- have made a cracking job of lining out all the window casements with wood as well as making the bathroom more civilised. Stew became quite motivated to sort out the shower after the second lot of tiles fell off the wall in mid-shower! Another job done at the same time was the conversion of the porch into a utility room. This involved removing the picture windows and blocking up the hole which allowed us to put up shelving and space to put the washing machine in there. This in turn freed up space for a dishwasher in the kitchen- the deal was I cooked and Stew washed up –say no more! Billy rendered the wall on the outside and Pat, who is an artist, painted a mural on the wall for us, which has been much admired.
May –time I relented and Stew managed a holiday –at the TT races on the Isle of Man. He went down on his motorbike-what is it they say about boys and their toys? Luckily he had the sense not to tell me about Mad Sunday until after he had done it (the spectators get to ride their bikes around the course). May also saw the farm complete its two year conversion period and we now have organic status for the land and the animals we raise.
The good weather continued and we had a tremendous amount of grass, which presented, a couple of problems with the horses, namely laminitis in Sundance and one of the ponies. With the help of homeopathy and some restricted grazing we managed to control it and keep them all in work. The girls from the village have continued to come up and help and we have been able to get both ponies backed and the eldest one-June- is riding away quite nicely. We have big plans for them all for next year. An ongoing battle during the summer was with ragwort and it will take several years before the outcome is known!
Harvesting was great- thanks to the weather. So much stuff that we left two big fields uncut. Not worth it as everyone else had plenty. Another lesson learnt was just how quickly the crop makes when it falls onto dry ground- it became embarrassing how often I had to call the baler in earlier than expected –“Wednesday come early again has it?”- But it is an embarrassment I was happy to live with.
In the
summer I completed my return to childhood when I discovered that I could still
knit- ponies, a sheltie
(Mum and I used to breed them) and now knitting.
Surprising what a motivation 3 kilos of wool here and the thought of another
20 kilos from this years fleeces can be!
Have found it very enjoyable – great to be doing something
creative. For those of you who like to plan next year’s Christmas well
in advance, how about a hand knit something or other for presents, can offer
you all sorts of options and choices except in colour as the wool is
unbleached and undyed and so is the natural dark brown of the fleece.
Further
improvements done to the farm include the final tidying of the yard area
–looks darn good even if I say so myself-and splitting the outside yard into
two so two lots of animals can have access to it. This has the added bonus
that the narrower side can be used as a race for loading animals into
lorries. The major job has being the starting of
the arena for working horses in. Graham Rendall who stays on the island is an
absolute artist with a digger. He has dug out the arena at the side of the
house and has built a bank around it.
Drainage has been provided and the base
put in before weather stopped play. At least it has given us a chance to see
if the drainage works before we put the surface in and so far so good- well
its no use as a swimming pool! The job currently
occupying much of Stew’s time is the conversion of the tied in byre into pens
suitable for putting young cattle into.
There have been several changes in the animal population. I needed a new bull. What a shame –this meant yet another trip to Shetland! They spoil me rotten! So we now have a new bull in the yard. Francis is just a calf, as I feel happier buying in youngsters because they can learn our routine without having to unlearn someone else’s way of doing things. A new ram and several young ewes have also arrived. While the organic standards encourage the retention of home breed females they will give permission under certain circumstances for breeding stock to be brought in.
Squashed it onto 2 pages so that’s it folks- remember the wellies-and the suncream – if you want to visit.