Here there and everywhere

We have been here there and everywhere over the past couple of weeks.
We visited the Highland show in Ingliston near Edinburgh a week last Thursday.
We like to go down on a Thursday as that is when all of the judging of the animals takes place.
There was some splendid examples of all breeds of animals on show.
We switched between the commercial cattle and the sheep judging, as the both were being judged at the same time.
Fortunately we did not have to walk far between show rings.
The winners were:
Commercial cattle
Supreme Champion cross Bullock Silver Lining.

Supreme Champion Black face Gimmer from Milnmark Corsack

Supreme Champion Hill Cheviot from Hownam Grange Kelso

Show supreme Champion Charolais Cow Dunesk Unesta from Brechin.

Congratulations to all the winners and well done to all of you who took part.
Without you all, these show would not exist and the public would not see the amount of work that goes into turning these beautiful animals into fine examples of their breed.

We wandered around the cattle stalls to have a closer look at the exhibits.

There was a very large turn out, but it was pointed out that there was a little less than last year.

Could this be something to do with the cost of fuel?

It was a wonderful day out, the weather was not to bad maybe a little cold in the later part of the day.
We also had a wander around the machinery stalls, well some of the tractors on show would not get through our gate never mind down our road, even if we did manage to get a tractor that big down here we would sink it on our peaty land, these machines are for the big boys not the likes of us, a little grey furgie is more suited to us ; )
Well the show was a great diversion for the day, but we have things to do at home, so back to the grind I am afraid.
We had to repair an old bridge this weekend that had fallen apart later last year.
It has been across the main burn for over thirty years, it is made from old railway sleepers and one of the main sleepers holding it up broke into.
So we had to dismantle it all and rebuild it again.
The cattle being cattle have followed the same path year after year, instead of coming up on our side of the burn they come up on the opposite side, which means they stand on the opposite side mowing and calling because they cannot cross the burn.
So we had to go let them in through the top field which belongs to our neighbours.
Who said cows are bright, not always they are not.
Anyway we decided to bite the bullet and repair the old bridge.
We had a couple of Green heart sleepers which were discarded by the railway a couple of years ago, so we used them as the main supports for the bridge.
Green heart wood is extremely hard and strong, so hard that it cannot be worked with standard tools.
Being extremely durable in marine conditions, Green heart is used extensively in the building of docks and in similar applications and was an early choice for fly fishing rods.
Anyway it took most of the day to rebuild the bridge as you can imaging we were working above the burn which is about six foot deep, luckily the water was only a foot deep at the time as the weather has been rather dry.
But as there is only the two of us it was hard work dragging these 8ft wooden sleepers up a bank and across the supporting sleepers.
We managed to get it finished last night just before the heavens opened thank goodness.
Now lets hope the cows have common sense to use it : )

It's Show Time

Well it's that time of year again when we go through the paces of preparing the cattle and sheep for their annual outing to the Arisaig Road to the Isles Agricultural Show.

The first show of the year for us, so there is a lot of preparing to do before the big day.
The cattle were shaved on the Tuesday before the big day.
This involves shaving their faces and tail tops.
Clipping their underbelly and combing out their coats.
They were washed and groomed up on the Friday night, what a blessing that it was a mild day and there was no midges out to eat us or the calves.
We decided to take two Heifers both just over a year old, one Limousin cross named Penny and a Charolais cross named April.
They are both placid and easily handled, once they were all cleaned and dried they were penned in deep straw to keep them clean for the next days show.
The sheep on the other hand are a different matter.
We decided to take Myran a Cheviot Ewe, her Ram Craigy from last year, also her Ewe lamb Cirsty from this year.
We also took Claire's Ewe lamb Babs from last year.
They were all sheared a few weeks ago, to give this years coats a chance to come through.
Craigy was first on the block, he was trimmed up again to shape his fleece, his hoofs were clipped and he wash shampooed up with a bright white shampoo to make him look really white as Cheviot's should.
Myran and Babs were next with the same routine, I must say they were all well behaved, by now they are used to this routine as they have all been through it a couple of times.
Cirsty on the other hand was a little fighter, she hated getting a wash, we had a large trug bucket for her, I think I got wetter than she did.
But they all came out like little snowballs ; )
They were all dried up also and bedded down on thick straw to keep them clean.
Now being crofters you have to be inventive sometimes, we only have one cattle float which is not big enough to carry all of the animals so we manufactured the other trailer we have to make a sheep trailer to transport them to the show, if I might say it looked quite the thing and did the job really well.
My hubby unloaded the calves and penned them up, then gave me and hand to unload the sheep.
The classes for both cattle and sheep was very strong as is usual for the Arisaig show.
The cattle started first in the big ring and the Black face sheep in the smaller ring.
Whilst all this was going on my daughter and I set about touching up our sheep.
Whitening their legs and faces with a powder mix, to make them white and clean looking.
They are very patient animals and stood well for the finishing touches.
Mean while my husbands class was a strong class and he picked up a third and forth rosette for his efforts, he was beaten by a supreme beast.

