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Lambing shed

lambing shed posts in

Last year’s lambing was hard.  We used an existing shed but it didn’t really go as planned.  We ended up having to lamb one ewe out in the fields and that meant a longish walk two or three times during the night for nearly two weeks (you can read about that here). Plus, the lambs were out of sight over the hill.

So, we had a think about it and decided to build lambing facilities in front of the house.  There’s a bit of an orchard there and it’s also where the chicken run is.  So, we drew up the plans.  It involves fencing on two sides.  One end already is fenced and the other has a dry stone dyke.  Plus, we need to fence the chicken houses and feeders off so they can get out but the sheep can’t get in.

lambing shed posts in
lambing shed posts started

It has turned out to be a long job.  This is mainly as other jobs suddenly surfaced and distracted me – pig pen extension, helping plumber with the new bathrooms, sorting out the new utility room.  And with winter approaching, all I had managed to get done was the hen area and one fence.

Luckily, my brother in law arranged a visit.  We told him to bring his drill!

all posts in
all posts in

The lambing shed is to nestle into a hillside so that it is tucked away out of sight.  This meant there was a bit of a drop, a metre in fact.  That seemed quite a lot, so I did some levelling.  When Matt got here, we got straight into putting the posts is.  This should have been a lot easier than it was.  However, the freezing temperatures meant the fast drying postcrete did not dry in seconds, but more like a couple of hours!  Nevertheless, we pressed on and got all the posts in.  It resembled a woodhenge!

We left them to settle and next day started on the walls.  We put up some of the walls to help stabilise things and then got to work on the roof.  We worked pretty much non-stop and by then of the day, we had all the roof beams in place and half the roof on.

Matt headed off home.  The news announced the imminent arrival of storm Caroline.  Great I thought, just what we need, high winds around a half finished shed.

But with Matt’s help, we’d broken the back of it.  I got the rest of the roof on and three walls up.  I left the fourth so I can dump some hard core in to make a better, and level, floor.  It survived the storm.

Now I am waiting for the ground to freeze this weekend so I can use the tractor to get the hardcore in.  Nearly job done.  And next year, lambing should be so much easier.  The ewes will have access to shelter, hay and fresh grass.  We’ll be able to watch them from our kitchen window.  And everything will be close to the house.

lambing shed nearly there
lambing shed nearly there
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Tupping Time

Wallace takes an interest

It’s two weeks to the winter solstice and the snow is falling gently outside as the afternoon draws towards night.  Storm Caroline is in the area but fortunately, the really high winds have passed us by.  It’s just a wee bit cold and blowy, so I thought I’d catch up with the blog.  It has been a few weeks!

Well, tupping time has been and gone.  We are targeting lambing for late April, so tupping was timed for mid November onwards.  Our two young tups (who we raised from lambs) remained blissfully unaware of the treat in store.  Over the year, they have matured and calmed down a bit.  This made raddling them easy, both their tummies splashed with bright yellow greasy paint.  It really helps to know when the lambs are due!

So one chilly but bright November Saturday morning, we began the process.  This was not just a case of throwing the two tups in with the ewes.  We had worked out the family trees and each tup was allocated 6 ewes.  All this year’s lambs plus one ewe with ring womb were to be kept apart.

So, first job, separating the ewes into three groups.  Nicole handled this and in next to no time we were ready for phase 2.  We moved the first group of six ewes into a small field.  Then, it was off to fetch Wart (these were his 6).  Nicole led him down with the halter.  Now, Wart and Wallace have never been apart so we had given Wallace some sheep nuts in the hope he wouldn’t notice Wart’s absence.

Wart smells the air
Wart smells the air

As we drew close to the six ewes, Wart caught their scents and was transformed from a reluctant foot dragging ball of wool to an eager beaver and was through the gate in a flash.  He couldn’t believe his luck and wasn’t sure which ewe to approach first.  The ewes were not that impressed to be honest and largely ignored him.  But, Wart was happy and we left him to it.

coming to meet Wallace
coming to meet Wallace

I nipped back up to Wallace’s field and Nicole went off to fetch the second group of six.  Wallace joined me in looking down the hill as they approached.  He remained remarkably calm, even as they came through the gate.  Of course, the first thing the ewes smelt was the sheep nuts and they were straight over to the trough.  This gave Wallace the chance to check them out, which he duly did.

