Treshnish Farm: February 2020

Monday 24 February 2020

The 2020 scanning

February has been a continuation of the wild and wet weather of January and as we approach the usual weekend for Dan the scan to appear, we anxiously watch the forecast trying to work out when to gather, and trying to fit the weather forecast in with when D and J can help. This year it meant the sheep came in a few days earlier than we would usually bring them in but luckily we had the fields to put them in.

The day Dan came to scan it was wild. Gusts of 50+mph from the west, hitting the fank directly. With wind chill it was bitterly bitterly cold. But D and S were uncomplaining and we were grateful for their help. You need one person (Farmer) on painting, one on pushing up (S) and one on bringing the ewes in to the pens from the yard (D). It all worked well and nearly 600 sheep were scanned in less than 2 hours. The Herdwicks came out on top, scanning at 180%. One should never count your chickens before your eggs have hatched but if they all hold onto and deliver live lambs we might have 40 from 22 mums. Time will tell.

Sunday 23 February 2020

The Bridge over the Ensay Burn

Once or twice a year we need to order tractor diesel which is delivered by lorry. Farmer rang to order it and all appeared to be fine, we were waiting for it to arrive. Then we had a call from the local depot who asked us what the weight limit on our bridge was, because they couldn't deliver until they knew how heavy a lode it could carry. That one phone call kicked off the start of a very unexpected building project!

We had to commission an engineering firm to survey the bridge. This told us that the maximum weight permissible over the bridge was just less than 10T. Oh dear. Most of the lorries weight 14T empty!

We need access across the bridge constantly, and during the autumn and winter we have lorries delivering hay and feed for the sheep, and taking the lambs away. Luckily the lambs had gone before we discovered the weight limit was so low.

We looked into getting a temporary bridge. We could get one delivered to Oban within 5 working days! However it was only guaranteed for 25 years and was more expensive than a bespoke one.

My hope of getting a new bridge in place by Christmas went out of the window. Eventually we agreed with island based TSL Contractors a start date in February and we had a window of just under 3 weeks to get it done.

Farmer had a stressful few weeks juggling weather forecasts and feed and hay delivery dates, hoping for the feed to arrive when it wasnt pouring with rain. The lorries would disgorge their cargo into the walkers quarry on the main road, and Farmer would cart it bit by bit back across the weak old bridge. Thankfully it all worked out fine, but just bringing the hay across took him the best part of the day with a radio that didn't work in the tractor!

The contractors arrived on time and got the job done on time, in spite of horrendous weather and storms. There were a few moments when we wondered whether they would finish on time, when the wrong bolts were sent, or when the cement lorry was delayed, but the guys working on the job were always cheerful and positive about finishing on time, which I appreciated hugely.

Digging out the surface of the old bridge

The timber decking

Waiting for the concrete lorry

The old wall of the original bridge is now exposed

The grid mesh arrives

Will soon be in use

Stage one complete

The girders have been dropped in to place

Positioning them is an exact science

Beginning to deck the bridge

The stones lying on the grass are the coping stones from the wall of the original bridge

Decking done and handrails are bolted down

Concrete ramps can be driven on by cars now - JUST in time for guests arriving at Toechtamhor and East Cottages.

TSL have gone, leaving Farmer to finish off the fencing and gates.

There it is. The finished bridge. (and the reason why the renovations to Studio sunroom have had to be delayed!). Thank you to all at TSL.

Monday 10 February 2020

February 10th and the first post of the year..

I know I have been blogging less and less, but this is the longest gap ever. The main reason being that Farmer and I headed south for January. We spent a month away leaving Treshnish in many capable hands: B and S who stayed in Shian and looked after the dogs, hens, bird feeders and checked in on the cottages for any storm damage (there was a little); RM who came over the hill every day to feed the sheep and redo the fence in the Haunn field; DG who was on standby to feed if RM couldn't do it and sort out any mechanical issues that arose (with vehicles or boilers) and SM who would come and do winter maintenance and storm repairs, which he did. To them all, we are really grateful as it was really good to be away. It was even better to get home though!

Here are a few photographs to fill the blog gap from our trip away. In 31 days we had many more wet days than dry ones - but we still had a great holiday!