Bluebell time of year

The last of the lambs away

Real autumn weather at the moment. When the sun comes out the light is wonderful. It is not cold, but it is, at times, very very wet.

Farmer had booked a livestock trailer onto the ferry to take the last batch of lambs to Oban Market.  Tuesday 27th was the breeding sale, so the one we needed to get our ewe lambs to.

We keep about 160 ewe lambs to overwinter and use as future breeding ewes.   Last winter we overwintered them in the cattle shed.  This winter we think we may do half outside and half inside.  This will cut the cost down a bit but also gives them the opportunity to learn the different fields so that in future they are familiar with being in fields rather than on the hill.

Cheviots are getting noticeably higher prices in the market at the moment.  I am obviously writing this after the sale, so can tell you that these Cheviot lambs fetched over £20 more per head than the lovely Blackface lambs we sold the same day.   This year it seems Blackface are really not popular with the buyers.

Walter was on hand, and trigger ready, to help Farmer throughout the sorting out procedure.

Ever watching his Master.

A little damp as it had rained earlier, but overnight they would dry out in the cattle shed.

This handsome Massey Ferguson 240 is over the road at our neighbours.  I couldn't resist walking up to take a photograph on my way home one afternoon.

Out like a Lion

Amazing to think that the other afternoon, we spent happy hours down on the boathouse beach in the sun without coats, enjoying spring sunshine warmth on our backs, and listening out for oystercatchers.  Tonight, in sharp contrast, the wind is roaring round the chimneys and the wind turbine is doing very well.  This time we haven't had any snow - not yet anyway, though other parts of the island have -  our neighbour's hill was white this morning.

Driving past Calgary beach late this afternoon, the beach was deserted, turquoise waters calmly lapping the sands.  Further up the Bay towards Treshnish, foaming waters rippled and grew in to roughly undulating white flowing waves, breaking and pushing and churning, making a line of tidal knots between the two Points (Treshnish and Caliach).

Over the course of the evening, the wind blew up and we made sure doors were shut and large flat items were well secured.  (like the sheeting board for the new recycling shed which had been innocently left out in the yard, and would metamorphose into lethal weapons if the wind caught hold of them).

On a night like this, the cows will miss the shelter of the cattle shed.  They are on the hill above Toechtamhor.  Farmer takes feed up to them twice a day - on the 'good days', this gives them the best of both worlds as they are out in fresh air but also getting the supplementary feeding they still need because the grass hasn't started to grow yet.  But tonight, it is wild outside - though there will be areas to shelter and I imagine the calves will be nestling in close to keep warm.

The Recycling Shed?  Yes, we are hiding the wheelie bins in a shed.  Out of sight but definitely not out of mind.   We very much hope that our eco friendly guests will help us to improve on the increasing amounts recycled from the holiday cottages every year.

Our turbine is turning

On Monday afternoon the long anticipated Proven 6kW turbine finally arrived! And it looked huge lying there in bits on the back of a heavily laden pickup. The pickup drove gingerly into the field, up a non existent track to the site above the cattle shed.

The installers, 2 from Turbine Services and 1 from On Site Generation, worked away from 8.30 this morning, with Farmer and tractor on hand to lift and move the heavy components as and when required.

The tractor lifted. The pole sections were fitted into its 15m length. Internal workings were assembled. The generator was attached. More components were added. It was winched up using a Turfer. We watch with interest - we will be doing this the next time when it needs a service. By midday it was vertical!

It was bolted down.

By 4pm it was spinning. Electrics were installed. Controls were adjusted. It was ready to generate.

By 6pm we were using our own electricity and exporting to the grid.

So there it is - one Proven WT6000 wind turbine, on a 15m pole, standing elegantly above the farm steading poised to help reduce our carbon footprint. Using our own Renewable Energy will make the office and laundry for the Treshnish and Haunn Cottages more eco friendly, it will provide electricity for the Studio holiday cottage and the rest of the steading building. We had wanted to supply the woodchip boiler (pictured above with the turbine) as well, but it wasn't possible to wire everything into the same supply so its requirement is provided by the national grid.

It is going to take a while for all this to sink in, but finally we have turned the wind resource here into something positive and empowering!