Emily's first trip out to see the sheep and lambs!

Emily's first trip out to see the sheep and lambs!


Photo taken by Andrea Ingram.
 

Lambing starts with a bang!!!!

Well lambing where to start!!!! We went out to bring in the ewes ready to lamb in the barn and they had other ideas!!! They had started early and we'd got 8 ewes and 8 lambs to sort out. After sorting out who went with who and leaving them out on the croft we got the remainder of the ewes in, with in hours we'd had a set of twins and a single. Up to now we've got 16 lambs out of 15 ewes and 12 still to lamb. A quick start to lambing this year!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wandering cows and an unexpected calf!!!!

We've been busy this last few of weeks. 2 new calves, wandering cows and the start of lambing which started with a bang!!! Tolsta Poppy calved on the 01/05/17 in fine sunshine outside on the croft, then last Thursday nite at 10pm we got a call that 4 cows where out on the main road, tried to gather them but it got dark and they got spooked, so went back out Friday morning and with the help of my neighbour got them into a field then into the trailer and home. Tolsta Erica calved on Saturday morning(one of the wandering cow), at only 15 months old we where lucky to have got her in when we did. Both are doing well, two more heifers for the herd.

 

Bust day with the sheep

Had a busy day on Saturday 23rd April, went out early to check for missing sheep on Tolsta Head. Found 13, 9 ewes and 4 rams could not get them up from the cliffs. Any ideas or volunteers/offers of help welcome. After that Heptevac'd all the breeding ewes and rams. All set for lambing in 4+weeks

 

 

 

 

Welcome Miss Rowlston

We are extremely happy and proud to announce the safe arrival of the next generation of crofter here at croft 2a
Emily Mae Rowlston, welcome to the world!!
Born at 5:59pm, weighing 8lb 1oz on the 28th of April 2017. ...
We are absolutely in awe of this amazing little girl, fallen in love already! 

Thumb stick/ walking stick for sale

FOR SALE
£45.00 + £5.00 P&P
This new handcrafted thumb stick has a handle made from a Stag antler (ecologically sourced) with double Buffalo horn caps. It is joined through a brass spacer to a shank of hazel.This has been straightened using steam. The handle has been finished with wax, and the shank with a coat of varnish to protect it from the elements. This lovely stick still retains it's rural character. The full length of the stick to the Thumb Position is 51" 130cm. It would be a wonderful companion for those long walks in the countryside. It is fitted with a metal spiked tip and a rubber ferrule can be supplied, at £1.99 extra. These are not like the manufactured ones you might buy in a shop.

 

New crafts at Croft 2a

FOR SALE
£45.00 + £5.00 P&P
This new handcrafted thumb stick has a handle made from a Stag antler (ecologically sourced) with double Buffalo horn caps. It is joined through a brass spacer to a shank of hazel.This has been straightened using steam. The handle has been finished with wax, and the shank with a coat of varnish to protect it from the elements. This lovely stick still retains it's rural character. The full length of the stick to the Thumb Position is 48" 121cm. It would be a wonderful companion for those long walks in the countryside. It is fitted with a metal spiked tip and a rubber ferrule can be supplied, at £1.99 extra. These are not like the manufactured ones you might buy in a shop.

 

Plenty of eggs

Think the geese have started laying!!!!

 

Chicken joy!!!

Think the Scots Dumpy Chickens  are enjoying their clean shed

Last job of a fine day

Last job of a fine day, cleaning out the Scots Dumpy chickens

 

Heptavac'd the other sheep!!!

We also Heptavac'd and drenched my parents two Coloured Ryelands and moved them to a clean field.

clearing up ready for fertilizer

Next job for today was clearing the croft at No 10 of all the feeding and watering equipment ready for spraying. I have passed my tractor spraying licence, bought an old Allman sprayer and got some liquid seaweed fertiliser from hebrideanliquidseaweed.co.uk.
Hopefully it will improve the grass as it needs it!!!
 

Gathering and jagging the sheep

Busy busy on the croft in this lovely weather. We are using Heptavac P+ on the sheep for the first time this year so we needed to get them done in time for lambing, all done with their first jag and back out on the grazings. Ably assisted by my Dad. See them again in 4 weeks for their second jag.

 

Hay delivery

We had our monthly hay and straw delivery yesterday, delivered to the door by Ironside & son. All I had to do was put it in the barn with a little help from a couple of bull calves. I suppose the proof of the quality is in the eating!!!

 

 

New bit of kit for the tractor

Just taken delivery of the front loader for my recently bought tractor. Its a LO9 loader for the 995 series David Brown tractors. Now just have to find some help to unload it!!!!!

 

fetching the old boy home!!!

Had a quick rescue mission to do yesturday, the old ram we put out on the grazings with the ewes ( to catch any that missed the first time around) had wandered off on his own and had appeared out near the road about 2 miles and round a hill from where the ewes are. A couple of friends had seen him and where concerned that there might be something wrong as he was on his own and had been seen butting fence posts and walking along the fence line and following the ditches. They where worried that he may be blind or have an eye infection, as the above behavior is typical of a sheep with either of those problems. But no he is fine except for a few ticks, now removed and spot on'd, he must have just fancied a wander.
 

Bent muck forks

Started the final bit of the barn clean out on saturday, the ewe hogg pen. Got stopped early as I have bent the muck forks, think it will be a trip to a welder!!!

Putting the new tractor through its paces.

Had a busy few days. Now we have a new tractor, a David Brown 995, its barn clean out time. Removing the manure from the autumn calving cows and putting clean straw in the pens for the spring calving cows.

Visit from the department again!!!!

Had the fifth visit from the department (Agriculture) since xmas today, first 2 where for cross compliance, the second for the pigs and the final two for the cattle. We passed the first two, failed the pig check for not having an up to date movement record (5% penalty from 2015 payment) and failed the cattle check for Eric the bull, Dougary the bull and Eddie the bull calf having lost an ear tag each( but had 28 days to correct it) they came today to recheck and we passed after retagging them!!! So much for the Scottish governments changes to policy that should result in the need for less visits!!!! Add to that the 2 visits to their office to sign forms that should have been done during their visits. Hopefully we wont be seeing them for a while!!!

Vet visit for the Shetland cattle

We've had a full afternoon with the cattle today, had the vet in to do 4 Bvd blood samples taken from Erica, Edna, Erin and Eddie, 2 sets of rear hooves trimmed on Ruby and Hyacinth, nose rings for Eric and Dougary,2 pregnancy checks and the castration of poor Deagan. The two spring calving cows Tinga and Poppy have about 8 weeks to go.