Smallholding
Cattle housing / Conference / Ace of Spades home
Monday 12 December, 2016
Monday 5th December
Cold here today – frosty in the morning but eased as the day went on.
Bug is sound, which is great.
Bit worried about whether the cows have enough room. Rosie gets bullied and there was a bit of a rammy tonight. I don’t know whether to take out the bull’s pen and reconstruct it elsewhere in the barn; problem with that is that there’s no buffer – if he gets out, he’s loose. With the pen where it is, if he gets out, he’s only in a bigger pen.
Read more on Cattle housing / Conference / Ace of Spades home
Bugsy / New Tup / Tractor In / Bull prep
Tuesday 6 December, 2016
Monday 28th November
Bit milder today but damp and grey.
Went to let the hens out this morning and found the ponies in the poultry. Thankfully, they hadn’t damaged any trees but both Smokey and Bug had eaten a bellyful of poultry pellets. I guessed what was coming so turned the field shelter into a sick bay and stuck Bug in it with water and a bit of hay.
Bugsy's sick bay.
Winnies halter / Steak / Sheepskins / Baking
Tuesday 29 November, 2016
Monday 21st November
Had an appointment with the solicitor that acted for the vendor when we bought Dalmore. We have a query about the boundary between our property and the second lot. The solicitor looked about twelve. I do want to trust them. I do.
Tuesday 22nd November
Dry, cold and sunny. Went for lunch in a new café opened by two friends of ours – and very nice it was too.
The Beef Mountain
Monday 21 November, 2016
Monday 14th November
Today was beef collection day. With two beasts totaling 750kg deadweight, Stuart, our butcher, had told us to bring a trailer as it wouldn’t all fit in the car. Dan was there with trailer at 8am. And we needed it.
It was the worst day for it to be 14C – we would have preferred a hard frost! :-)
Anyway, made up the 20 beef boxes that had been sold; fifteen were being picked up today. The other five went in one of the freezers – then we looked at what was left. And Dan went off to Curry’s to buy a fifth freezer. Anyway, with much pushing and shoving, it all went in a freezer.
Weeding; Baking; Knitting; Cattle
Monday 14 November, 2016
Monday 7th November
Finally got started weeding the veg garden. Did the perennial bed – it’s the easiest because some of the area is taken up by strawberries and comfrey. Pulled out the pea supports and I’m determined to make a start on that bed tomorrow.
Checked the cattle at Astwood and they are all fine. Blizzard is bawling a wee bit. I let her out this morning but she was happy enough to come back into the barn this afternoon.
One Sasso still unable to find her way to bed – her days are numbered (at five, in fact) if she doesn’t get her act together.
Cattle movements; Xmas cakes & puddings; Smoking
Tuesday 8 November, 2016
Monday 31st October
Grey and miserable today and so was the weather.
I was bushed after all the travelling to the SCBA AGM. The event itself wasn’t riotous but the travelling was tiring. So chores done and off for a nap :-)
That done, I popped up to apply spray to the lamb with orf – it’s looking better - and marked a lamb that was a bit lame. I’ll see if it clears up in 24 hours – if not, I’ll get her in for a good look.
Read more on Cattle movements; Xmas cakes & puddings; Smoking
Mostly cattle; Autumn jobs; Pig pen prep
Thursday 3 November, 2016
Monday 24th October
Been a lot of rain over night. Paperwork day today. Need to get started on the Smallholding Scotland Conference programme this week. The venue’s booked and the catering sorted – just the speakers to arrange now.
Tuesday 25th October
Woke to our first proper frost this morning – had to scrape the car at 10am. To be fair, it was parked in a shaded area.
Popped up to Astwood to check on the lamb with orf and give another spray with Alamycin. The sore bit looks much less angry and I can’t see any sores on any of the other lambs. They were very well behaved and came into the pen no trouble at all.
Cattle and pigs away; mittens and yarn; possible orf
Monday 24 October, 2016
Monday 17th October
So the pigs and the cattle are away. The pigs loaded a treat; we put them into our trailer when we fed them this morning then transferred them to the haulier’s wagon about 10am.
The cattle were a bit more challenging to load; Mak would have loaded no problem but Hamish was less keen. I think I’ll have a bruise on my leg and my right big toe, where Mak stood on it. Still, all done with not too much angst. Can’t say I enjoy it – felt a bid sad so kept busy with “pottering” type jobs this morning.
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Lamb and mutton; Odd cuts; Apple juice; Garden Cottage
Monday 17 October, 2016
Monday 10th October
Well, that’s the paperwork caught up from the holiday. Been to the post office, the bank, the skip and the laundry, then fed the steers at Astwood (softening Hamish up for loading at the weekend).
Dan has cut the grass, since it’s been another lovely day. Hopefully, this will be the last cut of the lawns – but if the grass in the fields could keep growing, that would be good.
I finished weeding the house flower beds and cut back about half of the roses.
Read more on Lamb and mutton; Odd cuts; Apple juice; Garden Cottage
Lambs away; Holiday to Skye
Monday 10 October, 2016
Monday 26th September
Well, that’s our four cull ewes and six tup lambs safely delivered to the abattoir. They all loaded without incident and we unloaded them an hour later into a straw bedded pen with an automatic drinker. It was all very calm. All abattoirs should be like this.
Got the paperwork up to date and that’s us down to sixteen sheep for the next 12 months.
It was lovely this morning – cool but sunny. By mid afternoon, grey and rainy. Still shouldn’t complain. There’s so much grass at our rented grazing. We’ll take the ewe lambs, Niamh and Teddy up on Wednesday, I think.
