Changes afoot

Summer has definitely lost out to Autumn, which to my mind started early.  And today, there are only 2 Swallows left in the barn.  The others have already flown.   It feels very quiet around the farm yard without their graceful flight and calls.

So the lambs are all sold.  They went on a lorry last week to Oban with Farmer taking the extras along in the livestock trailer.   Some fetched a good price, others an abysmal one.  However, overall, we sold more lambs than last year, and brought home a larger cheque even though our average was down.  

What is slowly dawning on us is that we would be better off moving the hill flock towards Cheviot, rather than clinging on to Blackface, which none of the finishers seem to want.

We can both remember the farm advisor Donald saying to us when we were first at Treshnish (24 years ago!) that the hill would be too hard for Cheviots.  That has always been in the back of our minds whenever we have discussed the idea of changing - because it was the first advice we had had on the matter.  Since then several other people have assured us that Cheviots would do fine at Treshnish and indeed there were Cheviots here before there were Blackface.    Our neighbour on the Torloisk side has moved over to Cheviot and they seem to be fine!

So we will be buying additional Cheviot tups to put to 150 Blackface ewes.  That should give us about 50 cross ewe lambs to put on the hill in 2 years time!   You have to think ahead.

Heather on the Sitheans.

From Lainne Sgier rocks across Calgary Bay.

You get a good view of the road towards Treshnish from 100m up!

This is the forest near Langamull.  After felling, before replanting.

And a stunning view over the devastated land to Croig, Quinish and beyond.

Meadowsweets before they seed.

Silverweed turning.

Every few years we cut this Fuchsia back as it is growing into Middle Cottage walls!  It grows back very quickly.

An inquisitive calf.

There has been great excitement around the bird feeders.  A young Sparrowhawk has been practising his hunting.  He still has a long way to go.   We haven't seen him catch anything yet, and he has been attacked by a Buzzard in the trees round the house, and mobbed by Swallows.  Today, while we were standing talking to a guest by the washing line, he swooped several times, clumsily, into the bird feeders but failed to take anything.

The final change is that Daughter is now away at college. The farmhouse is very quiet, and funnily enough the internet seems to be a bit faster...!

WE HAVE SOME SPACES IN OCTOBER IF YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF AN AUTUMN HOLIDAY AT TRESHNISH!  PLEASE GET IN TOUCH AND I CAN GIVE YOU DETAILS OF OUR SPECIAL OFFER! 

No matter what - it is tupping time

No matter what else is going on in the world. It is the 19th of November so the tups must go out. Well, a couple of days ago, it was the 19th and so the tups got their war paint painted on, and numbers scribbled on their sides.

Their feet were all checked a couple of weeks ago, and the special foot bath stuff we brought home from a huge farm supplies place on the edge of Dartmoor put to good use. Trailer loaded and off they went. Farmer took Friend with him to take a few pictures as I am a bit distracted by the Education Dept of Argyll and Bute at the moment (to say the least).

And that's it - the tups are out. These guys standing under the wind turbine are the Reserves -they have to wait a while longer. The hoggs - blackface and cheviot - are indoors at the moment, taking a few days off from grass ration to learn about lamb and ewe nuts. They are very skitterish, not at all used to farm buildings initially, but they soon calm down and learn to love the shake of the bag.

Serious neglect continues in the garden but a few long suffering veggies survive. We have already had a few frosts but miraculously sweet peas still flower in the Keder, and one last delphinium flowers, unbelievably, in the tunnel. The strawberry leaves have turned as have the blueberries which are so beautiful in every season.

There have been one or two serious blasts of wind in the last week and the turbine has been working hard. We have just received a quote for solar PV panels which we are going to install on the roof of the steading above the laundry.

The Councillors for Argyll and Bute meet again on the 25th, and we are hoping that they will vote to throw out the very flawed Proposal to close 25 schools. We will be there with our banners. Wish us luck!

Sheep and their dogs

Most of the farms on the Isle of Mull are stock farms. There is very little arable land. The type of land - from sea level up to rugged mountain top lends itself well to extensive mainly outdoor livestock farming. And any farmer with sheep (blackface or otherwise) will be tackling, on a daily basis, the same kind of activities as we do at this time of year - and more. There is always something needing to be done. Routine seasonal treatments. Routine checks out on the hill. Routine winter feeding.

Dog on tractor.

This week Farmer treated the rest of our hill ewes and when they were all done, he let them back to the hill.