After attempting to mount Peaches, who was not impressed, we noticed Vi and Vera had made a beeline for Wallace.  In fact, they stood either side of him making eyes and leaning into him.  If you can imagine a sheep flirting, well that’s what it looked like.  Wallace was happy.

We left them to it.  Wallace was indeed a busy boy and within 2 days 5 of his ewes had the tell tale yellow splodges on their rears.  In Wart’s field, a couple played hard to get so while most will be born in the first 3-4 days of lambing next year, there will likely be a two week window which we will have to monitor.

Of course, it’s never quite that simple.  A few days in, Nicole rushed back from the morning feed and check to announce that Wallace had taken his gate off and was in with Wart.  Well, we had to get him back because his mum and sister were in there!  Plus, Wart had access to his mother and grandmother.  So, we sorted them all out and reset the gate and tied it to it’s hinges.  And there’s me thinking only pigs could do that.

After around two weeks, the weather crashed and it became wet and cold.  So, we separated them back out so that they all had access to shelters.  Wallace and Wart were not that impressed at first and there was a bit of biffing.

But all is calm now, until April that is…

 

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Hedgehog takes over Shed

We had been allowing our hay to dry out and so had moved the farm equipment out of the shed to give us extra space.  Having dried out, I stored it all away over the weekend.

Now, we have spotted on a fairly regular basis a young hedgehog wandering around during the day.  It seems fine and has duly ignored the food we put out for it (puppy food in case you were wondering).  I spotted it wandering around our large shed but thought little of it and left it to carry on.

As you probably know, hedgehogs are called hedgehogs because they like to nest in hedges.  They can also be quite partial to piles of garden rubbish.  I also know that they don’t tend to nest in the same place until they hibernate.

This hedgehog has not read the same books as me!

I noticed, in the middle of the shed floor, a small pile of hay and straw.  I went over to look and there was the little hedgehog nesting in it.   So this little hedgehog has chosen a to nest in a huge shed, maybe to keep out of the rain.  It also dawned on me that it must have liked the space under the drying out bales of hay.

So, I put some bales round to keep it warm and safe.  The spot is marked by an arrow in the picture above.

And all the farming equipment remains out in the rain.

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Highland Cows Come to Auchenstroan

bluebell and ivor

On Sunday, our highland cows arrived.  We have been waiting ages as one of them turned out to be pregnant, so we postponed their arrival until the calf was born.  It was a great experience, offloading them and moving them into a nearby field.  We have to thank Jim and Fiona for bringing them over (we don’t have a big enough trailer).

Having learned from our pigs experience, we allowed them some time to settle.  At first, they spent much time by the gate where they had come in.  But the grass was lush and they were soon tucking in.

We had been receiving training in handling cows and have spent time with Texa and Bluebell before their move.  We had combed them and tried to get to know them.  We think they recognise us, but they are, for the moment, keeping their distance.

ivor the highland coo
Ivor the highland coo

The calf, Ivor, is a right little cutie pie.  He is torn by curiosity and wariness.  He studies us, approaches, then changes his mind.  Every now and then, he tears round the field.

After a couple of days, we opened the access into a larger field.  This one has a steep bank with overgrown grass but also the new grass from where the hay was cut.  We lead the three cows up to the new grass.  All three skipped for joy, it was lovely to watch.  Ivor, of course, tore round as there was lots of space for him.

They also came face to face with our tups which are in the field next door.  Both cows and tups were very curious about each other.

They seem to be settling in well, despite the constant rain we seem to be having.  We are working on getting them to trust is so that we can approach them.  They need combed from time to time, well, maybe not “need”, but it helps.

