|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Visitors to the Blog since 1st March 2007
Wednesday 2nd April 2008 (By Ruaridh) We have been getting busier and it is great to be getting the horses and ponies out almost everyday. My horsesd Kelpie has turned out to be a real star and and just loves being a lead horse. The other ponies are getting good too and as you can see from the photos below we are getting young riders out too which is always good fun to see them enjoying it so much.  The partbred mare (Highland x Cleveland Bay) at the back is called Jodie and the Highlands on this ride are Isabella, Maisie, Suie and Blue.  As you can see I am very responsible wearing my Hi-Vis jacket and a hat, times have changed !! Saturday 30th March 2008 (By Ruaridh) I went to a carriage day at the Maryculter Carriage Driving Centre hosted by Ewan and Jane MacInnes and organised by the Grampian Group of the British driving Society. It was great fun and we looked at over 27 carriages. highlight of the day was the unveiling of Ewan' coach The Royal Highlander, which would have run from Aberdeen to Braemar. Ewan has a team of Gelderlanders to pull it and has asked me to help out in the evenings if I am working over in Aberdeen. I am really looking forward to that. The website for Maryculter Home Farm and Carriage driving Centre is: http://www.marycultercarriages.co.uk/ Jane runs the only recognised BDS training and examination facility in Scotland. Ewan is also my NFU Insurance agent and insures the Riding Centre, Farm, Motor Vehicles and Carriage Driving Activities for us.  Ewan and Jane talking to us all in one of the carriage sheds at Maryculter Home Farm.  Some carriages, a Victoria, Landau and Brougham.  A Ralli Car, Manchester Cart and 4 wheel Wagonette with a Private Omnibus top behind it.  The Royal Highlander if it had been revealed with Ewan on the right - very proud of course and thanks for the Champagne !!  Ewan blew his a tune on his horn and the event was recorded for posterity by a BBC Radio employee.  The coach is even more spectacular in the flesh than it looks in the photographs.  Sunday 23rd March 2008 Easter Sunday (By Ruaridh) Well I have finally got back to writing the blog again on the website, not just the NRC one. These are the views out of my windows in Kingussie today on a very wintery Easter Morning looking West towards Newtonmore. These pictures are looking west with some of my cattle in the foreground and Creag Dhubh in the background at the back of Newtonmore and where we go riding with the horses and ponies from Newtonmore Riding Centre. At least all this snow will be keeping the skiers happy but means we get nobody to go out riding as people think it is too cold.     Saturday 11th August 2007 (By Ruaridh) Thought I had better do a blog tonight because Joyce has been too busy in the last week to get on here herself. I am due to go back to work tomorrow so will drive over to stay in Aberdeen Sunday night before flying out to Hungary again on Monday morning. I hope to call in and see my brother Dochy tomorrow and his wife Sylvia in their new house at Balmoral because I have to go via Royal Deeside anyway to negotiate with Ewan MacInness at aryculter over a carriage he wants to swap with one of mine for his new coaching team and road coach The Royal Highlander that originally ran from Braemar to Aberdeen. We did not get to Black Isle show with ponies because of worries about a Strangles outbreak and Joyce never went to Grantown on Thursday because i could not drive her because I was on a two day Powerboat course in Mallaig with luckily i passed and immensely enjoyed. Other achievements in the last week were getting Heather broken to carry deer and selling her to Mr Bond of North Morar Estates, in early September we will deliver her by Landing Craft with the Head Stalker Alec Mackay, we are all looking forward to a day out on Loch Morar. I had hoped to get my new horse Kelpie broken to harness this time but to be honest I have been quite lazy this last two weeks at home so it will have to wait till September too. 
 Pictures above of Heather learning to carry a yearling Sika Stag and she took to it like a duck to water, a born natural. When I first got home this time I went to an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Highland Cattle Society for what we thought would be a pretty rough meeting after headlines in the Press about "Highlanders at War" however on the day there was only 7 rebels left out of more than 200 in attendance and thankfully Council got a huge vote of thanks and confirmation that we have the members behind us. This is my last year of a three year term on the Highland Cattle Council. Friday 27th July Fern is okay !Phew, she had me worried , sometimes the ups and downs of keeping livestock [who become like family] gets to be too much for me. I would be better with Roslins virtual 'Pony Friends' game that she plays on her Nintendo, you get to collect ponies, have foals and you can always restart the game if it all goes wrong. I have a husband coming home tonight so feel I have to make an effort and tidy the house, line up the cows and polish the ponies, dogs and children. Who cares, being a man he will only notice the things I've forgotten to do... A nice man called Pat Burgess secretly started weeding my veg garden, he must think I'm a lazy disaster, the weeds are so bad. But I will get there, and help from friends makes it all so much easier, I had to get rid of the ragwort before it seeded, Tammy's been helping me, we are nearly there. Pat has been helping too, if all my caravan site guests could just do one bag each it would be gone in no time. Anyway I'm sick of the sight of the yellow weed and grrrr even worse , I have Neighbours who let it flower and seed in their croft ! Grrr. So to the weather, we really are blessed as I keep saying, it was a great day for the Arisaig Games on weds and next year I might take along a Highland cow to add to the flavour, if I can buy a hand wash station I might do hicow pictures and raise some money for a cause or something, its just a notion I had this morning. There was a wee bit of rain last night but nothing much, well maybe it sounded bad if you were in a caravan or tent but I slept well like I always do. Here's a picture of my special foal Liunga, she's growing well and is a power ball. Jill and Duncan from Morach at Rhu have a wee puppy and they called her Liunga as well ! Its the  name of the islands off Arisaig, but I have to find out the meaning. Heres the new foal still to be named, with her mum, Blue, shes only 4 days old in this picture, shes a big one  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thursday 26th July Roslins birthday ! She had a happy day with a party and pony rides for all her friends on the beach. Its Ferns birthday as well today and she has suspected Grass sickness, I think now thats what took Sinibar and Trampy as well. Chris the vet has been out and she has gut sounds which is a good sign, and varies between being perky and eating to being low, depressed and off her food. Whatever happens I have to nurse her and take good care of her because she has a 3 month old foal who needs her mother, I cannot let anything happen to her. Blues foal is tearing around the field and loves to stop the traffic up in the corner by Drimadhu . Shes a big girl for 5 days old and is eating her mums feed already ,when Blue lets her. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monday 23rd July Still we have lovely weather in Arisaig, it was sunny again all day [sorry to rub it in] and we could do with some rain now for the grass. Mandy from Glensheil came to visit and helped me finish breaking in Kelpie, also this week I have Isabella started and had a wee ride on her today. Heather has been ridden as well so I'm happy to have three ponies going now and all being very good. Blue had her foal, a big filly and so pretty, she's installed herself in the top corner of the field by the road, just as she did last year, she must like having her picture taken. She is a funny old horse and really likes it up there, she thinks its very safe for newborn foals Unfortunately she was still very short of milk when she foaled, but its coming through now. Tanja from Germany is here to learn about Highland ponies, she took these nice pictures of Clare and her calve in the Caimbe and posing with her swept back horns   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monday 16th July I forgot to add that the weather in Arisaig has continuously stayed good this summer, even yesterday and Saturday were sunny days when all around the country severe rain was falling. Today even in Fort William they had torrential downpours but here the clouds just circulated and all we had were spits and spats. I brought Suie and Isabella in to start riding again after the virus. Suie had a bit of a cough after half an hour of work but the worst is past. Isabella was really good to back and didn't mind Katie [Annies daughter]'s rustly jacket. I liked the way she walked with her head and neck stretched down when I was leading her with Katie on for the 1st time, she was trying hard to concentrate on the very important task of becoming a ridden pony.Tommorrow I will try her with some tack on and hopefully do some wee hacks with me and Katie can ride a Shetland. Katie's here for 3 weeks so hopefully I can get Heather finished as well and do something with the new one, Kelpie, so Ruaridh can ride him. Its just great to have a day off and no holiday houses to get ready or cows to feed or anything important to see to. Tammy and me have pulled the worst of the ragwort and instead of doing three 2 hr shifts a day I can relax a bit and just do a couple of hours, its even better with Tammy there to help. Lots of birds and waders are having a happy time on the Caimbe just now, Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing all have chicks, the Lapwing have their second brood. There were a family of Eider duck just outside my front door early this morning with the high tide. The ducklings are quite big now and its great to see that four have survived. Blue still hasn't foaled, I don't know what's going on there, she hasn't got a great bag yet but her tummy is getting bigger, I hope she's alright and gets her baby soon. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sat 14th July I was very stressed today and the Visit Scotland lady turned up late to add to my tension. I found it all a bit scary but managed to get a 4 star for the House and 3 star for the Studio. This is good. Now I am drinking wine and celebrating the fact that I don't have any more stressful deadlines for a while. Annie and Dougie from Drininean Enochdhu are here on the caravan site, so its hard to avoid the booze. So heres the before pic  And After  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Friday 13th July I've spent all week pulling ragwort and preparing the holiday houses for the Visit Scotland lady coming tomorrow. Needless to say I'm so stressed about it I've even ended up cleaning my own house from top to bottom as well incase she wants to use the loo and writes a report on it . Once this is all over and the ragwort's pulled and all my other jobs are done I'm going to take to the bottle. The old cow I had problems with is still around with her calve [called Bluebottle because he had maggots] anyway its great to see her looking so well now, she's just here as a tourist attraction as she isn't going back to the bull, but she does some great poses down in the river with wee Bluebottle who's got the cutability factor at the moment. Once I get some new rechargeables in my camera I can put some pictures on here. She's a very pretty cow and has a great nature. I moved the young bull over to the village with his friend Victor that he hasn't seen in a while. I had to go up the hill and find Victor and catch him with the halter. It took a bit of doing and once I had caught him he didn't want to move so I had to shove him every inch of the way home, pulling him didn't work. I was exhausted and sweating and cursing everyone that drove past without helping, probably thinking 'oh look there's Joyce with a cow I wonder what she's doing' Anyway the tourists are thick on the ground now and enjoying the good weather, the noise of happy children playing on the beach is music to my piggy banks ears. One of them must have decided since it was Friday the 13th they needed to do some damage as for some reason the casing of the gents shower had been taken of and yet unbelievably some gent had thought they would take a shower. They only came to tell me because the lights tripped when he got his shock. Amazing. I sorted it all out and made it safe. What's next. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monday 9th July Today was so sunny in sunny Arisaig that all the holiday house guests took sunstroke [nearly] from sunbathing all day in the suntrap in front of Caimbe Bridge house. Paula came up and helped me do 4 hours ragwort pulling, she had on gloves but still ended up with blisters. I asked her to go up the road and catch Kelpie, the new horse I'm buying for Ruaridh, and bring him home to the Caimbe. 'He will be fine, he's really quiet' I looked out to see a line of cars and Paula leading them with a prancing Kelpie and his tail kinked over his back, her arms getting pulled out and her face getting very red. Cant wait to see Ruaridh driving him !Kelpie is very fat and about 16 hh or bigger and I will post pictures tomorrow. Moved Fred and Paula up to Siobhan Carver's at Torlundy. I thought I better reiterate here that Paula is my God daughter but the Further Adventures of Fred are absolutely nothing to do with me .....Fred is 'Absoloutly gorgeous' this is how Paula likes to describe him, but you have to be careful not to mention '4.30 Bangor' or he starts weaving and trembling On the way home I called in to pick up my niece Jessica from her mum who runs 'Cafe Beag' at Glen Nevis, its more fun going to 'Granny Island's' for the summer holidays than being up in Fort William Calum just came in the door and said he'd been out fishing with Chris Dyer in his boat catching heaps of mackerel, its a great night for it with the water flat calm and another lovely sunset. Good to hear there's plenty mackerel , it must be all the good weather |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sunday 8th July I spent most of today pulling ragwort, its worse than being in the salt mines and nobody ever wants to come and help me. It looks like I will have at least another 10 days to go to get rid of it all.Another sunny day in Arisaig and Ros and Rhianne were in swimming this afternoon, its been a great spring and summer in the west this year. Later on I walked up the hill to check the Luing cows and the steers , all doing great and looking well, its great to have nothing to feed anymore. Up the field pulling ragwort has to be better than being stuck in an office somewhere and it means I can spend quality time with my boy Luchag, who likes to come and see what I'm doing and pick up the bags and run off with them. I still worry that Sinibar and Trampy had grass sickness and am paranoid anything might happen to any of the young ones. Someone from the holiday house called me on the mobile to say my foal looked dead ! She was just making the most of the sunshine, but I can do without calls like that justnow it just makes me panic. Here's Luchag at The Highland Show, he loved it despite picking up Equine 'Flu, We all had a great time and one of my favourite moments was coming back from the parade and seeing my niece Pamala right at the front of a barricade waving and calling , I don't see her much as she's at Uni in Edinburgh and it was a lovely surprise and she thought it was great seeing her Aunty and one of her ponies from Arisaig. Luchag enjoying his holiday at the Highland Pony equivalent of Butlins  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Saturday 7th July Sincere apologies to all who have tried to email me or telephone me without success in the last fortnight. Hopefully now things can get back to normal as the last 10 days or so have been spent frantically trying to prepare the two Holiday homes for letting on 30th June and 7th of July respectfully. Ruaridh and myself had an exhausting time with Caimbe Bridge House but without him this weekend I had to try and manage alone. Impossible really when there is so much to do so had great help from Megan, Katy, Mhari and Stewart [ the guests in Caimbebridge house !] and Tammy, Pete and Paula. Also thanks to the team from the Black Isle and Alistair Neal the electrician . The final effort was worth it and now my children can have the first home cooked meal in days because I haven't had any free time to look after them properly. I just pulled the first carrots. Roslin loves the summer holidays and has her friend Rhianne from the campsite staying over tonight, oh and by the way we have had great weather in Arisaig for weeks ! Maybe this week a little duller than before but nothing at all really. Now I promise to update this blog regularly and have no excuse really with all the cows calved and away to the Bull in Newtonmore or running on the hill here, only one mare to foal and Luchag out now and enjoying himself with Fred the TB , I hasten to add not mine but Paula's horse staying here briefly. But a big beautiful ex racehorse, if Sinibar was here he would have loved to pretend he was his friend then set about him if he ever got above himself. I miss my old friend Caimbe Bridge Studio Note the missing Finales on the curtain pole ! They are on their way ...  Caimbe Bridge House  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Tuesday 26th June Just back from the Highland show, we took Luchag the yearling colt and Clarsach the young bull. Luchag did really well and was 2nd, the pony who won his class went on to be reserve male champion. He loved all the excitement and was very full of himself. The wee bull was good too and behaved himself for me in the ring, he didnt get anything but lots of people admired him. I came back on the Saturday with Audrey while Ruaridh stayed down to look after the animals as they have to stay there all week. Coming down the hill saw Sinibar rolling and it didnt look right. I ran home for a headcoller and yes he had colic too, really bad, just like Trampy. Called the vet [its always a weekend] and brought him home but he couldnt walk, his legs were going, he was in agony and it was constant. He had a high pulse but not so high as Trampys. By the time the vet came out he was worse. He gave him Buscopan and a sedative, This made him lie still and in that time I had already decided, if he started again when it wore of that would be it. He did start again so I took his headcoller of and said goodbye. The vet gave him more sedative so he would lie still. My friend Audrey stayed with him but he was asleep and knew nothing when the vet shot him. Now hes buried next to Trampy. I dont understand why both died the same way within a week of each other and am worried it was acute GS or some kind of poisening Bye Sinibar Im glad the pain has gone for you  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sun 17th June Roslins pony Trampy had to be put down today. He had a twisted gut. She's putting flowers and shells on his grave and has told him she will visit him every day before and after school. She's really sad ,she's had Trampy since she was a baby, Im sad too because he has always been there. I couldn't see him suffer and thank you Audrey for staying with me when we were waiting on the vet, and staying with the vet when he put him down because I couldn't have done that either. And thank you to Andy and Iain for burying him for me so he could stay here and Roslin has something to focus on by seeing to his grave  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sat 16th June 2007 I was up in Newtonmore today and it was freezing ! Cloudy and rainy too, when I got back to sunny Arisaig at 4 o clock it was warm enough to take of my jacket. Its bad all over the country but not here in the far west. I moved some of the Highland cows and calves up to the Bull today in Newtonmore, he was pleased to see them , I had to load them up at the underpass and some of them had decided to climb up the sides with their calves and were threatening to throw themselves of when I came back with the trailer. I coaxed them down with some special Gaelic swears and a scone. Id just got back from Newtonmore and was about to unhitch the trailer when my mum said the [highland ] steers were out and one was in a shed because he had been so happy to escape from the hill that he had run around the fields just a little bit , so I had to go and pick him up and move the rest. But two jobs have been done now so not to worry and Bill and Jamie from the caravan site had spent the day mowing and strimming the site for me so I'm happy. We are taking Luchag and Clarsach to Ingliston on weds for the Royal Highland show, so I need to start washing and preparations tomorrow. Ruaridhs old highland cow had an udder infection and needs seen to every day, the calve has lost out on a lot of milk because of it, but I have put them in with my cows and am hoping he will sneak a drink of one of the other mothers if he's enterprising  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sunday 10th June Really tired today after yesterdays show. The Road to the Isles show was on yesterday and it was boiling hot and sunny. Everybody loved it. Donald Campbell was champion with his calve and Hughie and Anne from Craigmhor had Champion sheep with a Cheviot ewe. Audrey had reserve with her suffolks and the Macgillvary's won the Highland pony section with their 7 yr old Forglen gelding. Cnoc won the Highland cattle with a really pretty 3 yr old heifer. My junior bull was 2nd in his class and behaved really well in the parade, much easier than his sister last year. So here they all are 