Never mind there is always next year, it's the taking part that counts, without the entries there would be no show at all, these people come from miles around, with the price of fuel as it is and the fuel strike that is going on, I take my hat off to them all for turning out to make the day a special one.
My classes were also strong this year too.
Craigy my Ram was first out and beaten into second place by a beautiful Suffolk owned by a neighbouring crofter in Arisaig.
Both the Ewe lambs also picked up second places too.
Myran on the other hand went through all of her classes to win over all Sheep Champion again this year, she was up against a strong Black face Ewe in the final.
Myran is a great show off, she stands in the ring and strikes a pose and that's it, she takes it all in her stride and wonders what all the fuss is about and why all of these people are looking at her.
Well we were pleased as punch that she did it again, it is a great feeling to win something after all of the effort you put in to preparing the animals for a show.
She went into the ring for the overall show animal with a Highland Bullock also owned by a local to the area.
It took a long time for the judges to debate and choose a winner.
The Highland Bullock took the prize and a well deserved congratulations goes out to them.
We were very happy with what we had already won.
After all the fuss had died down, we took a walk around the show and had something to eat, it is a long day and unfortunately you cannot get away to have a walk around until you finished with the main events in the rings.
This years main ring attraction was a sheep dog demonstration, which was really entertaining, the dog handler had seven dogs working in the ring at the same time, quite a hard task to do with two dogs never mind seven and three puppies too.
There was speed ball events, and dog agility events, quad bike challenge and much more.
All in all a great day out for everyone.
The end of the day came and we loaded up and came home, we let the animals out for a feed and had an early night ourselves after all of the hard work we needed it.
Thank you to everyone who came up and congratulated us on our win, also to the many friends that came to support the show from far and wide, I am sorry I did not get around you all to spend some time with you all but will catch up with you all later.
Also a big thank you to my Husband and Daughter for all of their help.

It's Show time

Today is the day of the Arisaig Agricultural Show.
This is a local show and well supported.
We have a couple of heifers in the cattle side of the show and a selection of sheep also.
The show day has always been renowned for having good weather, and it seems like that tradition is going to upheld today.
We have been really busy over the past few days, the sheep are white as snow this morning.
Myran has been very good, she has been through this all before so she knows what is going on, Craigy also was really well behaved while he was preened and trimmed to make him stand out in the crowd.
The heifers were washed up and scrubbed last night, we shaved their heads and trimmed their tails earlier in the week.
They all look fantastic this morning, they and wee have nothing to be ashamed of, they will all hold their own.
Keep your finger crossed that we get a prize today, if not well.
There's always other shows to go to this year.
I'll keep you posted with the results of the show and photographs.

Do Midge's have teeth?

