June 2014
Moving sheep
Sunday 8 June, 2014
We took all the sheep to our rented grazing last weekend. We had a couple of jobs to do first though. First we split the lambs into a separate pens from their mammys. We did this by lifting them over the hurdles - not something that we'll be able to do in a couple of weeks. A lot of them are right wee chunks :-) Once split off, we gave them all a 2ml dose of Heptavac P Plus, marking them with crayon as we went. They'll get a second dose in 4-6 weeks.
Then we ran the ewes through the race and crate, trimmed feet and sprayed with Crovect (they were shorn 21st May). As we let each ewe out, we put her back towards the lamb pen so that we could identfy and tag her ewe lambs. We don't register any tup lambs so we simply tag when they are going to the abattoir but it's vital to get the ewe tagging, and therefore registrations, correct. Every year, I think I might tag at lambing but the tags look so big in little ears - so the same argument goes round every year.
The Inbetweeners
Sunday 8 June, 2014
Our bull (Storm, 2012), and two bullocks (George, 2012 and Charlie, 2013) are at our temporary grazing. Our plan is to put all bullocks up there at weaning and they'll stay there until they go to slaughter at 24-28 months. They winter out in a paddock with a small wood attached, so they have plenty shelter.
I kind of think of the three of them as "The Inbetweeners" ;-) George and Storm are pains in the neck; Charlie's pretty canny.The two big 'uns are always pushing each other around, while Charlie eats.
Shetlands on BBC Landward 20th June
Wednesday 11 June, 2014
Just had the crew from BBC Landward here filming our Shetland heifer, Bonnie (and the others) , for their Royal Highland Show programme going out 20th June. Bonnie will be on the RBST stand at the HIghland so they'll catch up with her there too.
Hope she behaves better than she did today though :-)
Great publicity for our wee, rare Scottish breed - and fully deserved. 'cos they are a great breed.
Fleece angst
Thursday 19 June, 2014
Bleh! I'm not good out of my comfort zone, although I should be used to it by now.
Twenty sheep sheared a few weeks ago - 19 fleeces in boxes, comprising 7 from gimmers (one white, six coloured) and 12 from ewes (three white, 9 coloured). And I don't know what to do with them :-(
I have sold single fleeces privately in the past (as opposed to the Wool Board, who don't really want my we bag of coloured fleece anyway) but it's a futter, boxing and posting. I sold them as a lot last year, which was better, but I just have the feeling I could be doing more with them. If I knew what I was doing :-)
The July madness
Thursday 26 June, 2014
Most of you with smallholdings will appreciate the need for an eight day week / 30 hour day. Even with me here all the time, there's always a long list of non-routine jobs to be done (although, to be fair, it's shorter than it was four years ago). However, Dan's real business is quite quiet mid-summer, so he's decided to work from home from tomorrow until 4th August!!!
I know he's hoping to do some cycling and to make some improvements to the TAS site, but mainly we'll be working together on the smallholding. Bliss (for me anyway :-)).
The July Project Day 1
Sunday 29 June, 2014
So day 1 of the July Project was 28th June - it's always good to get a head start :-)
The July Project Day 2
Sunday 29 June, 2014
Well, we finished the electric fence and it works. Ponies have been on the track this evening but there's quite a lot of grass on it, so access will continue to be restricted for a wee while. Smokey's still lame :-(
Renovation of electric fence completed.
Today's job was to move the pile of stones from the spot where the trailer usually sits to the orchard, where they are going to be used to make tree guards. The round stones and the wee scrappy bits are going on the other stone pile for - well, who knows :-) So at close of play today, about half of the stones have been loaded. They'll go up to the orchard in the morning, be unloaded and the rest taken up after.
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