   My junior Bull
Clarsach Ruaidh of Strathmashie standing in the shade |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thurs 7th June No pictures today but I just wanted to come on and say, yes, I have nine calves and yes they are all sucking, pooing and mums have all cleansed. So everything is well. Tomorrow I will put pictures on of them. I have to admit that I can now describe in detail the size ,shape and look of all the Highlander's udders having massaged most of them and had to squeeze the teats of the rest to get them into calvie's mouths. Anyway now they are all here and well I can say look at all my cute calves that I have helped. The last one wanted special care too and I had to catch the calve and get the mum into a pen ,on my own. But did it anyway and am glad I braved the scary mum. After a jag of selinium the calve got the sucking right, its amazing stuff. So I am going to start putting them back up to Newtonmore next week to run with the bull on good grass. The weathers still hot, very hot on the hill with clegs everywhere. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Weds 6th June Sorry I have been extra busy lately and have had no free time to update the blog, also had some server problems but everything is back to normal now. The weather has been amazing and apart from a deluge at the weekend there have been some beautiful days here. Anyway I have all my calves now and , at least they are on the ground anyway, three of them came in the last day but I dont get complacent as the Highlanders like to hide their calves , hopefully we have 4 bull calves and 3 heifers and two boys from my luing cows On Sunday I went with Audrey and Mandy from Glenshiel up to the North of Scotland Highland pony and Native show, we took Suie and managed a 2nd in hand and 3rd ridden in her 1st ridden class. She was a good girl and the journey there and back seemed to take no time at all with people to talk to. .jpg)  LINE UP WITH JOHN REID IN FIRST .HE WAS CHAMPION WITH FEONA LAING'S GELDING RESERVE |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Tuesday 29th May Temperatures have dropped all over the
country but Arisaig is still getting more than its fair share of sunshine.
Nights have been chilly but all the caravan site guests that have come up for
the Whitsun half term holiday have been enjoying the sunshine out of the wind. On Sunday we met up with the North of
Scotland Highland and Native Enthusiasts club for a stud day out at Meggernie.
Heres my favourite, a really nice 2 yr old colt with Sylvia. On the way home we called in to check Camerons horses and there was a pretty colt just a day old. Everything is popping out now, the Highlanders have had two more calves , one was a heifer and my Luing cow had a wee calve , so wee it just sort of fell out of her when she stood up. So that’s just one foal and three calves to go . Then I suppose they all have to be impregnated again , I don’t suppose they could all just have a year of so I can get some sleep next May.
Fionn has been sold to Deirdre Robinson to go to her stallion Mac [ Fourmerk horse] as a wife, that will be just up her street as she loves having babies. Katie gets to do the same up in the Black Isle except her husband is an older Gentleman from the Middle East who will look very delicate next to his Highland wife, however she wont have to worry about difficult foalings breeding to the Arab. Mon 21st May
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 2nd 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ruaridh took off early this morning and left me with the cow needing milked, I
thought about bribery to get her in the crush but she was only interested in
her calve so I sat and waited for about half an hour trying to work out a
plan of action when she decided to come out of the byre and go in herself. I
quickly put a halter on her and got the calve so she could see it then started
to try and milk her. She had a great big hot fat udder but no matter how I
squeezed nothing came out. I phoned my friend Audrey who was just heading to
work and she came and showed me, you have to do a hard squeeze and pull, I was
being too soft. It took me ages to get 4 pints and its really hard work. My
husband cant believe he's married a woman who cant milk a cow. In the evening I tried again but this time I used udder cream, it was great, I've got the knack and got 4 litres, I want to keep her outside now and milk her every day! She's really good and doesn't try to kick and was even chewing the cud when I was milking her tonight so she must like it now. My hands are super soft now with the udder cream and milk. I cant believe a Highland cow that's lived on the hill and never been handled can be so sweet and quiet, she's my favourite cow now. The caravan site is getting busy, I hope my guests don't mind being greeted by a scruffy woman smelling of the byre, my friend was telling me today of her great granny who used to get up at the crack of dawn and make her house pristine [in the days before dysons] and then do all the milking and farm paperwork and do a huge baking. But at one o clock she would change into her good clothes and be dressed to meet her guests and serve them tea and home baking on an embroidered lace table cloth made by herself .I need to wake up earlier ! I want to do that it sounds lovely, I could surprise my campers by appearing at the door smiling relaxed and in a skirt and pink fluffy slippers. I want to be that lady. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 1st 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Still beautiful weather in Arisaig and I managed to have the Caravan Site ready for opening yesterday. Ruaridh came home from Russia and just in time for the first calve to be born, a bull calf. This morning he didn't seem to have fed as his tummy was all tucked up so I sat in the field and watched him for a few hours, it soon became apparent that he was having a good try but not latching on we both decided they should come home as calves need to have the colostrum in the first 24 hours, unlike humans the protective antibodies can't pass through the placenta. Ruaridh's idea of getting the cow and calve into the stock trailer by picking up the calf and running across the field in front of the cow sounded like it would work fine so long as he didn't trip. More stuntman than stockman. We all made it home and here is the milkmaid showing me how it should be done  Bho Beag having his first drink of milk from the bottle. Ruaridh got a pint from each quarter, two litres in all and little Bho took the whole lot.  Now I have to figure out how to get the cow in the crush this week when Ruaridh goes away again. Maybe the calf will get it figured out for himself by then. 
