Smallholding
Panic levels have dropped with the water levels
Monday 18 January, 2016
We’ve had some nice days over the last week – dry and cold and water levels have dropped. And with them, my panic levels. I’m such a control freak that extremes (for us) of weather really get me going. Sometimes I think I don't have the right temperament to be a smallholder :-)
Anyway, we have the start of a plan to winterize one paddock for each hen house, so that’s made me feel better.
We haven’t got a date from the scanner yet, but it should be soon. If I sell all the ewe hoggs, I can keep my tup for another year, but it will really depend on how the ewes and gimmers scan.
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Still wet
Sunday 10 January, 2016
IT’S SO WET! And dismal. However, I was looking back some old diary entries – last winter 14/15 was dry. I had written that we had one wet week in November but had been mainly dry. In December 2012, I wrote that I hadn’t seen it wetter but that there may have been more precipitation in the winter of 2010/11, but mostly it had been snow. I said almost those exact same words to Dan yesterday, in relation to this winter.
I know we’re much luckier than many. Our house and buildings, the vegetable garden and the courtyard are all fine but the Home Paddock and the Orchard are underwater. The hens in the brown house have formally requested scuba gear L
Happy New Year
Sunday 3 January, 2016
Hope you all had a good New Year! Still wet and windy but it’s getting lighter in the evenings. Don’t notice any difference in the mornings though.
We’ve finally managed to contain Rosie – after two further modifications. The new barrier had to be heightened at the bottom and that seems to have done the trick.
The vet has approved our new health and welfare plan for the cattle so we’ll be continuing to use Closamectin pour-on for the bull, steers and heifer calves and using Albex 10% oral drench at the higher fluke dose for the cows and in calf heifers. The choice of drugs licensed for milking cows is pretty limited. Closamectin isn’t licensed for cows producing milk for human consumption but Dan and I will live with that – just watch out for us starting to glow in the dark J
Happy Solstice
Tuesday 22 December, 2015
So the year turns; we’re past the shortest day and looking forward to the return of the sun. All of us here at Dalmore wish you a peaceful, healthy and happy year ahead.
Our weather hasn’t been too bad – very mixed but not much rain and the ditches are well down. The ewes and hoggs are getting hay every morning now and are getting keener. We’ve got three wheeled and covered hay racks out so there’s plenty room for all of them to feed at the same time. The field they’re in is the driest and there’s plenty natural shelter for them. Our scanner’s got us “in the book” so I can cross that off the list and just wait for her to contact me.
Nearly the Solstice
Monday 14 December, 2015
Only ten days to the Winter Solstice, then the days will start to lengthen. I know not by much, but in the words of a well-known retailer, every little helps J. Our weather continues changeable – temperatures from -1C to +11C; still pretty windy some days and some heavy rain but I guess it’s December in Scotland. Yesterday (Sunday) was the coldest day we’ve had this winter, with a heavy frost that didn’t lift all day, but the morning was sunny and with no wind, it was lovely to be working about outside.
Wet
Monday 7 December, 2015
The weather and Storm Desmond have dominated the last week. To be honest, we’ve missed the worst of it here – yes, it’s been wet and windy but nothing compared to Cumbria and other areas of Scotland. There’s quite a lot is standing water in the fields and there’s an ominous bulge in the roof of one of the henhouses – and the roof of the outside WC is leaking – but by and large, it’s not been too bad.
After picking up Fraser, our new steer, last Saturday, I had to do the movement on to our holding. I find CTS On-line pretty easy to use so long as you do the movements within the three day time limit. If you do it later, you get a telling off from the system. Maybe you get a black mark on your records as well L
That was the week that was
Sunday 22 November, 2015
It’s been a mixed week weather-wise here. Last Sunday, it was dry enough for Dan to hitch up the harrow and give Sheepfold a going over. The ponies have been out there over summer – in the limited turnout they have, being fat, hairy natives – and I haven’t picked poo, so the harrow’s broken it all up nicely and the frost should do the rest.
Since then, it’s been mixed – some heavy rain but no snow and a few dry, windy days that have dried things up a bit. It’s pretty soggy underfoot though.
Mothers Day
Monday 16 March, 2015
Well, Mothers' Day for us meant moving some mothers (to be). As planned, we took Breeze, Blizzard, Rosie and Sunny to Astwood. I vaccinated them with Bravoxin first - oh, that vaccinator is just magic - then took the cows individually and the two heifers together. We decided to keep Bonnie and the calf at home because I'm feeding her, so Annie has stayed for company. Vaccinating them was easy - getting Clyde's tag in wasn't and it broke, so he's got one tag in and a blue ear, which will get a tag in once it's healed. Note to self - tag all future calves at 24 hours old. He's not very big but he's stronger than he looks and very wriggly.
Busy busy
Saturday 14 March, 2015
Been a busy day with more to come tomorrow. Dan finished the field shelter roof; Alan, our joiner, put the sheets on last week and today Dan and his dad put on the barge boards and tidied up. The ewes expecting triplets have access to it now but they'll be in sometime during next week and the ponies are going into that paddock. It's not been heavily bedded so won't be awful to muck out.
Dan moved the chookmobile to its new site. I'll get the oldest batch of hens moved into it this week, so I can give the brown house, their current residence, a good clean and replace the perches before our new POL pullets arrive early next month.
The paperwork got worse
Friday 9 January, 2015
Aaaarrgh! In the previous post, I recounted finding some paperwork that required my attention, during a festive clear out / tidy up. I thought it would be simple. Ha.
We have some rented seasonal grazing about 4 miles away; in terms of animal movements, if certain conditions are met, you can get a concession to link these seasonal grazings to your own main holding and you don't have to then notify the authorities every time you move stock between them. I did this in February 2013. What I didn't notice was that, for cattle, you have to renew the linking very year - the link lasts for 364 days.
