End of another long week tramping around the country, now home for a weekend of farming and relaxation. Gathering the fell on Sunday to get the rest of the yows down ready for tupping, we have two tups running at the moment so should have some early lambs come March.
Were getting nearer to housing the cattle the grass is about eaten now and we’ve started feeding the cows silage outside, so were hoping the weather stays dryish over the coming week to prolong the job.
Three collections on Monday then down to Dorchester, Southampton and Chichester so should keep us busy…
Good morning John,
Interesting to see the two lads tidying up the porker, the old way eh,
They must use the bolt gun, cant see a generator big enough and do they take all the rubbish away.
I remember when I was about 6 creeping up on the farmer next door in an old railway cutting, my brother and I thought he was going to give this pig a bath as a fire was under the tub, what came next allowed us to cover about 1 mile in about 30 seconds, we laughed about that over the years, cheers, Harvey
HRS:
Good morning John,
Interesting to see the two lads tidying up the porker, the old way eh,
They must use the bolt gun, cant see a generator big enough and do they take all the rubbish away.
I remember when I was about 6 creeping up on the farmer next door in an old railway cutting, my brother and I thought he was going to give this pig a bath as a fire was under the tub, what came next allowed us to cover about 1 mile in about 30 seconds, we laughed about that over the years, cheers, Harvey
Harvey they are electronically stunned off the mains then bled, he disposes of all waste takes the meat off for the sausages and joints the rest, they come back a couple days later.
On the farming front had me muck heap spread yesterday, two ginormus spreaders and a loader tractor and it only took about an hour, thousands of pounds worth of kit and a charge of only £150 so well happy with the outcome, cheers Buzzer.
Had a quick chat today with Wrighty as he was passing through my manor but was on a tight schedule so never had time to stop for a cot, next time perhaps and we can put a face to the pictures mate, nearly met Punch Dan as well and sure we will get there some day, cheers Buzzer.
Buzzer:
Had a quick chat today with Wrighty as he was passing through my manor but was on a tight schedule so never had time to stop for a cot, next time perhaps and we can put a face to the pictures mate, nearly met Punch Dan as well and sure we will get there some day, cheers Buzzer.
Evening Buzzer
We will manage it one day when we’ve a bit more time, got loaded at Chichester and then picked a tractor up on Romney Marsh now parked up for the night at Toddington 12hr50mins so that’ll do.
Busy today fed all steers then moved feeders between two gates in readiness to bring them in of the grass and into the barn for winter probably at the weekend, also brought the feed trailer up from the field and installed in the barn ready. They need to come in now as the grass has not a lot of goodness in it and its getting colder at night too, Buzzer.
Hi Buzzer you look after them store cattle well, that’s what they are called up this way, bought to feed on and sometimes on again. This drover bronze statue is on the entrance to Dingwall Mart, a reminder of days gone by, drovers collected a sizeable herd from crofts and farms and headed for southern markets, this could take weeks, the drover mindful that the animals were given time to feed and water along the way, arriving at market in best condition.
Oily
Moved the feed troughs out of the field yesterday to get the steers used to coming out between the two gates ready for when we drive them up the road and into the barn at the week end, they came out slowly but I had to wait till they finished there grub and then usher them back in the field when they had finished, sure beets trying to chase them as they just get wound up, Buzzer.
Back home for a weekend of farming and the weather has turned a bit rough up ere, Alice has spent the day bringing the cows in and they are now munching silage and enjoying the comfort of being dry. Sold four bulls at Leyburn auction today and they averaged £1010 so quite pleased, tomorrow is at Hawes auction selling horned gimmers but with prices for lambs down this year we may be giving them away.
Off up scotland on monday with concrete panels to a farm near Oban, so that should keep us busy for a while then taking Thur/Fri off for tup sales aye it’s all go…
Morning Wrighty,
Nice looking motor, dont see a lot of tag axle units these days, I can understand why you use them on your work but tell me, can you still dump air in the tag when down and fully loaded to get a little more traction on the drive axle ■■? Harvey
Oily thanks for the picture of the Bronze drover bet that cost a wee bit. Today mustered up half a dozen helpers to bring in 21 steers, only a short distance up the lane so we had to explain to several car drivers what was going on some are patient others a little hassled anyways all was going well till one steer decided he was not coming out of the field, in the end we gave up with him but put two back in to calm him down and brought the rest on up so not at all a complete success, we will get him in the end but the 3 amigo’s are gunna get wet tonight as its forecast heavy all day tomorrow. This is frustrating but sometimes patience is the only way, no wonder its a virtue, cheers Buzzer.
