Some Club Members News from past Magazines
A Report from The Carrick Herd
By Linda Shaw
I
was expecting my first kids on the 1st February. Chloe and Isolde were both mated on the same day and should have kidded then. It came and went without event. The next day I had the dentist so Isolde kidded while I was away. I had 2 male kids ordered from her, so she had 2 females Tholia and Titania, actually I was quite glad she kidded as she didn’t bother last year when she should have had her first kidding.Chloe held on until the evening of the 6th, when I was out milking, she had that pre-occupied look that says “I’m going to kid soon”. An hour later she was straining, but after another half hour nothing was showing , so we had to investigate. Geoff found a kid coming back first, he delivered it safely, a female. Chloe stopped pushing and concentrated on her kid, but a half hour later she was pushing again, without result, so it was back inside to find a male with his head back and a female tail first, both ok. Chloe was exhausted but seemed physically sound, but the next day she would not get up and had not cast the afterbirth. The vet came and got bits out and put a pessary in. We got Chloe up every day with great difficulty, and after about 10 days she it on her own. However she has obviously sustained some damage as her hips look a bit high and she walks with a limp. I had a male and female kid ordered, and one of the females went to Don Downie. I shall not be able to kid her again so I may keep the male Ciaran, as he and his sister Ciara are nice looking kids.
Next up was Roisin, Natasha's daughter, too was 6 days late, but eventually produced twins, a male and female. The male was promised to an open farm, so we put a ring on him, the female Tam is probably the best kid I have. (luckily it is the male that bears Natasha's white flash, as these kids are BA.) Needles to say, the castrate is still here as Foot & mouth intervened 2 days after he was born and no one has been allowed to go any were since. We kept thinking the restrictions wouldn’t be on too long—with hindsight he should have been put down. Roisin is managing just over 4 kg, she has quite a tidy udder, but she is rake thin.
Natasha kidded a week later, also 6 days late, and produced triplets with no problems at all, 2 females and a male. The male Tamlin was ordered, but there again he’s stuck here too. He is very long and rangy , but his sisterTamsin & Tamarisk are quite small. Natasha is churning out her usual 7.5 kg but still managing to maintain better body condition that Roisin. I think its because she eats non-stop. Her udder is as nice as ever.
I had to get an injection to bring Madonna on heat, & she was mated 4 times in 12 days & eventually kidded in April. She was huge, my son Christian said when she lays down she spread across her pen like an oil slick.
The grand children were here when she kidded, so I was not impressed when she produced one male kid. We searched inside her to see if we could find any more kids, her shape has hardly changed at all.
Isolde some wired psychological problem where her udder was more like a milking goatling with about 2Kgs a day. She also wanted to be milked 10 times a day. Every time she got out of her pen she jumped on to the milking table. She wouldn’t eat because she had to stand looking out of her pen door, in case the opportunity arose to get on the milking table. My sanity (and possibly her life) was saved by a cute blackie pet lamb called Issy—they are inseparable and Isolde now has a proper udder.
Despite all these kids we still have too much milk, and I can’t just nip up to the market and buy calves. We also have 7 calves that we reared last year who should have gone to the market. The thought of having to keep them through another winter doesn’t bear thinking about, not to mention this years lamb crop….and all those kids.
(Taken from the Autumn edition of The Highland Goat magazine)
news from gask
By Lilian Scobie
When I went to the BGS committee meeting in London. I left home at 5.45am for Inverness airport, it was raining hard and a bit chilly, low cloud most of the way to London but on arrival it was sunny. A friend picks me up at Gatwick and takes me into the West End of London where the meeting takes place, The University of Westminster to be exact - sounds grand but it sure isn't - so here I am in London, a place where I worked and lived close to for a number of years, hating every minute of it! Especially this traffic jam that we were in. I don't mean hating the meeting just being in the big city. When we came out of the meeting it was cloudy and on my way back to the airport it was raining. My plane took off 7.55 pm five minutes early, it was cloudy nearly all the way home, but wonderful above those clouds with the sun shining, on getting close to Inverness the skies suddenly cleared, I could clearly see the Grampian and the Cairngorm mountains and then close to home over the
Monadhleith range and looking down on three lochs near home and then just glimpsing Loch Ness before turning to the Moray Firth which looked splendid in the evening sunlight, we arrived 15 minutes early after a good meal of salmon, new potatoes and asparagus (BA really tried hard this time). Driving my car was sheer pleasure the roads were empty, the evening was wonderful and what's more I was nearly home! Molly and Brin my two dogs went ecstatic - you would have thought that I had been away for days and it felt like it I was so pleased to be home, in the quite, wonderful place that I live. So in the long run it does me good to go down to the city because it always makes me appreciate all that I have. Do we all feel like this - or is it me getting old? You might also like to know that I sat next to the boss during the meeting!