Here he is with mum in the byre, by the size of her teets you would think he couldn't miss them. Lets hope he has found them by the morning. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 29th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The weather was so amazing for the last three days that I just got up at 5.30
and worked all day, ending up so tired by the time Id made dinner I couldn't
bring myself to do the blog . However the wind has turned round to the north now
and I have more or less finished getting the caravan site ready for the season
so I can make time. The few days of warmth has dried up all the mud but here
in Arisaig there's still not even a blade of grass for the beasts and the cold
wind now will cut any growth . I have had to organize yet another load of
haylage and I expect we will need to feed until the end of May up here. I
suppose we are all mad keeping livestock in the Highlands but when they are all
away out on the hill with their calves and foals we can just enjoy them again.
I would hate to see hills that are empty of livestock. Some of the cows are bagging up now and I need to keep a good check on them, with there being a lot of soft ground on the hill after the terrible wet winter, a cow that's heavy in calve can get stuck in a bog or try to calve in an awkward place so they need to come home when they are looking near. Its sad to lose any animal but losing a cow or calve for a crofter who only keeps a few cattle can be a big blow and we are so lucky to have a great 'crofters vet' who really cares and will come out at any time of day or night, in the dark and rain and he never complains. He has to travel many miles, we are only an hour away but he looks after all the animals on the Islands of Eigg, Rhum and Muck as well as down to Ardnamurchun peninsula. He turns into Superman at this time of year when everything is being born. I have moved all the horses away from my door and this meant weaning the foals, two were already weaned from the milk bar by taking them away from their mums at night and putting them in so they could get a dry lie, but spending the first night outdoors away from the grownups was a bit scary ,especially for Alice, she was only born in September and should have had longer getting used to being away from mum but I needed her to go with Aimee. Luchag the colt has turned into a teenager with attitude, he has a Shetland gelding for company and will probably get plenty kicks in the chest but it will be good for him.   Alice and Aimee on the hill behind Traigh farm |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 25th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Two more days of beautiful sunshine in Arisaig, there can't be anywhere better
to live at this time of year when the weathers right. No midges, no visitors, no
weeds in the garden or ragwort and dockans in the fields, I can be up at 5.30
am now and keep working until after dinner. I don't think there can be anyone
luckier than I am so thank you God for sending us this weather. The fields we use for grazing the cows and ponies have Lapwing looking around for nest sites just now, these clever wee birdies know that they are safe to nest there as we wont go in and harrow their nests with the tractor ,they like some cover from rushes but not too much or the chicks will become tangled and the short grazed grass is perfect for them to feed in, its lovely to see them come back every year. What's to become of them when all the crofts are turned over to house sites with 'amenity areas' kept mowed so they can never nest, its happening everywhere now, the poor wee skylark has the same problem, only last summer we saw the top of a skylarks nest taken right of with the over zealous mowing of a 'nouvous crofter' .The bird have nested in these fields for many generations and all they had to fear was a cow lifting her tail too close to the nest, Well at least they would have had a good feed of dung fly afterwards. Skylark and Lapwing on the croft taken by Stephen MacDonald .jpg)
.jpg) 
Another good day tomorrow going by the sunset over Eigg and Rhum tonight |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 23rd 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The wind and rain have stopped. There's a light easterly breeze and area of high
pressure over Scandinavia. At this time of year in the North West Highlands that
means fine dry settled weather, you can hear lapwing and Skylark all day and
Snipe in the evening. If we had hadn't had such a wet winter the air would smell
of heather burning but the grounds too wet this year. Well best of all the sun
has come out and it must have been 13 degrees or more today, all the ponies and
cows are up on the hill tops enjoying the sun instead of huddled round the
feeders, life is great and I cant remember the gales. There are plenty of jobs
to do though, here's Andy Flaus with Ruaridh's tractor having a break from
doing the road, whatever he's telling Lorraine she hopefully doesn't understand
. Andy Flaus - a well known "worthy" from the Carse of Stirling - helping out.  Nothing but Rocks and Heather but they look well on it thanks to Harbro's  T shirt weather for Ros. Blue and Katie with their bumps. Katie is a full sister to Charlie of Muck who does well for Marguarite Osbourne's daughter  Alice of Caimbe down by the Caimbe |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 21st 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I had to go to The Fort today and it was great listening to Phemies stories ,
she could write a book. So we were reminiscing about the old days over here,
well she knows a lot more than I do but there's things I can remember from when
Bunnacaimbe was a proper crofting community as well, and its really sad now that
that is all going with every new face that buys into the place and tries to set
about changing the way things have been here for generations. I can remember
going about with my dad on his old motorbike [no helmet] and visiting people for
a Ceilidh, you used to do that instead of watching tv, they would tell ghost
stories that would have you terrified to go back out in the dark, or you would
just sit and listen to the grown ups gossiping away and singing along to the
record player. Now everyone has to have more than the next person and its all
about who has the most , before they were all in the same boat, nobody had any
money and you just made do with what you had . So they all had something in
common, that and looking after the animals, its not like that anymore, everyone
wants to compete with the next person to see who has the biggest and best. I
liked the story Phemie told me about the two ladies who lived in No6, Annibhan
and Doramhor , she said they kept the calves in the kitchen and when Jonnie Mhor
was visiting for his Ceilidh he would say 'I can hear your babies crying' when
he heard them through in the kitchen. Then one of the Ladies said she was going
to make a scone for everyone and took the pail shed been feeding the calves with
and just mixed the scone in there, but if you did that now you'd have the
environmental health onto you. Id love to have my calves living in the house it
wouldn't bother me at all, you cant do anything now without Big Brother watching
you. By the way we were saying how we missed Johnnie Mhor , well when we were
wee we would sit and listen to him on a Thursday when he would come in for his
Ceilidh at my mums , he used to have all the news and sing a song when my mum
went through to make the tea. It was more fun for us than reading a book anyway,
and we had no tv anyway so we were none the wiser. Nowadays you don't even have
good old Ceilidhs in the hall like you used to, I don't mean a Ceilidh as in a
dance, I mean the kind where everyone would do a party piece up on the stage,
Pat McArthy, Eddie Lee, Grey Thompson, well I can remember a few and there were
many more. It would be great to resurrect an old traditional Ceilidh with
locals entertaining locals, but sadly you cant bring back the past. Here's a picture from the past when a lot more time was spent outdoors by the look of the well tended crofts. Maybe the weather was better then. .JPG) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 20th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It was all snowy this morning, I suppose it had to do it before winters out of
the way, anyway that's great so now I get cold as well as wet because it was
still driving wind with it. Anyway, all the animals are really hungry now but
its good for them because they need to come out of the winter a bit leaner than
they went in especially the ponies or they will go off their feet with Laminitis
when the grass comes through. I even had two Highland ponies shivering this
morning but they soon warmed up when the sun came out and it does them good as
it hardens them up. If you keep the kind of livestock that are indigenous to the
area then you don't have any worries , other breeds will need housing and extra
care , Rosie the Jack Russell thinks this applies to her too she says she needs
a rug so we had to buy her this fleecy jumper from a dog clothes shop in
Florida.