It is great having highland cows.  They are majestical, magical beasts.  It is a magical experience just sitting with them.

highland cows bluebell ivor and texa
Bluebell, Ivor and Texa
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Happy Pigs

Happy Pig

Truth be told, it has not been the best summer I can remember.  We are still counting our blessings that we got the hay in when we did as sunny days have been conspicuous by their absence.  And recently, there has been quite a lot of heavy rain.  So the ground stays wet.

pigs up to knees in mud
pigs up to knees in mud

Now, our pigs have a decent sized run but with all the rain, it has turned into what can best be described as liquid mud.  It’s up to their knees and almost impossible to walk in.  It’s the sort of mud that pulls your wellies off and won’t give them back.

Pigs may like mud, but even they seemed to be struggling a bit in this quagmire.

So, we gave it some thought.  Our original plan was to have two runs side by side as it’s not a good idea to put pigs onto the same ground two years running.  But recently, we decided it would be easier on us to keep pigs only every second year.

So, we decided on an extension.  Over the weekend I put in new fence posts.  We had to wait for the concrete to dry on the big ones, but this morning I added the fencing and it was time for the opening ceremony.  I cut a doorway from the existing run into the extension.  Of course, the pigs having spent all morning watching my every move, were now focused elsewhere!  So, we got some lettuce and tempted them over.

pigs in the undergrowth
pigs in the undergrowth

They were straight through and it was clear they were really happy.  This patch had just been left so it was tall grasses, weeds, berry bushes and shrubs.  Pig heaven.  Making their happy grunting noises, they explored this new area.  The ripe blackberries soon disappeared.  As did the cow parsley which seems to be a particular favourite.

And it was a bonus not having to wade through all that mud.

We gave them lunch as normal but they ignored that.  By mid afternoon, they were worn out and had retired to the pig arc for a well earned nap.

There’s something special about seeing happy animals.  I expect they’ll be up bright and early tomorrow for more foraging.

Mind you, there is something about pigs and mud, they do seem fascinated by it….

pigs and mud
pigs and mud
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Persuading Chickens to use new Hen House

chickens roosting on hen house roof

Readers of this blog might remember that a few weeks back, Mrs Mills went missing, turned out to be broody and hatched 13 chickens under a bush in the garden.

chick patrolling wall
chick patrolling wall

Well, miracles of miracles, all 13 are thriving and turning into proper little hens.  They, of course, go everywhere.  The netting around the runs does not contain them, nor does the stone dyke that borders a part of the run.  Truth be told, Mrs Mills is also partial to a bit of wall hopping herself.

The run border is in the process of being upgraded as it will double as a lamb paddock in the future.  But that’s another story.

One of the problems that arose from Mrs Mills and her family was that Mrs Mills had stopped using the hen house.  Now our hen house has a fox guard, namely it automatically opens and closes depending on light levels.  So, the hens are always safe at night.

Given our hen numbers have, thanked to Mrs Mills more than doubled, we purchases another hen house again with automatic door opener and closer.  We set it up close to Mrs Mills’ favourite nest spot.

She basically ignored it.

So, we hatched our plans.  We surrounded her nest area with sheep hurdles using chicken wire to cover any gaps.  We also set up netting above the nest.  We waited till nearly dark.  We stood in the midgie infested evening sun waiting for the old hen house door to close.  Once it did, we then calibrated the new hen house door so it too knew at what level of darkness to close.

We caught Mrs Mills and also her 13 chicks and stuffed the chicks in a box.  We transported them to their new home.

At 5, we were up again to calibrate the opening light levels.

So far so good.

new hen house
new hen house

Day 2. Mrs Mills and chicks returned to their old nest under the blackberry bush.  We tried to repeat day one’s exercise of catching the hens but they were not quite sleepy enough and within seconds, 6 chicks were up, gone and scattered around the garden.  We retired, defeated, and left them to it.

Day 3, we chopped down the blackberry bush and other vegetation.  We also netted off an area around the new hen house.  We enticed Mrs Mills with some tasty pasta bits and secured her into the area.  The chicks were able to pass through the net, so they made their way in in their own time.  We put some raspberries inside the hen house.  Mrs Mills went in and nested – yes!  We thought we had it cracked.  We removed the netting so they would be free to wander in the morning.