PS, Wrighty reckon you had a wee bit of a soak today eh.
HRS:
Morning Wrighty,
Nice looking motor, dont see a lot of tag axle units these days, I can understand why you use them on your work but tell me, can you still dump air in the tag when down and fully loaded to get a little more traction on the drive axle ■■? Harvey
Evening Harvey
Yes it is possible to dump the air to give more traction but it takes most of the weight off the steer axle, making it hard work when trying to manouver. Will no doubt get chance to use it on Monday the last part of my journey from taynuilt to Kilchrenan near Oban is about 6 miles of single track road with passing places.
Yes Buzzer it was very wet and windy this morning and we still got wet through the waterproofs, the cattle seemed to be enjoying being dry and munching silage so that was a good job done. Tomorrow is another day of getting tups ready for the sales in a couple of weeks.
Evening Harvey
Yes it is possible to dump the air to give more traction but it takes most of the weight off the steer axle, making it hard work when trying to manouver. Will no doubt get chance to use it on Monday the last part of my journey from taynuilt to Kilchrenan near Oban is about 6 miles of single track road with passing places.
Cheers Wrighty.
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Wow !! they give you some nice places to get to dont they !! not a lot in Kilchrenan but a small pub and its on the road to Taychreggan on the waters edge,about anothe 3 miles further down.This was the old drove road they used to swim the cattle accross the lock on route to market. The road from Taychreggan to Oban is very tight indeed, keep your mirrors in, cheers. Harvey
Just a little update, yesterday it peed down most of the day and when I did go on me rounds there were no sign of the three amigos so I left them but today two were in sight and the black beast was lurking but very aware, anyways I put the food in the trough and the two came straight away but Mr hesitant stayed back so I hid behind the hedge and kept still and in the end he gave in and joined the other two, keep on doing that all week and we will have another try at getting them in at the weekend but we will have to be on our metal easy, easy catchy monkey, cheers Buzzer
Busy day up ere and what glorious weather, tipped Kilchrenan then ran down to Campbeltown and loaded a digger for Peterhead so that should keep us going tomorrow.
Wrighty that scenery certainly looks lovely but a different story if it wuz raining eh, you seem to do a lot of those concrete panels and they are very strong ideal for the wall on a barn for a cattle yard and so quick to install compared to a block wall. They used them on my last building with Yorkshire boarding up above for ventilation a very good system as you need plenty of air circulation especially when the muck builds up as this generates heat as well. Off to do me feed rounds in a while and take the water bowser back down to the marsh, only a couple more weeks of that and we can park them up for the Winter, Cheers Buzzer.
Very dull and rainy day here so I decided to do a batch of jam, strawberry, red and green gooseberries in equal quantities, ended up with fifteen 1lb pots and a litlen so more for the store cupboard, the checkered lid one is for a woman who buys eggs here and makes very good marmalade so I refill her jar in the hope another one of hers will come my way, cheers Buzzer.
Hi Wrighty, you got grand weather for your trip to Kilchrenan, just as a matter of interest what route did you take for Campbeltown, Taynuilt Oban, Taynuilt Inveraray, or take the shortcut by Dalavich to Lochgilphead and onwards, I used to deliver fuel to a Stewarts timber haulage yard at Dalavich, every time I went it was what I’d imagine a nightmare is, Have a good week great to follow your travels, Bobs
sheepman:
Hi Wrighty, you got grand weather for your trip to Kilchrenan, just as a matter of interest what route did you take for Campbeltown, Taynuilt Oban, Taynuilt Inveraray, or take the shortcut by Dalavich to Lochgilphead and onwards, I used to deliver fuel to a Stewarts timber haulage yard at Dalavich, every time I went it was what I’d imagine a nightmare is, Have a good week great to follow your travels, Bobs
Evening Sheepman
I took the route down to Inveraray which seemed ok, loaded a 5t digger at Campbeltown and parked up near Clachan for the night. Set off Tuesday morning and tipped mi digger near Peterhead, then ran across to Inverurie to load a trailer and then down to Stracathro for the night. Ran down to Kinross this morning and loaded a 215hp Deutz tractor and tipped that at Langwathby this afternoon, ran back to our yard dropped the trailer off and parked it up, now off until Monday going to the tup sales at Kirkby Stephen to see if we can grab a bargain…
