2015 is just around the corner, fancy an Air An Lot calendar? I’ve printed a few using some of the most popular photos from the past year and I’m selling them for £10. Leave a comment if you’re interested, payment via PayPal.
Here are some of the photos:
I’m a bit miffed tonight.
You may remember a few weeks ago that I had an inspection on the hen house, to make sure it was all in order. As part of that, I had to get a couple more feeders, so I duly ordered them, along with other bits and pieces on my week’s holiday last week.
The company had previously sent me a massive cardboard box with feeders & drinkers, which came via courier for a very reasonable £13.95.
This time, they decided to do the same, but strap the box to a pallet for extra strength. I paid my £13.95 and the box came on Tuesday. Happy days.
Tonight I got home to an invoice for an ADDITIONAL £60 from the courier for transporting a pallet from Inverness!!!
I’m astounded. I managed to manoeuvre the ‘pallet’ on my own, as it wasn’t that heavy. I’m not sure what steps to take, but I’m not keen at all at paying the extra £60.
Suggestions?
I’ve had such a hectic few months I’m now in Glasgow for the weekend, relaxing. My mind never drifts far from the croft, though.
I have a sense of satisfaction this weekend, I have made progress in the right areas and I am confident that the croft is going to provide a viable income.
Through the day job, I had to pop out to the dump in Stornoway, where I took the opportunity to ask a question about a subject that I’d been thinking of for a while; using old tyres as an animal shelter on the croft. My crofts are flat and offer little in terms of shelter from the wind, and this is a (hopefully) cheap way of doing it.
It was recommended that I contact SEPA though, as there may be an issue in terms of pollution. I did that and applied for a licence which now means I’ll be able to take old tyres from garages etc and create wind breaks with them for this winter.
I’ve also been working on the efficiency of the hen house. I think I’ve got my system in place for ensuring the maximum number of eggs remain clean (I can’t sell dirty ones in shops) and now all I have to do is get my lighting situation sorted and I’m good to go! I think I have finalised my labels too, so hope to get them finished shortly.
I’m on a week’s holiday from work now, so I’m getting round to sorting out all the wee jobs that I can’t get to in a normal week.
The one aspect of the hen house I have to improve is the mucking out; I spend too long moving wheelbarrowloads of it and end up reacting to the wood shavings I put down. This is how I combat it!
One negative from this week was an apparent otter attack on one of my young ducks. I found it like this on Thursday night.
I’ve lost a couple of birds to a buzzard attack in early 2013, but never any to ground predators. I’ll perhaps have to be more vigilant now.
I used to blog about busy Saturdays, but that’s not as much the case any more. Since reducing my hours at work, I am off every Monday and I now have a wee bit more time to split work between Saturday and Monday.
This week was a bit of catch-up on Saturday, as I’d been away for work Wed-Fri the previous week. Hen houses were cleaned on Saturday and lots of other jobs too, mainly working on getting electricity connected to my portacabin. My cousin and uncle (both electricians) were over and got most of the work done. It’ll make a difference having power to the place, especially now that it’s getting dark. I’ll also have to work on lighting the hen house – although I’ve got that one figured out in my head.
So Monday was awful, weather wise. We had gale force winds and pouring rain, so it was a day for doing indoor chores. That meant cleaning out the portacabin and organising things the way I want them. Once I have a picture in my head of how I want things to be, it’s not easy to persuade me to do something different – I have to know if my idea works!
Once the portacabin had been sorted, it was off to the lambs with me. The Government announced a new subsidy scheme for less favoured areas earlier this year, with each ewe hogg kept meaning a payment of €100 (around £80). No one seems to be sure when it is kicking in, so I have kept every single female lamb that was born, in the hope of receiving extra payment, but I’m hearing now that it won’t kick in until next year and that means getting rid of this year’s females.
There is one more sale here, on Thursday 16th Oct, so I have gone through my lambs and kept 18 for breeding, with 17 going. There are a few more being kept for the freezer.
These are some of the ones I’m keeping
As you can see, they are mainly Cheviots, as I am looking to build up my cheviot flock. There are a couple of nice Suffolk/Cheviot crosses in there too, along with some Suffolk/Roussin hybrids. I have plans for them, and we’ll see how they go.
The rest are off to sale on the 16th, and I’ll need to borrow a trailer for the day, as mine won’t take 17.
Next up is to book in some lambs and pigs for slaughter. October is turning into a busier month than I expected, although I am off to Glasgow for the weekend for some much needed R&R!
So. I bought a quad.
I’ve never had one before but the chicken work kind of forced my hand. Carrying 5-10 bags of feed up to the hens isn’t really an option and the pickup was going to end up damaged if I carried on, so I got this instead.
I’ve done a heck of a lot of spinning around with it – it’s great!
It’s a diesel quad. 2 wheel drive. Not fast but it is exactly what I’m after. Very happy.
I’ve never been good at keeping the blog up to date in the summer months, mainly due to the fact I’m out working while the sun’s out! Now the nights are getting longer, I’ll have more time to share my thoughts.
At the time of my last post, I was embarking on the first of two Farpaisean Chon Chaorach film trips; the first to Tain for the World Sheepdog Trial and the second to Roscommon in Ireland, for the International. I actually came home early from the World Trial because Ness were in the Lewis Cup final – and we went and won 3-1!
Back home, it’s the time of year when changes are made to your stock. I’ve bought in around 20 new ewes, while some of the older ones had to go, due to missing teeth or faulty udders.
It’s not a job I particularly like, but it’s better for the sheep to be sent away, rather than struggle through the winter here.
I wasn’t happy with my prices in Dingwall though, particularly for the 11 lambs I sent away. I think I might try the Stornoway Mart next time, at least I can take them home if I’m really unimpressed!
Air an Lot 