Day 4.  Mrs Mills, now wise to our plans, nested early in the hedge some way from the new hen house and secure area.  We had to wake her and entice her with more pasta.  Fortunately, tasty bits were more than tempting and we secured her again.  Faced with no choice (her old nest having disappeared), she went into the hen house.

Day 5.  Mrs Mills chose to roost in the hen house with no intervention from us.  We were delighted, now they would be all be safe at night.  And she has slept there ever since.

 

 

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Busy Summer

growing chick

The sun is shining today, though there are plenty clouds around.  One of the things we have found here is that the weather is pretty variable and the forecasts also vary day to day.  This makes haymaking something of a lottery.

hay drying
hay drying
hay shed
hay shed

The day we chose to cut our hay was the second in what was forecast to be a few days of dry weather.  Of course, it rained two days later.  We got our hay in but it wasn’t quite ready, still a bit green.  It has been stacked loosely so that it can dry a bit more.  One field turned out to be drier and that hay is now stacked away.  However, the other bales soon heat up if stacked, so now they are leaning against each other with plenty of air circulating.

The new hay shed is looking good, though, we are very happy with that.

Our animals have been keeping us busy.  One of the pigs (Ant or Dec) went off her food and looked a little bit out of kilter.  Of course, it was the weekend and a long discussion regarding whether to call the vet ensued.  The pig keeping book, however, was quite adamant – if a pig is not eating, it’s not well.  So, on a rainsoaked Saturday evening under power shower rain, the three of us, in our wellies and waterproofs, tried to corner the afore-mentioned pig in what was now a sea of slippery, watery mud.  Of course, she had seemingly recovered and was equally intent on not being cornered.  Fortunately, she stopped for a breather and we carefully constructed a pen with sheep hurdles around her.  Diagnosis was possibly pneumonia, so a quick shot of antibiotics was administered.

Then the vet dropped his wee bombshell, she needed a five day course.  I say bombshell because, with sheep, it’s just the one injection and also we had never tried giving pigs a jag up till now.  So, next day, we caught her in a pen we constructed outside the pig arc and managed, without too much ado, to giver her second shot.  Day three, she was wise to this and in an instant sent the sheep hurdles flying.  No more jags!  Fortunately, she has recovered well.

Next up was Scarlett, one of our ewes.  She had taken to spending a lot of her time in the shelter.  After this went on for a few days, we started to suspect something was wrong.  We had already checked her over and she was alert, would get up and come over, but she was always in the shed.

So, she too was tempted into a pen (using sheep nuts). The fact that she was eating was a good sign.  We inspected her all over for maggots – nothing.  Not flystrike then.  We were puzzled and about to let her go when Nicole spotted her ear – basically, the area around her ear tag was infected.

So, we had to get the ear tag out.  This proved quite hard.  We wanted her not to suffer, but we couldn’t get cutters in to snip it.  Luckily, following Bluemli’s eye injection, we had purchased a headstock.  So we fetched that and secured Scarlett.  She could still move, but all we now had to do was control the head, not the whole sheep.  Using wire cutters, we snipped the main part of the tag away.  Then, while trying to get into the bit that went through the ear, Scarlett shook her had and out the tag popped.  That was a relief I can tell you.  So we administered iodine to clean the wound and an antibiotic in case the infection had spread.

She’s looking better, but still a bit attached to her shed!

new hen house
new hen house

Our 13 chickens are growing. We can’t believe that they have all survived.  Their mother, Mrs Mills, has basically been living rough for three months so they are not inside the safety of a hen house.  Plus, there are cats that live around and plenty of buzzards and kites.  On top of this, the chicks can still get out of the pen and wander far and wide including into cat territory.  We suspect the presence of George, our large dog, is acting as a cat deterrent.

Anyway, with a total of 22 hens now, we needed another hen house so one was duly purchased and erected (yesterday).  We also purchased the automatic door opener (they are really brilliant).  This one required calibration to set the light levels so the door opens and closes at the right times.  So, we were out last night amidst clouds of midges waiting for the light to fade.  We thought we’d calibrate it to close around the same level of light as our existing hen house.  Of course, being Scotland and a bit northerly, we have extended twilight, so it was a bit of a wait.  Midge nets became essential.