Since my last posting we have had brilliant sunshine all the while.
It has been beautiful in Arisaig and Lochaber.
The only hing to spoil it is the flipping Midge's in the evening.
I ask myself if they have teeth because every time they bite it feels like I just lost a chunk of skin.
This year the Midge have been absolutely ferocious, the dry weather has brought them out in droves.
We have been really busy as usual here on Creag Mhor Croft.
My husband cannot remember the last time he managed to get all of the peat we cut, bagged and stored so early in the year.
It is bone dry and all gathered except for about 10 bags, we managed to collect 52 bags in total so far, we also gave a few away too, so not to look to far forward and rush the year away, we will not have to worry to much about heating our bones in the cold evenings.
Everything has become so expensive this year our fuel costs £1.30 per ltr at the pumps in Fort William, the red stuff for the tractor has gone up to 75p per ltr.
We hired a small digger last week to sort out some of the drains on the common grazing's because they were not running away quite well, it was so dry down there that we nearly got to the river Caimbe.
We managed to bury our water pipe to the house from the burn and do all the other little jobs that needed to be done, my husband cleared away the manure heap and leveled off the gravel we had stored for around the byre, what a difference the machinery makes to the jobs that would take forever by hand.
I went around weed killing the rushes which seemed to have popped up every where this year, the grass is not growing due to the lack of rain, not that I miss the rain, but we could do with a bit now just to help the grass on a little.
We had our first cattle sale this year and sent 3 of our bullocks away, we were supposed to send 4 but I took pity on the poor wee crater Rump Ramp Romp, he looked at my through the hay frasach on the morning of the sale with his big doleful eye's wanting his sweeties from his bucket, he always gets his food in bucket because the bigger calves push him about, he is not the bonniest but he is the smartest of them all, after all he is still here isn't he?
We the other 3 went to Fort William sales, what a day it was, I have never seen so many people there at the same time, it was really humid in-doors.
We had a really great trade, the prices for beef was nearly double last year prices.
Anyway they all went to good homes, lets hope they all have a good quality of life even though it will be a short one.
I have pictures to post of the day when I get a little more time.
We also went to the Stock judging competition this Saturday past, it is something we love attending, it gets you out for a while you meet friends old and new to have a good blether about the price of cattle, weather up and coming shows and so on.
Well my husband took the overall male winners cup and I won the over all female cup so it was a double for us, and to top it all I got 4 numbers on the lottery and won £97.00 what a lucky weekend we had.
We have been busy clipping our cattle and sheep for the up coming agricultural shows, the first one kicks off on the 14th of this month just outside Arisaig on Camasdarrach, the show has been blessed with good weather every year lets hope the tradition holds.
Also a small foot note to Simon thank you for your comment, I too had a go at the water divining, your right it does work for some and not others.

It's all go on the Croft

It's all go on the Croft at the moment.
The weather has been absolutely tremendous for the past three weeks.
We decided to turn over the ground behind the caravan instead of the front this year and planted potato's and carrots, already the early potato leaves are popping through.
We have split the lazy beds into three sections and sowed a few beds of potato's a week to ten days apart, to give a longer productive season.
We have been trying to locate the old clay drainage pipes that my husbands father put down about 50 years ago, some of them have been blocked, we can tell this by the amount of water that is sitting on the surface of the land, also because they are orange clay pipes in some cases you can actually see and orange coloured silt that is pushed up to the surface because the drains are blocked.
Well knowing a pipe is there or there abouts is one thing but finding it is another.
The field in the front of the house has been excavated over the past year trying to locate the clay pipes.
It is important to open the bottom field drains first, so when we open the back top field drains the water will run freely out to the burns at the end of the bottom field.
So eventually we found all of the drains on the bottom field, it takes a lot of time an patience.
We do it the old fashioned way, which is with a long thin steel probe with a pointed end and a T handle at the other, a hand shovel and a fencing shoveler.
Once you have a rough idea where you think the pipe is you push the probe down into the ground pointed end first of course, our ground is quiet peaty so it is not as hard to pull the probe back out, you keep prodding around in a left to right movement each prod 2" apart until you here that distinctive metal against stone noise.
This is when the hard work starts, we dig a hole down to the pipe, my husbands father put down 1 leader pipe with 8 chains to it in the bottom field alone, all placed 4 foot below the ground, so you can imagine how much earth had to be dug out to get to each of these chain pipes.
Once we dug a large enough hole to get into, the pipe is separated and opened up, we push an plastic pipe up the way and down the way to clear out the dirt and silt.
Sometimes the plastic pipe gets stuck and will not go any further down the clay pipe however hard you push and pull, so it is out of the hole and locate the clay pipe further down the field and dig out another hole and repeat the process all over again.
Well we managed to clear all of the pipes in the bottom field, now we have to sort out the back top field, we have already started this and opened up 2 chains, as this is a larger field we expect to find a lot more chains here.
A leader pipe is about 6" internal diameter which goes across the field diagonally from one corner to the other, the chain clay pipes are approx 2" internally which come down from the top field and are attached to the larger leader, my husband's father appears to have put all of the chain pipes at 15 paces apart, which makes it a little easier to find the approximate area of the next chain clay pipe.
To think he did all of these fields with just a shovel, no modern diggers in these days.
As they say in the Highlands he was a hardy man.
We cannot use a digger on the field as it would get bogged down and make to much of a a mess, so we have to do it the hard way too.
We have also taken advantage of this dry weather and stared to harvest the peat for the winter fuel, because it has been really dry, we have managed to store some of it already, My husbands father dug the peat fields right up until he was 87 years of age, which I think was a great achievement for anyone to do.
I never met my father in law as he died before a came here, but I have heard stories about him.
He was a strong character and worked hard all of his life, he was also a fencer as is my husband.
We have also sheared our flock of sheep and clipped their hooves, dosed them tagged the lambs ears and docked their tails.
I hate docking the tails, I feel so sorry for the poor lambs they give a little whimper when you do it, I do prefer to dock them rather than put a rubber ring on them and wait for the tail end to drop off, this must be even more painful for them, as some of you may know what it is like to put an elastic band say on your finger and leave it for a while how much pain would you feel if you could not take it off.
I have lots of other bits to add to this but I will do it when I have a little more time, I have added a photo of my husbands father scything the land with the peat stacks behind him.
Known locally as Alec Creag Mhor he was 87 years of age when this photograph was taken.

