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Spring is here with the arrival of our first calves last week – both calves were born unaided on the hill and are enjoying some spring sunshine. All the ewes have been housed for lambing, which is well under way. The ewes stay inside until they lamb and once mother and offspring have bonded and the weather is favourable they are then put out onto the grass fields. Lots of late nights, early mornings and ‘ready’ meals at this time of year but it is an enjoyable time year and when you see the calves and lambs skipping in the sunshine it makes all the hard work worthwhile.
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We are currently enjoying some fantastic warm and dry weather with light rain at night which is helping grass growth on the silage fields where we have spread fertiliser.
Sadly our 17 year old Spaniel ‘Meg’ passed away recently and Tess, our working collie bitch was on her own in the barn. We have just taken delivery of a female Beagle puppy ‘Molly’ as company for Tess.
Happy days – this morning Pippin produced a male AA calf which leaves only Jasmine as a late summer calver – we had her verified as being in calf by our vet a few weeks ago, so it is now just a waiting game for Jasmine.
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Well ………………… what fantastic Spring weather we have had, until this week when we went back to winter with rain and gales.
However, the lambs seem to be thriving although grass growth is none existent so supplementary trough feeding is essential. Two Aberdeen Angus calves have arrived safely with another two expected.
Spring bulbs are blooming although tonight’s gale may set them back.
by admin
Summer seems a distant memory now with frosty mornings and gales and heavy rain forecast for the next week, but that is living on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis (4 seasons in one day sometimes).
Calves have been weaned, lambs sold, replacement breeding stock retained and the ewes have been with the rams so hopefully that is another cycle started. The weaned calves are on silage and their mothers will be coming home from their late autumn grazings this week to go onto silage also.
by admin
What fantastic summer weather we have had compared to the rest of the UK, but it has come at a price. Grass growth was intially stunted and slow due to the cold spring and then by a prolonged dry period which did not encourage grass growth but was great news for the guests we had in An Taigh Clach.
However a recent spell of balmy warm weather has encouraged grass growth on our predominately damp and peaty soil resulting in a reasonable harvest. We have completed all our big bale silage and just have a couple of ‘postage stamp’ size fields to cut and bale with the mini baler which is perfectly sized for these small but valuable areas.
All the sheep were shorn in July and are looking well with their lambs at foot. The gimmers and wedders are in a township field with our neighbours sheep. The cows have their calves at foot and along with Hector, our young AA bull, are looking well and are flourishing with the recent grass spurt.
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Our final Aberdeen Angus calf arrived a few days ago, with no problems for mother or son. The weather has been hugely variable with hail, sleet, and bright warm sunshine – all within the same day or even the same hour!
3 more sheep to lamb, hopefully within the next day or two. Grass seed has been sown on a couple of fields where we have had stubble turnip previously and fertiliser applied to the silage fields to boost the grass growth.
by admin
We have had exceptionally good weather recently, turning colder now with sleet forecast for next week – just in time for the lambs! Calving is going well with another heifer calf born last weekend – both calves so far have been from our 1st time calving heifers and have given us no problems. Calves were even relatively easy to catch for tagging. Two cows left to calve so fingers crossed there will be no problems there.
Lambing due next week so the first of the ewes will be housed today – this makes management at lambing much easier as we can check on them ‘all hours of the day and night’ – sleep for the next few weeks is as and when we get the chance.
Spring flowers are in full bloom at the cottage and our rockery garden is finally taking shape.
by admin
Spring is just around the corner – day length is stretching, the snowdrops are flowering and spring bulbs are popping through the ground. The cattle and sheep have come through the worst of the winter in remarkably good condition. We pregnancy scanned the ewes this week and will now separate them into groups depending on whether they are going to have a single lamb, twin lambs or as is the case from time to time are barren. The cows are all in calf with the first one due in early March.
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Calves are weaned and we sold our two oldest cows through the auction mart in Dingwall for a price slightly less than what we paid for them as heifers …… this just shows how the price of beef has increased in the past few years.
The hoggs are on the stubble turnip which is a much reduced crop this year due to goose damage. Whilst we do our utmost to encourage all forms of birdlife and wildlife, it is very disheartening when we see our crop ravaged by greylag geese. The reduced turnip crop means that we have to supplement the hoggs with barley when we would have expected the stubble turnip crop to sustain them through to February.
Cows are being brought home from their autumn grazing and will be going onto silage for the winter. The rams will be taken inside for a couple of months to give them a boost after their ‘hectic’ social season. The pregnant ewes have feed blocks available to them for minerals and vitamins essential for the wellbeing of themselves and their unborn lambs.
by admin
The end of the year – almost – and time to wean the calves from their patient mothers and give the hopefully pregnant cows a break through the winter before their calves are born in the spring in March / April. This year we are ‘casting’ two of our older cows so we will be sad to see them go but that’s the reality of livestock management. The calves will be trough fed along with our new bull Hector who is finding a Lewis winter a wee bit wilder and wetter than where he came from ………….. but he’s an Aberdeen Angus so he’s bred for this environment !!!