June 2010
Lambing Blogs: April 08* April 08 Part 2* May 08
June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08
January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09
January 10 February 2010 March 2010
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6th June Lovely holiday
Back from our lovely trialing holiday to Ettrick. We had a brilliant time and the dogs ran well. Bit disappointed that Mist who was injured at lambing time got dramatically worse and I had to stop running her after the first week. It's not much fun running just one dog!
Ffi was running superbly and ended up with 3rd, 5th, 2nd, 6th, 3rd. Mist who ran in lesss trials because of her shoulder ended up with 6th, 5th, 5th.
Knowing how much work I've got on my (our!) plate and with Mist injured and Ffi not getting any younger (she is 10 in July) although she looks and acts like a 4 yr old and with Ghost getting older and a dog who I only work on his own and don't trial, the time has come to start panicking about a replacement. To this end I came home with Lad to see how we get on.
Lad is Silk's father.
On the subject of Silk, she is doing very well and growing fast. I took her to sheep tonight and she showed a bit of interest.
River, a very handsome grandson of Ffion.
7th June Back to the grind stone
Back at work today and it's all go as usual. After catching up on paper work I set off to see my sheep. The lambs are growing well and the ewes are ready to shear. I used Lad for all the gathering and we are definitely becoming more of a team.
Lad on and right and his litter brother Spot on the left who visited briefly. They certainly don't look alike!
9th June Good Lad!
Lad is going really well and I've got him working with Ffi already.
14th June Good Lass!
Silk has started running at a very tender age indeed. She looks very nice!
16th June Cattle
Today I delivered our new cattle to their new home. We have purchased two pedigree Shetland calves and two Shetland cross cows. The Shetland crosses were purchased because they are very tame and easy to handle. The calves are also very laid back and friendly. We will breed the pedigree ones pure in the future.
Kirsty on the left and Fleur on the right are the calves, first off the trailer.
Followed by Sally on the left and Runtie on the right. Sally is an Angus cross Shetland so is a bit bigger than the rest. She is also halter trained and one can approach her in the field like a horse, put the halter on and take her for a walk. She is amazing!
The cattle will return to my care later in the year!
17th June Gathering
Today we gathered the hoggs off the hill as they are being clipped on Wednesday. Above Ffi with part of the drove.
Lad pushing the stragglers down. Ffi is kepping the right hand side.
We watch from higher up the hill as she sheep work their way down.
Ffi (cannot be seen) pushes the last few into the paddock. Nice having a well trained dog, means you don't have to walk down this sheer drop!
Lad holding a ewe and her pair of lambs off the rest of the flock.
Cheviot x Shetland ewe with a cracking pair of twin texel lambs at foot, born mid April.
19th June Mist is first at the Scotttish National
Yes really. Might be the only time I can say I am first at the National so I am going to say it again. Mist is first (on) at the National. EEK! Ffi is on late on the second day. Ffi's son Corrie Dhu Spot is also running, he will be on around lunch time, on the third day. The National is from the 5th to the 7th of August.
We've been busy with the clipping this week. The first lot of ewes were done on Monday followed by the hoggs yesterday. We will do the remainder of the ewes next week.
Texel tup gets his wool off.
Wool rollers in action. Each fleece has to be rolled individually and packed into wool sheets then it is sent to the British Wool Marketing Board who sell the wool for most farms in the UK.
Ffi puts one lot of ewes and lambs back to their field.
A tremendous pen of Texel x lambs, even if I do say so myself!
A few more ewes back to their field.
Very early in the morning and I am the first person there to enjoy the peace! Hoggs can just be seen in the distance. (These are the hoggs gathered off the hill on the 17th of June entry).
Everything is set up ready the night before to avoid time wasting in the morning.
Well through the shearing. We were lucky with the weather as it was slightly cloudy and the large tree we were under also afforded shade for most of the day. Perfect conditions for all concerned.
I got the hoggs in mainly with Lad although Ffi helped a bit too. It was quite hard for the dogs are the grass is long and the hoggs can't see them until the last moment but he did quite well and we got them in without incident.