What a difference

What a difference the long days make.
We have been basking in sunshine for the past three weeks, and it has been great for the soul.
We have had a new calf born since my last visit she is a pure white Charolais cross, her mother diamond is doing well, we called her new baby Trudy, her father is Thrumpton Unstopable.
We are waiting for Annie to calve any day now.
The cattle are starting to stay out over night on the odd occasion but still coming in on a morning for breakfast.
The rain has done so must damage this year and the grass is slow to grow.
We are not the only people suffering from grass shortage it is happening all over the country, farmers and crofters alike are feeling the pinch of the purse strings with the amount of feed we are still having to buy in to keep the animals going until the grass takes off.
We are doing our best to help the grass on a little, last weekend we spent two days spreading manure out one one of the six acre fields, by hand, the ground is still pretty soft so Tractors are no good as it will make a mess of the ground.
We have a small quad which we attached the harrows to, this spreads the manure more evenly, I must admit what a difference it made to the ground just with the harrows.
(Harrows for those of you who do not know are like a bed of steel pieces linked to one another that have spikes sticking out underneath, when you drag them along behind you they deep rack the ground helping the manure/fertiliser to impregnate the ground)
Anyway we spread the manure, Harrowed the field now we have to keep the cattle off which proves difficult sometimes, if you leave a gate open they are in he park, how they know the gate is open him upstairs only knows as they seem to have a built in radar attached that says go home and cause chaos.
Well if we keep them out we have done our part and all we have to do is sit back and watch the grass grow fingers crossed.
We decided to use the manure on the fields this year as like many others artificial fertiliser has become far to expensive to use, some farmer on the East coast are using straw on the fields instead.
So for the past couple of weeks while the weather has been with us we have been working like beavers to get as much manure out as possible, it's a pity we cannot get the roller out yet but the ground will not take it.
Oh while I remember we decided to call Myran's little lamb Chirsty, she is such a little bundle of joy as they all are, Wee Rabbie and Katie come to me when I shout their names, they love to get a tickle under the chin be fussed over on a night before they settle down for the night.
Unlike Craigy, who has decided that I am to get a butt up the bottom when he cannot get his own way, unfortunately he will have to go to a new home after the shows are finished this year, or else he may get amongst the young hog lambs (his sisters) and breed with them.
He is up to mischief all of the time, if the garden gate is left open he is in and starts feasting on my flower beds.
Yesterday we hand clipped the three mother sheep, this was a military exercises on it's own, Myran is not to hard to clip as she will stand on the head halter she is to big anyway to get a good grip of, Claire was easier to do as the fleece was coming to the rise as they say which means she was ready to shear, Sharon as usual had to be awkward, fighting every move, and flinching and jumping at the sound of the shears clicking, I might add that not a drop of blood was drawn or skin caught in the shears, so what she was flinching for was beyond me, because every time she did flinch I jumped too because I thought I caught her skin.
Not only a trauma for her but for me also.
Anyway I am suffering from a stiff hand today after all that fighting, pulling, pushing and clipping, I am glad I only have a hand full of sheep, next year we will have to invest in an electric clipper, then what will Sharon do?
Next weekend we plan to shear the hoggs and Craigy, that will be fun and games, they will all need their hoofs trimming as well.
So lets hope it goes with out to much of a drama.
Below are pictures of Diamonds calf Trudy, also Boris Diamond's calf from Last year.
Trudy

