Smallholding
Ciara / Desmond
Monday 17 February, 2020
Monday 10th February
Jings, it might be past the first day of spring but we’ve had four seasons in one day, today. Wind, rain, frost and sunshine – never a dull one. Picked up two loads of hay this morning then into Dundee to pick up the newly serviced lawnmower and hedge trimmer. The lawnmower might be better with flotation tyres. On my key project, I popped into the Mitsubishi dealer – the remote locking on one of the two keys wasn’t working – and the nice man put a new battery in each key and didn’t charge me anything. Good service from Richard Lawson Mitsubishi! And the new tractor key arrived in the post today, so once all the labelling was done, I consider Project Key to be complete.
Tank / Ewes / Keys
Monday 10 February, 2020
Monday 27th January
Glorious sunny day, but cold. Blizzard still lame so got the vet out again; the antibiotic given last week is long-acting, so she’s had a second dose of Metacam to keep her comfy while the AB works. Typically, she actually looked a bit better by the time the vet arrived.
Ewe No14 is also lame, so we washed her foot, stood her in Milton and sprayed with Alamycin spray.
Finally, there’s some positive progress with the septic tank. The field looks like a set from “1917” but it will heal.
Trailer / Blizzard / Pump
Monday 27 January, 2020
Monday 20th January
Lovely day and I had a lovely drive up to Brechin to drop the livestock trailer in for a service and to have the electrics repaired after a pig ate them last year. What a beautiful country Scotland is.
The day started with Zenith the calf getting loose – my fault for not securing the gate. She was very excited and freaked Euro out with her carrying on. I had to take Gwenna back to the vet – she is better but not sound yet. Couldn’t find my credit card so called the helpline to suspend it – operator asked, “When did you last use it?” “Asda petrol on Friday,” I said. “Oh,” she said,” there’s a VetNow charge!” Aha, it was on the floor of John and Linda’s car, from yesterday.
Ponies / Scanner / Dogs
Monday 20 January, 2020
Monday 13th January
Nice early on, becoming wet and windy as Storm Brendan strikes.
Trips to Harbro and for hay then into the office for the rest of the day – so many invoices and emails to be dealt with.
Tuesday 14th January
Dry and windy; put a new bale of hay in for the ewes.
Wednesday 15th January
Gillian the scanner here this morning at 7.30am. The Ryelands and Shetlands all came in fine; the BFL, not so much. Ended up penning them against the gate back into Sheepfold. Dan has decreed that they are to be sold. I can’t disagree – although I love the look of them, they’re bonkers. The only BFL to be tupped is empty as is Bambi and No2 – as expected.
Afternoon Tea / Ponying Smokey / Zenith
Monday 13 January, 2020
Monday 6th January
Windy but very mild, becoming colder later with light rain. Office day, but baked a Banana, honey and walnut loaf for Sunday.
Tuesday 7th January
Mild and rainy; not as windy as forecast, drying up and some sunny spells. Dealt with more paperwork – dallying it doesn’t make it go away, sadly.
Started working with Zenith; she’s a spooky wee thing.
Bees / Polytunnel / Culture
Monday 6 January, 2020
Monday 30th December
Dark and overcast, some light rain but very mild. Andy came over to do “man stuff” so he and Dan finished trimming, sorting and moving the brash – it’s going to be some bonfire when we get round to holding it.
I picked up a load of hay and checked the steers and Zeph at East Pitkerro. All well.
We have a robin residing, at least part-time, in the feed store. He now has his own feed bowl. And the goldfinches are back - the niger seed feeder had been untouched for weeks, but there were two goldfinches on it yesterday and they seem to be making up for lost time!
Christmas / Beach / Ponies
Monday 30 December, 2019
Monday 23rd December
Wet in the morning so planned ride out was cancelled. We’re not completely fair-weather riders, but it was chucking it down.
Did a triple hay run, including one to East PItkerro. Wee bit worried about Wee Charlie; our big guys are fine, but I think they get stirred up when we’re there so it’s hard to tell.
New wheel on my barra'
New wheel
Escapees / Steers / Festive cleaning
Monday 23 December, 2019
Monday 9th December to Friday 13th December
Lorna and I had a good break – lots of swimming and cake. All was fine here except on Thursday night, about midnight, Dan heard cattle and they had escaped out on to the track. Normally this wouldn’t have been a big problem but the fence between the track and John and Linda’s garden was down, for the septic tank repair, and the big hole, full of water, was accessible. And Blizz looked interested. So poor Dan was out in the cold and dark, on his own, getting three very excited calves and an equally excited bull (the cows are far more chilled) back in the barn. He was pretty tired when we got home on Friday afternoon.
Ewes / Brash / Wreaths
Monday 16 December, 2019
Monday 2nd December
Grey and drizzly, but the water’s unfrozen. No sign of Septic Tank Man. Picked up four bales of hay.
Kit has a green bum. If they are all in lamb, this will be the most drawn out lambing ever. Actually, that's not true. We always have one tail-end-Charlie.
Went for a hack on Smokey, with Rebecca on Ave.
Archie, the steer calf, has discovered the delights of the beet pulp pellet bucket.
Archie and his bucket. Finally.
Manure / Wreaths / Frost
Monday 2 December, 2019
Monday 25th November
Another dreich day and the winter blues have struck. I was mucking out the cattle and working out how much it cost to keep them – and that caused me to reflect of whether we were making a surplus or not. Retiring to the office, I did some sums and we probably do very slightly better than break even on the cattle. The sheep make a surplus if we attribute al the income form sheepkeeping courses to them. But then we have grass rents, business insurance and accountancy costs to cover.