We have a new hall in my local village where we often have concerts, usually Gaelic bands, last night we had a band from Cape Breton, they have a Gaelic name, Slainte Mhath (Good health), they are traveling around the country so if they are anywhere near you they are well worth seeing. The band consists of, a Piper, drummer, fiddle players, keyboard player, and some step dancing. If this sounds tradition music it sure as heck isn't! There is a strong sense of rock - even in the pipes! The band stayed B&B with me after the concert, (I had to give up my own bed - slept in the Portacabin thankfully I have two dogs as hot water bottles) - and a nicer bunch you could not have met. They are playing all over the UK, even right down in Sidmouth! Go see them if you can. Today I have been picking chanterelles, this year there seems to be a bumper crop, and earlier than usual, harvested four pounds easily. Is the same to be said about mushrooms in the rest of the countryside? Anybody have a good recipe for mushrooms or chanterelles, or even ceps? I have one goat who injured her neck, and then just as soon as it healed, up came her back foot for a scratch and we were back to square one, now her neck is just a weeping sore, my vet couldn't think of what I could do, then I found an old pillow - so now over her dressings she has a pillow wrapped round her neck, sewn in place, she can not scratch thru it and at last I think it is beginning to heal. (Thought I should talk about goats somewhere in this blurb) I usually try to make my own hay, I have some 20 acres put down to grass last year I lost the lot - just needed one more good day, it was sole destroying. This year I decided that just one drop of rain on my hay and I would turn it into silage and at least have something to sell, a local farmer said he would be interested, then a good friend suggested that what I should do is sell the grass to this farmer, then I don’t’ have to worry about anything, so that's what I have done - the relief of not having to worry about making hay is wonderful. I don’t have to pester son, daughter and friends into helping. All I have to do is collect the money and then go buy my hay, I should even have a bit left over perhaps for a ton of concentrates. Sounds easy doesn't it - here's hoping I find the sort of hay I want. My peachicks are doing well, they like me could do with some sunshine, every day we have had rain at some time or the other, and at night it really is quite chilly - was thinking of lighting the fire in July!
(Taken from the Autumn edition of The Highland Goat magazine)
News From Talisker, Isle of Skye
By Steve Bailey
W
e are in the position where we have to try and time our lambing before the Easter Holiday, as Easter changes each year this can be difficult and takes a lot of forethought. As we must be in the B&B full time by Easter.This does not always work well. Last year our lambing was a disaster as fast as the lambs were born the foxes got them, all we found were a few remains and together with the
neighboring farmer over 13 foxes were shot! This was the first time it had ever been so bad and we put it down to ( rightly or wrongly) the fact that the forestry commission had started to fell on the outskirts of our farms and so the foxes had no where to go but over our lands! Once however neighbors started to lamb the survival rate went up as the fox had to go through his farm to get to us and so ate his lambs first! Good news for us, but bad news for him! We were all rather stoic about the whole situation as life is sent to try us and in farming this is never more so true!This year the snow came and then the first lamb - bugger we thought here we go again, we may have less of a fox problem but the weather has turned sour and will get us! But no after three days of terrible snow and one lamb who thrived and thrived, it bounced about in the snow and surprised us completely. Then out came the sun and warm weather and then came more and more lambs all of which thrived and thrived.
However a
neighbor who we saw in the Co-op, ( which is a general meeting place for the whole Island) told us he had stood and watched a Sea Eagle from Portree ( I assume) take one lamb - one we did not know we had - he said it took it away from one field and then dropped it time and time again until it was dead. I never saw this myself, but he was so concerned he stops us everytime we go to the shops and he is there, to ask about it all! I have never seen an Eagle take a lamb but others obviously have.Our biggest problem this year has been with crows, one poor lamb had its tongue pecked out! It was horrible, but you cannot be everywhere over 810 acres at once! Two more were killed by a rogue dog, and again we have the same problem with distance and one lamb has just disappeared! But this has been the best year ever for us in lambing. The weather had been great, up until Easter when the rain started - but what do you expect when it is a Bank Holiday -good weather - I don't think so!. Things were going brilliantly - then along came Foot and Mouth! This is killing the B&B which actually has been subsidising the farm for years! So we are now in a bit of a mess financially. The farm animals are not worth a fat lot - last year prices improved a little for sheep - if you were really lucky you might get £25 for a sheep, and to get this the sheep had to be excellent, and bids of £25 were very very rare! Some people got £1, and this was not for awful sheep, it was just how the market has gone. The top calf at show was withdrawn as bids did not pass £400.
We are hoping thing will pick up, well you have to hope don't you. After all we did not think they could get worse but the did and they have! Cannot think of anything else that could go wrong with tourism and farming, but like a fool I said this last year.
Our goat is in kid and maybe this will be a success, this was an accident, but we have a very keen Billy! And a very determined Nanny. She can get out of anywhere, and he can get in!
Hope everyone else can survive! This disaster! But I fear we all may not!
(Taken from the Spring edition of the Highland Goat magazine)