Big Brother Boris & Trudy & Diamond

Myran is a mum

Well Myran had her lamb, she gave birth on Friday evening about 8.30pm on the 11th April to a little girl.
We are still debating on a name for her, but she is all there and beautiful too.
The other four lambs are running around like nutters, they give us great joy when we go into the byre.
They are always running around and jumping everywhere so exited.
The weather has not been kind to some lambs this year, I have seen the odd ones dotted about on the way to Fort William that have died, probably due to the weather or the hooded crows.
We have been seeing reports on the television of Ravens taking the lambs eyes and tongue before they are even out of the mother, the Ravens have even taken the mothers eyes out whilst laying down in labour.
I feel sorry for the people who own the sheep as this is yet another hardship they are having to endure, as the sheep and lambs are having to be put down humanly.
I think how fortunate our little flock is to be kept in through the night whilst they are small so the foxes and birds do not take them.
Although since Saturday we have been having some glorious weather, lets hope it hangs around for a while.
We put Sharon and Claire out with their twin lambs on Saturday for the first time, the lambs where making such a racket, going out into the big wide world must have been something of a shock to them, all that open space for miles around, one of the little ewes I called Katie was making such a din she kept running back and forward first along the road to her mum Claire then back to me at the byre, she was not sure if she should be in or out and could not make her mind up.
Well she settled down after a short while and the four of them started springing about in the field and jumping over the burn at the other end.
They raced each other up and down the field, it was great to see them all healthy and running about, I could sit and watch them all day.
I have called Claire's Lambs Katie and Rabbie, Sharon's are named Nelly and Raff, as I said we are still thinking of a name for Myran's lamb.
I took some photographs which I promise to post later once I get a few of Myran's wee lamb.
We have been busy clearing the byres out, the cows are gradually staying out through the night, they must be finding something to eat on the Mointeach Mhor, they are still coming in on the morning for their breakfast of supplements, grass is not enough just yet.
So we have managed to clear out and wash down the big shed, all by hand, we have been spreading the dung on the fields by hand too as the ground is to soft for the tractor as yet.
Myran will stay in until her little pride and joy is a bit stronger.
We were surprised when she popped out as she should no signs of going into labour earlier on when we went in to feed her.
We went back over to the byre after tea just to check all was well for the night before settling down ourselves, my husband went into the byre I was sorting something out in the back byre, when I heard him shouting, I went around to see what was happening, and there she was our little gem, my husband said Myran was pushed against the wall and the wee one was half in and half out of mum, my husband gave her a helping hand and let mum do the rest, Myran was so proud licking and making low hum noises all the time.
I snipped her cord put Iodine on her "belly button" just to make sure she did not get any infections.
But all is well in the lamb shed thank goodness, we are waiting for a couple of calves to be born hopefully I might have some news this weekend.
Craigy and the ewe hogs are all fine, and have quietened down since the new arrivals appeared.
It will soon be time to clip their wool and trim their hoofs, that is a job I do not look forward to.
Lets hope we have a long mild summer this year the land needs a rest from all this rain we have had through the winter.

