Loading ...Farming is not always as easy as it sounds!
Woke to a lot of snow; went off to work – feeding calves and bulls ,,, and knew I had someone coming to collect a couple of hebridean sheep that my boss told me were in the barn.
Deep snow meant a very scary drive the 9 miles up the glen …. and once there, I find one of the sheep is no longer in the shed ……. me and trusty ‘wonder dog’ (snoozing on the quad in the picture) catch her in the snow drifts and get frozen stiff in the process …
Then off we go to feed cattle …. the quad is pulling a trailer full of silage … the drifts of snow so deep quad and trailer get stuck …. I struggle and struggle and dig and dig and get it free…
Calves and bulls fed successfully …. but the 14 bullocks next on the list play silly beggars while I am filling their trough and I get a sharp kick on the shin (high spirits I guess … but OUCH!)
The folk coming to collect the sheep were led into deep drifts and a horrific route by their satnav …. they were nearly two hours late … I was a frozen lump when they arrived … and then they got their horsebox jackknifed on the steep track up to the farm. I helped them unhitch … then got the quad to pull the trailer round … then got my (borrowed) vehicle to tow it up the hill.
We could not get the trailer backed into the shed because of drifts … so I caught the ewe and put her in the horsebox … then the folk helped me bring the tup … a fiesty fearsome beast … and I say to the chap ‘Watch that ewe doesn’t make a bid for freedom when we open the door … famous last words … he opens the door … she flies through and smacks him on the head but I manage to grab her in mid air. The tup sees his chance and leaps around til me and the chaps wife lose our grip on him and he legs it … the chap is holding his head and blood is coursing down his face … their two small children are crying ..
I leap on the quad with ‘wonder dog’ and fly after the tup … we guide him back up to the farm … get him back in the shed and into a pen …
I sneak into the horsebox and grab the ewe and tie her legs securely so she can’t do any more harm, then we get the tup again and put him in the trailer; I lock myself in there to untie the ewe then retreat leaving them happily munching hay.
This has all taken hours and hours … I was hoping to be done for 11am …
I lock up and drive down the lane … to find the Gamekeeper has had an accident with a wee car on a bend … there are bits of ford focus scattered around and no way through … so a long wait to get past.
There are silly folk who come out in their townie cars to see the snow in the glen … and a lot were stuck in the snow or had abandoned their cars …. sigh …. I sent magicanni a text to ask her to tell Madmini I would not be able to make it tonight … (see Country Couples to find out who they are!!)
I had to get a couple of bales of hay for my horses to leave in their field while I was away for a couple of days …. I got across to the farm okay … but on the way back 2 cars were stuck in the lane so I had to tow one out of a drift so the other could get past …
By now it was dark … I was shattered … not eaten all day …. I got the hay to my boys and just then I had a text from xander saying Madmini was worried … Bless him and bless Madmini … I was worried too … but half an hour later I was home safe and sound.
I ache all over and my shin is throbbing
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