Each spring seems to arrive faster than the last, and already we are back into the annual lambing and calving cycle. And of course the weather remains gloriously unpredictable. After some dry and sunny days we had snow on the higher ground this morning, and nasty showers of sleet blowing through over the course of the day.
The first lambs are with us now. This lamb is one of twins and was born inside. It was due to go out to the field today but the bad weather meant we had to build a temporary nurses in the shed instead. Hopefully they can go out tomorrow, or we will run out of room.
We have still got a long way to go. This is one pen of gimmers, young sheep lambing for the first time. The gimmers and those expecting twins are brought inside for lambing. The rest are born in the fields round the house where we can keep an eye on them.
The calves are also coming. This calf was born a few days ago. Mother and calf are kept in a pen for 24 hours or so to check that is all is well and then released to the hill. There are nine calves on the hill now.
It has not all been straight-forward. This heifer had a particularly large calf. She struggling with calving and sadly we lost the calf. We nearly lost the heifer too. It was 2-3 days before she could stand unaided and she is still feeling her back legs. It will be quite a few days more before we want to let her back on the open hill.
This year’s pigs have also arrived. We did wonder whether to cut out the extra work this involves for this year anyway. But then we tasted the ham and bacon from last year’s pigs and it seemed much too good to miss.
Croick Estate 