Some pictures as previously promised

Teeny
Creag Mhor

Our finished shed
Bella Stealing Hay

Cullan and Whiskey enjoying the viewfrom Creag Mhor Hill
View of our Croft
Babs Poppit

Skye Effie the rowan cow's calf
Pal, Prince & Rump Ramp Romp

Pal & Rump Ram Romp

Easter Twins & Twins again

Well it's great news from Creag Mhor last weekend, we had four new additions to our small flock. Sharon and Claire two of our Cheviot's decided to have their babies through the night last Saturday.
We were not expecting them for another week or so but they decided that nature was going to step in and send our little packages early.
Well all three sheep including Myran were in the lambing shed, all settled in for the night, no sign of anything unusual so away to bed we went.
Early Sunday morning last years lambs were making such a commotion we thought something had got into the main shed with them.
So we rushed over to the sheds to find out what all of the noise was about, I was still putting on my waterproofs when my husband shouted over to come quick, I rushed over to the shed and poked my head in thinking all sorts of things, what did I see four new baby lambs running about in the shed.
Everything was so exiting in the shed last years lambs were calling out noisily, the babies were calling out, mums were calling out, we were calling out, you can imagine the racket in there.
We had stalls ready for the new mums to settle with their own lambs so that they bonded.
The only problem was who had had who and which mother's had had them?
Well we finally decided or thought we had which lamb belonged to which mother, Myran was eliminated right away as she was not dirty in the rear end, so she was put out with the hogs (last years lambs).
We watched for a while to see which lamb went to which mother, and put them in their separate pens as I said to bond.
Well we thought we got it correct but we did not, we got there in the end and managed to sort them out.
Sharon and Claire had both given birth to a girl and a boy each.
Sharon's little girl was really small and Claire's little girl was the opposite, the boys were the opposite way round Sharon's was Large and Claire's was small.
Anyway we let them settle down for an hour or so just to make sure they were alright with the lambs they had with them.
Sharon's little girl was so small and weak we ha to intervene, so out came the milking jug and bottle.
I milked Sharon to take some of her colostrum from her to give to the newly named Nelly the lamb.
Nelly took all of the milk, the others managed fine after a little tickle on the bum, we tickle the bum under the tail to make them move towards the teat, it is like their mother nudging them to encourage them to suck, it is far easier than trying to hold them on to a teat with them fighting against you and getting themselves all stressed out.
Well they have come on in leaps and bounds (no pun intended) so I have put a few pictures up for you to see.
Myran last years Champion at the Arisaig Agricultural show is still hanging on to her lambs, as usual she has to be last.
Raff the ram has done a great job, we are so proud of him, needless to say he is proud too....


Well here they are...

Sharon with Nelly & Raff

Raff

Claire with Katie & Rabie

Nosey Katie

Rabbie

Raff & Sharon in Luv....

A day at the sales wahay!!

We had a day away on Saturday 15th March, we traveled up to Dingwall for one of the implement sales that is held at the Auction Mart every so often.

It was a beautiful day and has been since Saturday.

It was good to get away just for a day, we have not had a day away from the croft since Christmas other than collecting Animal feed, this was a day away just to enjoy.

I have never seen so many people at one of these events, it was impossible to park in the car park, people were just abandoning their cars at the side of the road because they could not get in, we were one of those people also, typical farmer mentality abandon your car anywhere and don't bother if it causes a nightmare for anyone else ;-) well we managed to get up onto a grass verge near the entrance so it was not to bad.

The sale started at 10am there was everything there that you could ever wish for if you had silly money to spend on some of the things on offer, a two year old Valtar tractor worth about £22,000 went for £12,100 bargain if you had that kind of money.

We were on the look out for a couple of items, my husband got his calf feeders and I wanted a lawn mower as my old one had decided it could not cope anymore, well I got a bargain, petrol lawnmower all singing and dancing, I am not proud as long as it does what it is designed for I will not complain.

These sales are great for catching up with old friends and meeting new people, the crack as they say was great.

The Auction mart has a well maintained cafe and was busy all day, even though we had to queue it was well worth the wait.

We left about 4.30 and got home about 7.30 it was close to a 200 mile round trip which I can say I truly enjoyed, just to get away for the day and have a sunshiny day too what more could I ask for.

A few pictures of the trip up to Dingwall and the venue: