We seem to have plunged head first into this larger scale farming thing! Soon after taking on the farm, we bought some new pedigree Highland Cows – who are all doing well and having calves as we speak.
We had a huge amount of snow and ice over Dec, Jan and Feb – which in some ways was great as there was not the usual mud, rain and winds that one comes to expect during a winter on Skye – but also meant alot more feeding. Back to rain and mud now though…….but the grass is starting to grow, and the daffies are nearly out, which means spring is just around the corner!
We had a very sad week last week – and it just one of those things that happens when you farm animals – if you remember, we had bought a new beef shorthorn bull in November to put over the cows next time around. We still had two other highland bulls that needed to be sold, so we took them to the rare breeds sale in Dingwall on the Saturday and sold them on – it was hard to see Calin go, but he would have been coming over on his own stock, so he had to go. The next day, we went to check the cows, and the new bull had sore feet and had taken himself off, over a fence, into a forestry block. To cut a long story short, and after a week of vet visits and having to lift the bull in a sling with the tractor onto his feet every 3 hours, sadly he had to be put down on Sunday. We are still no wiser as to why he went off his feet in the first place, but bulls are such big animals that any time off their feet starts their muscles wasting, and the longer they are down, the less likely they are to recover. So we went from 3 bulls to no bulls in the space of a week, and are now in a bit of a pickle as to what we are going to do when the cows come back into season……..it’s a few months down the line as they are all calving just now, so we will have to do some juggling and try to get a new bull in that time.
Our pigs have all had piglets over the past month, and we are now the proud owners of 35 gorgeous piglets! I took some great pics of the Tamworth having hers – piglets are so independent when they are born – they come out rearing to go and sometimes fighting! They are little comics too – as soon as they can, they go out rampaging – they are just like a little possy of teenagers checking everything out and finding mischief!
Five down, eleven to go!
new born piglet number six
in less than a minute the piglet has found its way to milk!
Exhausted mum feeds the newborns
Two of our sows are Sandy Blackspot crossed with Wild Boar, and they are sisters we have had since they were weaned. They always have their piglets within hours of each other, and raise them together.
One sister will babysit whilst the other is out foraging and visa versa
within hours of being born, the piglets are running around and being quite independent!
So I mentioned the 17.5km of fencing needing done on the farm in my last post, and at present I am putting together an application to enter the farm into a moorland management and environmental scheme which will assist towards the fencing. Our aim in taking on the farm has always been to rebalance the ecosystem in this beautiful place using native breeds of animals – low impact, but great for encouraging biodiversity. It will all be a slow process, and one involving much juggling of resources, but it will be worth it in the long term! In the mean time, as you can see we’ve our hands full with all the new babies, and lambs are just about to start coming…..the cycle continues!
One last thing – Jess has always wanted a pony, and to date we have resisted the temptation. Keith is totally Mr practical when it comes to animals, and they must have a purpose. So he cleverly concocted a plan that rather than buying her a pony, we could buy her a tame heiffer cow. He felt this would be much more useful as she would eventually produce calves. So Jess is delighted to be the proud owner of a beautiful dun heiffer called Princess.
Jess and Princess
I imagine one of these days we will eventually get the pony………but in the mean time, Jess and Princess are best friends and will grow up together!
Keith and Rachael Jackson's Blog 