Finally at around 9:45, hen house one closed and we then calibrated hen house 2 to close at the same time.  Then, we rounded up Mrs Mills and her brood of 13.  This was fairly easy as Nicole had set up sheep hurdles and netting to surround their camp site.  All were safely transferred to their new home.  Then, it was up at 5 this morning to calibrate the opening light level.

We have bets as to whether Mrs Mills et al will use the hen house this evening or attempt to carry on camping :).

water tank
water tank

We have also got the new water system in and up and running.  All the fields now have water coming from a tank buried near the top of a hill.  It is fed by a small stream.  It only really fills up after heavy rainfall, but that’s fine.

It’s great not having to take 20 litre water containers over.  Plus, now, the troughs stay full making it easier for the animals to drink from them.

It was a big job, but the plumbing went in surprisingly well, no leaks, well none that I have found anyway. Just have to bury some of the blue pipe to keep it safe from animal hooves.

 

herb garden
herb garden
veggie patch
veggie patch

Our veggie patch and herb gardens are doing well.  Nicole has spent a lot of time keeping the weeds under control and nurturing our crop.  We are enjoying a steady stream of salad and veggies.  We are looking forward to the turnips ripening so we can enjoy them with some local haggis.

And, while all this is going on, we have been having some house renovations done.  Basically, we’re having two new bathrooms installed and the existing (downstairs) bathroom transformed into a large utility room with freezers etc.

We are starting to think we need a holiday.  But with so many animals, holidays are tricky to organise.

And finally, the housemartins have fledged – here they are shortly before they took off.  It’s amazing watching them all swooping and diving in the evenings.

house martins about to fledge
house martins about to fledge
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Wildlife at Auchenstroan

One of the things we have noticed is just how much wildlife we have around here compared to Somerset.  Perhaps that’s because it’s a bit wilder here, perhaps it’s because we have a lot of habitat for them here.  There are certainly more trees here.  Who knows?

The most noticeable difference is hedgehogs.  We have seen hedgehogs here more times in 4 months than in three and a half years in Somerset.  It’s great to see them and the one above wandered into the field in which I was building the sheep shelter.  And it was mid afternoon!

I know how to handle hedgehogs as many years ago, I used to overwinter the babies I found in November, the ones too small to survive.  Maybe I’ll find myself doing that here.

young housemartins
young housemartins

We are also privileged to have sand martins here.  At first I thought they were house martins, but then I saw them flying into their burrows.  That was the first time I had ever seen one.  We also have housemartins, they built their nest on the house and now have young.  Part of the nest crumbled away recently giving us sight of the fledglings.  Of course, we also have swallows nesting in the large shed.

Recently, the ground has been awash with baby frogs.  Some even managed to cross the chicken run, not quite sure how they managed that.  But it was be careful where you step for a few days.

And we have plenty of buzzards and one or two red kites patrolling, especially just after cutting the hay.  There’s lots of long grass here and mice and voles abound.

We see quite a few hares too.  Mildly ironic as Pitney, where we moved from, was supposed to be famous for its hares, but we never saw one there.

Surprisingly, we had a golden eagle in the valley not long ago.  It was around for a couple of days before moving on.  Quite majestic floating on the thermals.

I should also mention there’s a peregrine falcon just up the road, but we haven’t seen it yet.

Garden birds abound with robins, wrens, sparrows, blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, wagtails, thrushes and blackbirds all making regular appearances.  We’ve also seen the odd woodpecker, siskin and coal tit.  When winter comes, I shall set up a bird feeding station and see what else drops by.

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Making hay while the sun shines

Although much of our land here is woodland and wild, we still have a fair amount of pasture and that means a lot of grass.  Too much for our small band of sheep.  So, we thought we’d make hay this year.  Small bale hay is getting harder to get hold of and is quite expensive round here.  Luckily, one of our neighbours has the correct mower and baler and we have a hay bob.

Planning when to do this in SW Scotland is easier said than done.  Continuous sunny weather is not that common.  Having missed one window, the forecast was looking good for this week with clear days showing from Sunday onwards.  So, we booked him in to cut the hay on Monday.  Of course on Sunday, the forecast changed to show heavy rain on Wednesday.  But we decided to go ahead, the forecast is always changing here.

tedding the newly cut rows
tedding the newly cut rows

Monday was a glorious sunny day, perfect for making hay.  Our neighbour with tractor and mower arrived and once everything was set up (our second hand hay bob proving a bit troublesome), off we went.

The rows in the first field were soon cut and I was off, tedding for the first time in my life!  I soon had the knack of getting the hay bob at the right angle – too low and it starts churning up the ground, too high and it misses the grass.  The first time is easy as the rows are clearly delineated.  It gets harder after that as the grass spreads wider.  Also, as the grass gets drier and fluffier and the wind picks up, it can drift all over the place.

hay rowed up
hay rowed up

Nevertheless, over the course of the rest of the day I managed to turn the hay three times, not helped by a wheel coming off the hay bob mid way through the afternoon.  Not the best second hand purchase I have ever made.

Next day’s forecast was cloudy and sure enough, Tuesday morning was overcast and misty.  The dew didn’t lift till well after eleven.  So, it was not till early afternoon that I could get out and carry on.  With the heavy rain forecast for Wednesday, the clock was ticking.  And now the forecast was saying rain every day till the following Monday.  What happened to the dry week that had been forecast only a few days ago?

Well I got it all turned and then ran into further trouble with the hay bob, moving the hines to rowing up position was really hard.  It took two of us, a large hammer and copious amounts of WD40 but we got there.

There is something very satisfying about rowing up, driving along and turning chaotic areas of grass into tidy rows ready for baling.  And I was quite pleased with my efforts, not bad for an amateur I thought.

making hay with tractor
rowing up with tractor
making hay
making hay

It was even more satisfying watching the bales of hay emerge from the baler.  I have seen this before, I even worked on a farm in my teens and stacking bales was one of my jobs.  But when it’s your own crop, it’s special, especially the first time.

By now it was early evening and the next job was to gather all the bales in.  By now, Nicole had joined us after a full day of gardening for her clients.  We got to work, her with landrover and myself with the quad bike and trailer.

gathering hay with quad bike adrianGathering hay bales Nicole and landy

Having had only one day in the sun, the bales were quite heavy.  They were probably not quite dry enough, so we had to stack them loosely.  Each bale needed plenty of air.  So while our nice new hay shed and field hay store now have hay, they look a bit untidy.  We’ll probably leave it to dry for a few weeks before stacking it properly.  Can’t have it going mouldy after all that effort!

But around 8pm, we were finished, all the hay was under cover spread amongst various sheds.  We got a couple of cans of Guinness, got the dogs out and went over to inspect our work.  The dogs loved the newly cut area and were soon charging around.  We let the sheep into the other cut field and all 16 ewes were skipping and jumping.  There’s something special about seeing such happy animals.  Then back in for some bacon butties with good old fashioned Scottish rolls.

hay bay
Field hay storage in the new sheep “palace”

 

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Sheep Approve of Shelter Extension

Recently, I mentioned I was having to increase the size of the sheep shelter.  The plan was to add a second shelter and also a shed to store some hay.

I had to wait on some replacement roofing sheets for the hay bay.  I was using a type I could cut to size, but they were proving fragile.  Some were broken and had holes in them.  Nevertheless, I got all the planks in place and made the doors for the hay store and fitting them all.

The sheep quite liked the open top “shelter”.  They were often to be found resting and chewing the cud.  I expect it was airy and shady.  Not much use in the rain though!

Eventually, I had the roof sheets I needed.  I chopped them to size and completed the hay store.  Then it was the sheep shelter roof, 12 foot long corrugated sheets.  The sheep were not impressed while I was putting those up.  I’d lift a sheet and they’d take off, but they kept wandering back to see if I had finished.

Eventually, the work was done and within seconds, the sheep were investigating and inspecting.  Verdict, it’ll do!

Completed sheep shelter and hay store
Completed sheep shelter and hay store