Firstly I would like to wish you all a belated Happy and Prosperous New Year, may all your hopes and dreams come true.
Secondly, I would like to thank all of you for being so patient, and thank those of you who have asked after me.
I am still alive and kicking or as someone once said, I'm still above the ground.
Since my last visit we have had a few new arrivals on the croft, the twins are both fine.
It was hard in the beginning as the youngest who we named Doddit had to be bottle fed to kick start him until he was strong enough to feed himself, we were also still bottle feeding Hope as her mother was unable to feed her because she had lost her milk.
So every feed time was a frenzy in the shed, impatient calves who are hungry don't understand wait, they charge at you and knock you flying in a mad rush to get the bottle first.
But now they are both fending for themselves.
Doddit is just as good as his brother Hoddit, it is hard to tell the difference between them, but they are both gentle calves.
We had two more heifers in October, Skye had her first calf which was a little girl we called her Kyle, she has a really bad temper like granny which is Effy the cow that put my husband in the river.
Bunnacaimbe had a little girl too, we called her Duchess, she is the spitting image of her mother, she also has a soft nature like her mother.
They all pal about together.
Pal our heifer had a little girl two weeks ago, we called her Pollyanna, she is a beautiful red colour, and so nosey.
Skye had her calf out on the common grazing's, she came in one day with the heard and my husband said she had had her calf and not brought it in with her.
We went out to look for it and chased Skye out to bring it back, we spent all day wandering about looking for it.
As dusk started to come in we found it, she jumped up from her hiding place and ran literally for the hills.
My husband chased after her, I brought the cows down to the bottom of the hill, so the calf would hopefully see them and join up with them.
Just before the calf came around the back of the hill where the cows were now grazing, she decided to make a run for it over the top of the hill and missed the heard altogether, by the time we got to the top of the hill she had vanished into thin air.
She must have laid down in the long undergrowth to hide herself.
By this time it was starting to get dark so we had to give up the search until the early hours of the morning.
Skye was standing out on the common grazing's where she left her calf the day before, we spent another two hours looking for the wee so and so.
My husband spotted her in amongst our neighbours cattle, we went to catch her, as the heard started to move off home over the bridge, she ran towards my husband who was waiting at the pass so to speak, she tried to make a jump for it and jumped clean into his arms.
After a bit of a fumble and rugby style tackle we managed to get her into the back of the landy.
We got her into the shed, whilst my husband went to get her mum, as she must have been hungry by now, I started to make the pen comfortable for them both, the little bisum charged clean at me pushing her head into my legs and grunting wildly like a grizzly bear.
I have never in my life ever had a calf do that, my husband said she is like her granny as two peas, mad as a hatter.
She has calmed down now, I suppose it must have been as much of a shock to her as it was to us.
After all she had not seen a human until we rolled up and tried to catch her.
I am waiting for my sheep to lamb, Sandy did well last year, I hope he has a repeat performance this year, he has been busy.
Craigy my other ram was on his holidays again in Newtonmore, he came back today, I missed him, he is a big softy really, he has made himself at home already, letting the young tup rams know he is back by bawling at them from the shed.
I just hope everything goes well and the lambs are all healthy, I hate to lose any of my babies, be it cow or sheep.
They all deserve to breath and run around, but nature can be so cruel sometimes, when you least expect it something comes along to pull you up with a sharp shock.
I cannot wait for the spring to come, I love to see the lambs running around and the smell of the flowers that start to bloom early.
Pictures Are
1 Hoddit & Doddit
2. Duchess
3. Hoddit & Doddit with mum Rosie
4. Mima Myrans Lamb taking in the sun last summer
Thank you for reading look forward to you popping in again.