 Here is some of my cows this morning, they love the raised beach at the back of Angy Duncan's old byre, they get shelter and a dry place to lie down. 
Home Sweet Home - Our house on the right and my Mums house on the left.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 18th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
It was Mothers day today and after Id come in from another
soaking this morning Ros made me go back to bed and [with Kimberly's help] she
made me an omelet and toast and a cup of coffee !I stayed in bed and read The
Scottish Farmer, that was great, what a lucky mum I am. The storm wasn't as bad as forecasted , they had us down for snow which sounded better than rain, anyway it wasn't snow, it was sleet and rain, I fell in a bog twice and got what felt like a bale of hay stuck in my eye with the wind blowing it about. There was no mothers day appreciation from the animals, they would maybe appreciate me more if I stayed in bed one morning. Here's Douglas the bull, the bovine equivalent of my husband ha ha. Well he's beefy,doesnt do much moving around till required to, doesn't feel the cold and all the old ladies in kilts love him [ The Highland Mrs Moos remind me of middle aged matrons in tartan skirts, the figures have gone a bit saggy but with a very matriarchal air]  DOUGLAS OF MEGGERNIE
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 17th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Where's it all coming from ? That was the comment from my
poor friend Lorraine who got soaked twice helping me feed and muck out today,
there's been 3/4 an inch of rain here every day since the New Year. But a bit
more than that fell on us today, nothing a cup of coffee and a hot bath wont
cure. Not only did she get soaked shoveling s**t my non-cowey friend was chased
by silly Mairet who was my pet calve but is getting cheeky at feeding and needs
to be told there's a place up at Dingwall she might like to visit. The forecast tonight is for storm force 11 so I said to Lorraine to stay over as she's in a caravan just now while she's building a house so that was great, she has just poured me a gin and helped me do loads of housework. Like I always say what women really need is a wife not a husband. Lets hope the sea doesn't come in my mums house in the morning in time for Mothers day, she's right next door but so is the Atlantic and only about 5 feet away at high tides.[see below]  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 16th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I sent of our order to Liz Henderson today for these two
beautiful Highland pony models pictured below. Liz will donate part of the
proceeds to Grass Sickness research, that dreadful disease that has taken the
lives of so many of horses and ponies, seemingly more prevalent in Highlands
but perhaps because there are more of our breed in the worst affected areas. I wonder what colour model HRH will be ordering ? I would say they are seriously 'must have' . If Her Majesty hasn't discovered them surely she will soon. Her Majesty lost Balmoral Beauty to GS, the mare below in the picture with myself and Caitlin of Denmill. Beauty would have been a great aunty to Fern, the mare we have on breeding loan from Lucy Spence, and I keep seeing the resemblance. Our new mare Heather was the dam of the foal below who sadly died of GS this winter, he would have been two and a lovely gelding. So many good ponies lost to Grass Sickness, but no real answers yet as to the cause and prevention. I hear that the Queen's Highlands are to move back to Balmoral, and they will all be bred in their native terrain in the future. This can only be a good thing for the breed as I remember the Head Pony man telling me that Her Majesty agreed that the Fells she had bred in the south did not have the substance ,size and bone of the ones bred and brought up entirely at Balmoral. We agreed that the extremes of weather produced a pony built to withstand it. A lesson to be learned by many of the studs now starting up in the warmer softer south. If you cant move your stud to Scotland at least keep the rugs of our Highland ponies and allow them as natural an environment as possible. This message is echoed by my friend Mandy from the Glenshiel stud, we both despair at the rugging up of Highland ponies, in this the mildest winter on record. This is a bit sore point amongst some of the traditional breeders at the moment but the importance to the breed cannot be overlooked. There will be no rugs on the Balmoral Highlands and there's nowhere colder in the winter, they used to winter at the edge of Glen Gelder and the wind and snow would drive through the glen from Lochnagar. Only the tough would winter well but that's how you keep the breed true. You cant argue with an expert like Her Majesty can you ? The Beautiful Limited Edition Highland Pony Models. 
