大象传媒

Tis time for the kye to come into the byre for the winter, we've left them out as long as we can (They being 1 pedigree aberdeen angus cow, 1 pedigree aberdeen angus heifer (beef) 1 pedigree aberdeen angus bullock( our future gene's) and 1 shetland x hereford (in calf) heifer ), but its been so wet recently that they are starting to just make a right sotter out of the fields, so tomorrow we will get the byre ready & if there be still enough light after that we'll get them in, if not it'll be thursday morning.

Pigs need to be moved too, they're going where we grew Bere this year, 2 young gilts are to be taken off for the freezer, & the boar & sow can run together until jan as *fingers crossed* if all the interest the boar got from the sow was productive, we should be having wee piglets early feb, hopefully 6 to 8 so that we can do all our orders & have 2 for ourselves for next winter.

We've got ourselves a handsome new ram for next year, and whats more, he is pure shetland. After the carry on with the lambs this year ive decided not to bother with sheep much any more, I went through the flock & kept on the best 7, who looked good possibles at throwing me a lamb capable of a really super fleece when put to our new lamb (our ewes are hill bred shetlands), I'll have to see if i can get a photo of the new guy tomorrow, he's still a peerie bit shy of me, but carrots are helping to get over that.

We've been having the *do we ring him or do we not* discussion about the wee bull, Im not much in the favor of using a means of inflicting pain & giving cause to anger, as a way of controlling an animal. He's a lad thats always going to have a lot of one on one from us, limits will be set & stuck too, and above all, he will be respected, we plan to be buying another 2 pedigree aberdeen angus heifers next year, so for his first few years he will have just the 4 girls, give him a year or two to come to full growth, build his stamina etc, and then we think we'll go for 2 more heifers & start working towards building up a bloodline of decent respect, for that reason, we wont be using him on anybody elses cows, when your building up a new bloodline, the last thing you do is go & water it down in cross breeds, our shetland x heifer wont matter since she is just there to produce beef for the freezer on a yearly basis & since shes such a lovely steady girl, maby a bit of milking (dont panic, we'll buy a pasturizer, shame to have such a perfect house cow & not make use of her).

No, I dont miss take aways ! we've never lived in a place for the past 15yrs where take aways have been an option !