Last time through the fank this year

Tupping has finished.  All the ewes have been put through the fank, they have been checked over and given a bolus with Cobalt and Selenium in it, plus a drench against liver fluke.  

Our first Christmas here in 1994, the ewes were all out on the hill and the tups were out on the hill with them, supposedly for 6 weeks.  A ewe's cycle is 17 days so giving them 6 weeks with the tup means if they don't mate on their first cycle there is a second chance 17 days later.    We didn't expect the tups to be taken off the hill until the first week in January when their 6 weeks ended.  So imagine our surprise when the tups all started appearing back at the farm on Boxing Day!   

The next winter we brought all the ewes in off the hill and put them in the fields for tupping.  Having them in smaller fields rather than on the open hill meant that the tups had less far to travel to find a fertile ewe and would be easier for us to check up on.  In days gone before, traditional hill farms would have had a tupping shepherd but we couldn't afford one of those!   We were told by an old farmer locally that this was dangerous, that they would die being in the fields.  Luckily we were right and he was wrong so we have done the same thing every year since.  

Our 6 weeks was up just before Christmas so Farmer put small lots through the fank on his own and had DG helping him for the big lot.  I took them lunch up in the shed, socially distant and well draughty! 

The ewes are now back on the hill with the old ewes in one field, the Herdwicks in another and the Cheviots in a third.  The two larger lots are being fed now with the snacker, whilst the Herdwicks get theirs by hand! 

Outdoor meetings and checking sheep

We had a meeting earlier in the week with the RSPB - to talk about Corncrakes.  Corncrake numbers are falling, and so the RSPB are embarking on a project to support farmers and crofters in doing more to enhance existing or create new habitats for Corncrakes.  Dave Sexton, the Mull RSPB officer, brought Louise from Islay to look and see if we could do anything more than we are already doing. 

We have been farming with wildlife in mind for 25 years and the fields with the best Corncrake potential are managed to enable ground nesting birds to safely rear several broods.  

Because we have already got a management agreement on most of the in bye fields, the only fields not in the scheme are needed for grazing when the other fields are closed off.   It would be lovely to be able to do more, but we can't! 

 

Occasionally out and about

Loch Pealloch, on the way to Tobermory, late November afternoon.

A walk up Glenforsa, on a winters day.  It seems so mountainous compared to the low Treshnish hills! 

At old Rhoail there is a ruined settlement, cleared of it's people nearly 200 years ago.  With a newer and long ruined house built in the 1870s, presumably for the sheep farmer.  We went looking for a fank but it is hidden in the forest now. 

Roots of Rowan trees dancing in air, now that the walls they grew out from have fallen down. 

On the way back down the glen in the late afternoon sun, an inquisitive Highland cow. 

Loch Pealloch again on the first crisp winter's day. Snow on the ground.