 .JPG) Fern and Isabella. Fern is the dark grey and is out of Sanda my old Mare .JPG) Balmoral Beauty who was 3/4 sister to Sanda with me at Balmoral |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 15th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Today I headed up to Fort William for the weekly shopping
trip, and guess what ? It was raining again! Phemie and I have both decided that
we are going to live in Muir of Ord, Audrey is going there too, its paradise
apparently, the grass is definitely greener and you don't get wet! There has to
be a down side that we don't know about. The Caravan Site opens for the season on the 2nd April and it will be great to see everyone again, we have lots of regulars who visit Invercaimbe and they are all so appreciative and friendly that it makes the hard work of running the site all worth while. Here are a few pictures from previous seasons, thanks to Richard [Tricky Dicky from Kendal ] for these. 
 
.jpg) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 14th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I went to Strathpeffer yesterday and it was dry ! These
people living around the Moray Firth area are in Gods country alright, just
far enough away from the west to escape the worst of the Atlantic weather, but
not the intense cold you get further inland. It was great to see everyone again and to meet Sandra who's new on the council and from Plocton, The Scottish Crofting Foundation does a great job behind the scenes for crofters, we need more members ! There are about 2000 members now but if crofters realized all the tireless effort that goes on to further our cause I'm sure more would be joining up. For instance the report on the consultation for the second stage of The Crofting Reform Bill has to be completed by Prof Schucksmith by Dec 2007. It has not even begun yet so could we be looking at yet another rushed consultation like we have just had for the Marine Park , the SCF will put in a request for more time as many crofters are not even aware of the time frame for this enquiry and we need to have our input prepared as this is our future and our opportunity to shape it. I was very excited to hear Patrick's [our Chief Executive] plans for the Highland Year of Culture and The SCF Conference, to be held in Strathpeffer on 6th and 7th Sept. He thinks we should have a cattle drove from Kyle to Dingwall, to highlight the lack of abattoir facilities between Skye and Dingwall and as part of the Year of Culture celebrations. We have ponies here descended from ponies belonging to the legendry Corriehoiliie [ he was the greatest cattle drover of all time] and I said think could muster up the cattle and ponies if he helped fill in the movement cards !. With this in mind we could also use the opportunity to highlight all the red tape problems crofters and farmers suffer. I hope there will be nationwide coverage as there will be TV cameras in the area anyway with the Mountain Bike World cup on the same weekend. Watch this space as they say. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 12th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
In between the showers it felt like spring today so lots
of jobs on the jobs list have been scratched off. There are still endless things
to do before I can say Hello to all the Caravan site guests on the 2nd April.
The road over to Invercaimbe is full of potholes but work started today with
Iain Stewart and his digger, it saves my back with the wheelbarrow anyway, and
it might mean that when you turn up at Invercaimbe all your plates wont be on
the floor of your caravan. I have to head of early to Strathpeffer tomorrow to the SCF board meeting and AGM [Scottish Crofting Foundation]. So that means getting up at 5am to feed everything before I go, just as well I have Super Tammy who can be my stunt double when she's needed but gets an extra prize for her pole dancing because I cant do that, and never could anyway .She will feed everything for me in the afternoon and muck out, I dont know what Id do without her. Here she is on Rudi one of the Lismore Tbreds that lived here until they were schooled and ready to go on, he's away on loan now until one of us wins the Lottery because keeping TBreds in Arisaig just wasn't practical, although we loved them and really miss them. Tammy has Roslin tonight whose all excited about sleeping over with her wee friend Lewis who is at Nursery, hope they fall asleep for Tammy with no nonsense. .JPG) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 11th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
They said the sun was going to come out today so I fed
everything early and did a baking with Ros in the morning so we could spend the
afternoon outside. Anyway it just kept raining but the wind stopped, that was
great, a bit like the feeling you must get when you stop banging your head
against the wall. I came over all active and did some work to get the campsite
ready and mulched up some flower beds. My friend Lorraine who is the
receptionist in the Doctors surgery came over and gave me a hand mucking out. I don't go along with the Global warming theory at all and prefer to think that all this wind and rain is nothing to worry about, its the El Nino effect and part of a pattern than can last years , if you look at the bigger picture this will just be part of a cycle and it will all even out. So don't enter in to any contracts to sell water to the South just yet. Here's Fionn all ready for a wee ride, the cowboy reins are attached to the headcoller, I used to use leadropes but Ruaridh bought me these for a more professional touch, I always ride of the headcoller to start with so the horse can listen to the leg and doesn't have to be hauled about by the mouth. I just need them as a back up just now. Fionn let me mount with the stirrup today [standing above her] and is happy with her 10 min ride every few days. Soon it will be time to move the goal posts. Please excuse the pooey yard , I hadn't done the mucking out. 
