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Potatoes / Astrid / DustyRSS feed

Posted: Monday 9 May, 2022

by Rosemary at 2:05pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 2nd May

Cool, this morning. Actually, quite cold. Damp, light showers. Glad all the paddocks are harrowed and topped -perfect timing – come on, the grass.

I love these tulips

tulipsTulips.

Tuesday 3rd May

Still cool and overcast. Dropped eggs into the Food Bank, went swimming then for a coffee with our daughter, did some shopping and picked up red diesel. How did it get to be 3pm?

Got a text from the folk who own the smallholding where we graze our steers. They also rent land (the same land) to a sheep grazier. Apparently, our steers have chased the in-lamb ewes and caused one to abort. And now they “have gone for” the grazier’s stockman and his dog. Fantastic. Thanks to social media, I’d had an exchange with a finisher who said she’d love Shetlands to finish but couldn’t get any. Messaged her and asked in she wanted two; she said “yes”; we agreed a price; we agreed to take them to Forfar in the morning, to be collected by a haulier local to her. Job almost done – at least a plan in place.

Dan and I drove down to bring the “killer cattle” into the shed they overwintered in; they followed Dan and a bucket up the field like two puppies. * sighs *

Wednesday 4th May

Up at 6am.  Steers loaded like a dream; dropped them at Forfar. Job done. We’ll go and pick up the rest of our kit from down the road once Dan’s home from Portugal.

Dan went off to Portugal to play football. Astrid came to feed the lambs.

AstridAstrid feeding lambs.

Started on my “List of things to do while Dan’s away” – crossed off four and added two. * cries quietly * One of the jobs was untangling the very sprouted potatoes from their mesh bags – should have kept a better eye on them.

potatoesBefore.

potatoes2And after.

Thursday 5th May

All good here – some rain showers, some warmth. Not 22C and full sun but OK for Scotland in May. Polling day here, so spent a few happy hours on polling station duty. Standing still is tiring.

Dusty is so dim. This is her idea of going to bed.

dustyBedtime for Dusty.

Friday 6th May

Emailed my beef customers to say there wouldn’t be any more – got some lovely words back. Humbled. However, via social media, I have managed to find a breeder / finisher who is moving to Aberdeenshire later in the year, who would be happy to pick up my customers. So I’ve emailed them again with his details and asking if I can pass their details to him.

The whole rigmarole has simply advanced things – these were going to be out last two steers finished anyway. I was pretty p*ssed at the time, mainly because of the timing and the fact that it didn’t fit the plan but I’m happy now.

Saturday 7th May

We had a dog trainer here today with a group of dog owners who want to desensitise their dogs to livestock. Jess uses electronic collars – yes, I pulled a face too, but I’ve changed my mind. These were happy dogs with good relationships with their owners where the collar is associated with positive reinforcement not punishment.

Got a bit done in the garden – weeded the potato bed.

potatobedPotato bed before.

potatobedPotato bed after.

Sunday 8th May

Jess here again with another group of dogs. The sheep are getting quite blasé.

Blizzard has a bit of mastitis – different quarter, so she’s had Metacam, a dry cow tube and has Combiclav for the next three days.

Planted out runner beans, French beans, early purple sprouting broccoli, courgettes and squashes; sowed beetroot, parsnips and spring onions, then three types of sunflowers. And I cleaned out the bantams’ house. Good day. Knackered.

And the orchard, because it looks lovely.

orchardThe orchard.

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