A pen of hill ewes wait to go through the fank.

Once through the deer proof gate that divides the hill from the in-bye, they slowly and gradually make their way back to the part of the hill they are 'hefted' to. Some live at Crackaig, some on the Sitheans, others along the dramatic shore line - it depends where they were born or where their mothers were born. They have their routines too - one group of ewes, the ones who live on the Sitheans, they come every afternoon to the gate above the Treshnish steading to see if Farmer has opened the gate to let them in and graze the bit of grazing between the 'natural regen' woodland along side the farm track and the farmyard.

Tig and Cap watch what is going on in the fank.

These dogs do a lot of watching. The hole in the wall of the 'fank kennel' was made by Cap (pictured, right) last spring when he decided he didn't want to be left behind one day, and he tried to eat his way out. Thankfully we realised what he was up to before he succeeded.

Hoggs at the troughs in the Haunn field.

Spread out and grazing quietly in the open grassy field surrounding the Haunn cottages are the hoggs. Two jagged lines of troughs are laid out at random, enough for 140 mouths to eat at one time. The January sun has not yet risen above the hill and a cold shadowy air lingers. No wind blows and the sounds of the visually calm sea and its gentle waves crashing on the cliff ledges below the Point are surprisingly loud in the quiet of the still morning light.

At the first distant sound of the quad, the animals slowly and quietly begin to move. As the engine noise gets louder, one or two hungry hoggs start bleating and once the quad appears they begin to run from all corners of the field. By the time Farmer starts emptying last nights rain from the troughs, with todays bag of food on his shoulder, he is being gently mobbed. The dogs watch from the sidelines. The bag is opened, the feed is trailed into each trough, the cries are silenced as they eat - and as they finish, they slowly drift off and back into the far corners of the wide open field leaving the zig zag trough lines as deserted as they were before.

Lanark Tup Sales, sun shines on the turbine

Lanark Mart: RING 1 in full swing.

An important part of the farming calendar is making sure you have the right number of tups (rams) and that they are fit and healthy for the tupping season (which starts in November).

Inevitably you may need to replace some of the older ones and it is always good to introduce some new blood to the flock, perhaps some improved breed characteristics too. So, to this end, this week we went to buy some new tups at the Blackface tup sales held annually at Lanark Market.

This is an all day event. Before the sale starts, everyone wanders around the Penning Areas - looking at what is on offer. Alot of time and effort goes into ensuring the stock look their best for the sale. Every animal has been shampooed, preened, brushed and shined, made to look its best. Dyed wools, neatly clipped, oiled horns, clean feet and legs, horns branded with their unique number, any blemishes carefully concealed. These guys have never looked so good.

Each pen of tups has the name of the farm on it - with all the mystique of a vineyard. Names well known in the Blackface Sheep Breeders world - Allanfauld, Dyke, Troloss, Midlock to name but a few. Reputations formed over years and generations.

To the uninitiated like me I am ashamed to say - a tup is a tup is a tup. I am not sure I can tell a prize winner from a loser but those in the know, will know - and can hazard a guess at who might sell a tup for the highest price.

There are 2 sale rings. To sell your tups through ring 1, you have to have reached a certain average price in ring 2 at previous sales. This is enough of a hint for us to know that we will stick in ring 2 for our selection.

Early on in the day there were not so many buyers around, but during the course of the day the market filled up, like a huge party slow to get going. By mid afternoon the whole place was buzzing - both rings busy, and great chatter in the bars and restaurant - deals being done, acquaintances being renewed, hands shaken, laughter shared and a great kindred atmosphere. Buyers come from all over Scotland and northern England - we weren't the only folk from the Isle of Mull there, and I heard the auctioneer calling out names from the Isle of Skye too.

So we spent most of the day in ring 2, except for recreational visits to ring 1 to see if any exciting prices were being reached (£17,000 was one we heard!). By mid afternoon we had bid considerably less for 6 average but healthy looking tups -including one from Chirmorrie - no. 533, whose 'pedigree' you can see here.

At the end of the day, the tups were loaded into a lorry bound for Mull and we made our own separate way home.

We got home to brilliant sunshine and clear skies - wonderful October holidays weather.

One or two neighbours have been over to look at the turbine already. We do enjoy showing people round the turbine, the woodchip boiler and where the conversations lead; and we are happy to show our holiday cottage guests round if they are interested. Here she is, looking towards Calgary beach.