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 10th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Getting in the mood for spring takes a bit of doing at
this time of year in the wild west. Anyway because I know how quickly it can
change here and catch you napping. I dug over two veggie plots and added lots
of horse manure, there's plenty more if anyone wants it, the sandy soil warms up
really quickly so I can start planting onion sets and carrots by the beginning
of April. I plant lots of veggies and the best one is curly kale, its full of goodness for your immune system and last time I had the cold just a bowl of soup with curly kale in it cured me right away. I've decided what's going to the Royal Highland now so I need to get the entries away this weekend. I also need to up the feeding for Clarsach and Luchag although they look fine but I need to add some secret ingredients to have them just right by the end of June. Here's Clare the 4th and Mairet my pet heifer looking well on not a lot of feeding at all, just a few cobs and hay when it was cold, Duncan very kindly lets us use his croft for Clare and Mairet and he says that his father, Eddie Lee never needed to feed much to his cows over the winter either, and they always made the top prices at the May sale or in Corpach. There's good shelter in the field and that helps. Clare's a great looking heifer, she's just coming up for two but wont be shown this year.  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 9th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
There was some excitement over on the opposite side of the
Caimbe early this morning when Benny the Township Clerk had a cow calve, she
was needing assistance as it was a breech and so Bill Henderson from Traigh
farm came out and with the help of Audrey, Tony and the full power of Andy Flaus
they managed to pull the bull calve out. Andy must have overdone it as by two o
clock he was seen parked up in the tractor along the new road pretending he was
heading out the hill with a bale of hay but the sun had put him to sleep. I was asked today what were all the fences were on our common grazing, visibly scarring the landscape. Well I had to explain that it has always been a crofter's right to 'apportion' a piece of the common grazing so they can manage their stock nearer home, however the good intentions of the Crofting Act did not foresee the way this piece of crofting legislation would become a form of land grabbing, 'crofters' who have bought their crofts on the open market [for vastly inflated prices well beyond the reach of local indigenous crofters and their families] can apportion large pieces of the common grazings, never use it for keeping any livestock and then purchase the land and sell it on at a good profit. All these 'Apportionments' as they are called require fencing, in some cases they are double fenced , and they cause visual scarring on the once open wild feeding grounds where crofters communally grazed their cattle, sheep and horses during the summer months. Enough from my soapbox just now, there will be more at a later date. Spring is here even although the weather stays the same as it has done since October, mild wet and windy. Today I saw a flock of about 20 Skylarks and about the same of Lapwings, they will be looking for nice grazed fields with a wee bit of cover for nesting, and once they have started we try not to do any tractor work so as not to disturb their nesting sites. With the ground being so wet its not possible to do anything just now but if it dries out in April the birds will be nesting, we will have to keep an eye on things. I also saw Curlews, plenty of pairs of Teal and Widgeon and the male Hen Harrier that I've spotted several times now over the winter. The Curlews have been here all winter but its hoped they will stay and nest as they used to in the past when conditions were more to their liking before the decline in cattle keeping in the area. Had a great ride on Fionn who is chilling out now and coming along well. Here's our Bull calf Clarsach of Strathmashie who is very laid back .  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 8th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I had a busy morning trying to get everything done before
the next load of rain and gales came in. Moved ponies and the two young Highland
bulls and took Heather the new pony over from Iain Stewarts, so she's with me
now. Hopefully Heathers in foal to Ruaridh of Croila who was with us last summer, she's a 9 yr old mare and unbroken but I would like to ride her so once she's had her foal I will begin breaking her in. She moves really well and carries herself nicely and certainly has a good temperament as I led her straight of the hill and into the cattle trailer on my own. I'm not sure she looks in foal if she's not it wont be a disaster as I will have something to ride at last as she's about 14.1.  Monreith Heather by Macgregor of Achnacarry out of Megan of Westbank
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 7th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
At last the wind has stopped and it was a lovely spring
day here today. Unfortunately I had to head up to Fort William to stock up on
essentials, an 80 mile round trip and a waste of a good day. Rosie came too and
enjoyed sitting on my neighbour Phemie's knee for cuddles all the way up.
Phemie is a neighbouring crofter who used to be a well known breeder of
Yorkshire terriers, she still has two and a cat that lives in its own chalet.
She has a pet seagull called Bertie who wakes her up every morning by tapping at
her window and who has a wife called Flossie, its great to listen to her stories
and makes the trip to The Fort fly past. Well the last stretch of the new A830
is to be starting in June, when its finished that should take a good 15 mins of
the journey time and make life a lot easier for those driving lorries and buses
or towing caravans and livestock trailers. The day was so beautiful when I got back I just abandoned the shopping and took Rosie and Scruff down the beach , Scruff or 'Pup' as she gets called is a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and is a very obedient and faithful doggy, she thinks her job is to round up horses and cows and look purposeful when I'm doing anything outside, so she's a happy Wheaten. We think she looks like a surf dog .  Scruff the Wheaten with my friend Audrey's house behind her.  Racing Rosie the Superfast Jack Russell training for terrier racing. I took Fionn for a ride and this time with the saddle on for the 1st time after giving the flaps a good bash and waving the stirrups about to see if I could get a reaction. She took it all in her stride and did very well, even letting me tighten up the girth. She does love her baby though and she has to tag along just now so as not to stress mum at this early stage. She would probably benefit from working in a school now but as I don't have one it looks like I will just have to head down onto the open beach with her and hope she is as sensible as most Highland ponies are. Its a lovely place to school with no distractions and much more fun for the pony anyway. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 6th 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The sun was out for about 2 hours this morning and then it
was back to the rain and gales but I managed to move the three junior steers
down the road to be with my cows and heifers. They must like the wind because
when it blows the hair out of their eyes they get to see ! I know I feel really
mean because they are boys and in about 20 months someone's going to eat them
but so long as we can keep them here right up until they have to go the abattoir
then I'm happy . That way I can guarantee that I'm feeding my family healthy
hill raised beef that has had a great life here in Arisaig, hopefully we will
have some to sell to our summer visitors as well. They are all by Ruaridhs stock
bull Douglas of Meggernie who gets nice solid calves with great temperaments.
There are seven cows due to him at the end of April into May and they are all
looking well.
 Luing and Highland cattle on the Bunnacaimbe Common Grazings with the hills of Morar and Creagmhor behind. Most of the common grazing is of very poor quality but these native cattle thrive on it in the summer months and do a great job of improving the grazing and helping to maintain the wide diversity of species we have here. Rosie Russell the JR obviously wants to muscle in on the picture so she better introduce herself Rosie is a 4 month old Rough coated Jack Russell who was bred down at Langol, Achara |
"Bho so
pretty" - I am very well bred and my Great Uncle holds the world record equal
for the most expensive Highland bull ever sold. He was one of the last bulls to
go overseas before Foot and Mouth. Maybe one day I will be famous and will
travel far for my wives.
