The Croft
July 10
Mid summer but a very wet month so far. We had a very good Spring and very little rain, but July is often wet and this year is no different.
We have 3 Highland heifers again, with a few more to join them later. We have also fenced off the 10 acres below the house and will be putting some friends sheep on there soon to graze it. It has not been grazed for many years and the quality of grass is very poor, but sheep make a very good job of improving it quickly so we'll leave them on there for as long as possible.
We have had the fascias and bargeboards replaced on the house as the original batch were discolouring badly. The work was done under warranty and we now have gleaming UPVC fascias. The house will finally get a coat of paint externally once the rain stops.
The 60 trees planted above the house 3 years ago have really come on this year and make the steep ground between the house and road look much nicer. They take a real battering during the winter but come spring they bounce back and this year have leapt up.
Feb 09
The croft remained quiet over the winter to rest the grass, but in March we will be getting some sheep and later in May some cattle again. I want to graze the croft a bit more aggressively to improve the quality of the grass. Sheep graze the grass much shorter than cattle, and that helps to bring new growth through and improves the quality of grazing in the longer term.
I will still need to treat the rushes and bracken this year, and every year, but over time it does get easier each season. more animals to trample the bracken will also help.
It's time for a service on the quadbike, 3 years of reliable use means it's a little overdue. It gets little use over the winter and is a little slow to start after a long lay up. Another expensive job this year will be some repainting on the exterior walls of the house. 2 sides of the house take most of the weather and it's important that the coverage is topped up now after almost 4 years. It will need a 'cherry picker' to get up to the top of the gable, so that's a job for a calm sunny day.
July 08
Bracken is back with a vengeance again so I've been out with the roller and brushcutter to crush or cut it. Its a never ending job and its hard to see how to beat it. Grazing the croft with sheep would help but I'm not a great fan of them so thats not going to happen.
June 08
We have now got cattle on the croft again. We have 4 heifers this time rather than boys, and they are not Highland but cross Limousins, Aberdeen Angus and Simmental. Carol has given them names again which is a bad move, so no doubt there will be tears again when its time for them to go eventually. We had only had them for a week when our neighbour woke us at 7.30am on a Sunday to ask if we had lost something. They had forced a gate open and walked about half a mile into his silage field beside his own cattle. It took us a little while to get them seperated but they then walked very nicely back to where they belonged. That gate and all others where they are kept are now chained.
Apr 08
With the start of the growing season in April its now time to think about treating the rushes which are a problem in certain areas on the croft. They have to be cut back to the stump and then sprayed, a heavy and unpleasant job, but one that has to be done to prevent them from spreading. The bracken will soon be growing too so my new roller will be wheeled out of the shed behind the quad!
We have been plagued with sheep roaming on to the croft recently, and of course they head straight for the few flowers we have cultivated. I've repaired various sections of fencing and chased them out again but the entrance road will soon have to be gated as this is now their only entrance. We have learnt that in the Crofting Counties of Scotland it is not the owners job to keep them fenced in, its your job to keep them out!
Nov 07
I have completed more fencing at the far end of the croft and we now have 2 fields each of approx 2 acres for grazing in addition to the main field which is about 5 acres. We will be able to rotate cattle between these fields to protect and improve the grazing. The 10 acres below the house is not currently used and will need more fencing if we decided to bring it into use for the cattle.
The 10 acres of the croft between the house and the shore is currenly fenced off from the cattle and is boggy and wild, with heather, bog myrtle, rushes and wild flowers including Common Spotted and Pyramidal Orchids and Bitter Vetchling. It needs no attention at all as the winter winds keep the growth down and we intend to leave it wild.
Croft shoreline with bluebells in flower - May/June
Bog Myrtle is now a cash crop as it is increasingly used in cosmetic products such as anti-ageing cream, so I'll certainly be looking to encourage its density across the croft. In a couple of years we may well be able to harvest it.
SEPT 07
Well the cattle have finally gone to the slaughterhouse after a fairly exhausting week. With Foot & Mouth breaking out again it looked like I would not be able to move them and they would go over the 30 months of age when their value drops due to BSE regulations regarding method of slaughter.
The Scottish Government lifted restrictions for transport direct to the slaughterhouse, in our case at Dingwall 120 miles away, after 3-4 days. But then of course it became difficult to organise a slot to get them in and transport to get them there because everyone else wanted to do the same.
Managed to arrange it finally, but after building pens to hold them prior to loading it was frustrating to discover how high they can jump when we tried to load them on the transporter. They cleared my fence very impressively, and of course were not going to be fooled again into entering the pens.
After many phone calls I managed to borrow some much higher and stronger cattle pens and after building them it took until 10pm the night before the rearranged transport was due to get them inside again. Even then we only got 4 of the 5, so I went to bed wondering if the 5th had earned a reprieve from slaughter.
Left to right - Ruaraidh, Sorley, Red Ruaraidh
At 8.30am the transport arrived, we loaded the 4 easily, and I tempted the 5th with a bucket of feed back into the pen. With some swift heaving I got the gate closed behind him and he was loaded on in no time. The end result financially ? Allowing for the purchase of them as calves, feed and transport, it has cost us £60 over the 18 months we have had them.
That doesn't allow for all the new fencing needed, the new shed to store feed and of course my time. We have enjoyed having them and they were good for the croft to keep the grass down, but it's proven too expensive to repeat.
My chariot for croft work - its clean so must have been the day I bought it !
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