May 2018
Beltane / Courses / Rats / Cattle
Monday 7 May, 2018
Monday 30th April
Finally gave in and got the vet out to look at No14’s lamb’s eye. Thankfully, the eye itself is fine. The vet put two staples in it, which have to come out in ten days.
That done, the pair could go out to play. It’s a very leapy lamb.
New hens are settling in, we use treadle feeders and it's on the training setting at the moment (brick on treadle).
New hens, Spike, and the treadle feeder.
Meet Ruaridh / Mucking out / Foot trimmer / Lame lambs
Monday 14 May, 2018
Monday 7 May
Sunny but cooler than yesterday. Since it’s a bank holiday, Dan’s working on the renovation of the outside toilet and John’s running water to Laing’s Field.
I’m doing paperwork. But the swallows are back and nesting in the byre, so the door has to be kept open now.
Tuesday 8 May
Up early to move the cows to fresh grass, to find they had moved themselves and Annie had calved – a nice red and white bull calf, that we’re calling Ruaridh.
Read more on Meet Ruaridh / Mucking out / Foot trimmer / Lame lambs
8 years at Dalmore / Meet Rocky / Dead lamb
Monday 21 May, 2018
Monday 14 May
Eight years in! Can’t believe we’ve been here eight years – and yet it feels like we’ve been here forever.
At the start, we used to joke that we were on a ten-year plan, but actually I think we were pretty close to the mark.
By the end of this year, we’ll have replaced every fence except the one round the front garden and it’s been refurbished. Every building has been upgraded in some way. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve done.
Shearing / New queen / Topping / Calving
Monday 28 May, 2018
Monday 21 May
Weather still good – i.e. warm and dry. Woke up stressing about grass.
Ace seems fine in his pen. He can see the cows and they come round to touch noses every day. Still, we’re planning to make his pen a bit bigger.
Rosie’s calf is a bull – and has been named Rocky. She came down to the barn today at milking but didn’t come in. There’s no rush.
Went to register Rocky and discovered I’d made an error with the registrations. Two calves, two errors – not good. To be fair, the first error caused the second one but I’ve emailed BCMS and pled insanity.
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