A Livestock Diary

Oh how nice it is to finally have the warmth and sunshine on our backs once again! Grass supplies were getting tight however now as expected the grass is now shooting ahead of the livestock and there is a wonderful shine on their backs to prove it. However since the rain has stopped it just feels like the floodgates have opened on our workload.

Lambing is complete and all have had their 1st dose of clostridial vaccine and a drench to cover them for nematodirus. We got away without doing these last year as we were on ground that hadn’t seen sheep for few years but the cold dam spring was hard on them so best to cover ourselves and not live to regret it. The day we did it in fact must have been one of the most dreich! However with the help of friends and fellow sheep and flower farmer Kelly and her husband Gavin we got the job done in double quick time…even in our usual make shift pens with a web of farmers friend holding it all together!

After saying we wouldn’t get to any shows this year we had our arm twisted by well known Lincoln Red breeder Andrew Mylius to take our Lincoln Red heifer to the Royal Highland Showcase. The breed was supposed to make its’ return in 2020 after an absence since 2003. We felt it important to help support the breeds comeback even though it will be far from a normal Highland. I think more than anything we are looking forward to the break albeit just for one night!

Most of my time is taken up with the flowers at Blooming Bees just now and it has to be one of the latest and strangest Springs I have seen in over 10 years of growing flowers. The normal seasonal window of crops like tulips has been extremely late with us still harvesting them up to the end of May…un heard of normally. In flower growing we do tend to have a ‘May Gap’ between the Spring and Summer flowers starting but it was more like a ‘May Void’ this year! Thankfully like the grass the crops are jumping and the slow start has made for excellent quality.

It’s also great to be able to get back out selling at farmers markets such as the one at Forfar Mart, getting back out to seeing and talking to customers is good for the soul after the past year of doing most sales behind the computer screen. We are also getting out there now to sell our wares to local florists. Brexit and the pandemic have made the international flower trade quite volatile with significant price increases and with import checks delays in delivery leading to some quality issues. An opportunity for local growers for sure.

We have made a lot of changes this year to how we grow flowers, mainly scaling up production but also in our crop management, we are looking heavily into how bio stimulants such as seaweed extract can help build resilience into our crops for disease. We have also taken delivery of our first biological controls for our main pest species aphids in the form of ladybird larvae. We’re still to see if they are going to work for their release was delayed due to the cold temperatures and now the sudden warmth has seen an explosion in the little green blighters. However, with more targeted use of insecticides we are starting to see the base of other natural predators such as hoverflies and parasitic wasps building so, we have everything crossed our biological warfare will work!

Finally, Jo our Highland teaser bull got his vasectomy operation or more specifically an epididymectomy where vessels were removed from his epididymis to render him infertile. This was a pretty new procedure for our vet practice however Roddie our vet did a great professional job as always and plenty of craic too! He will be put to work with our Moocall Heat collar in July, at least 8 weeks needs to pass to ensure he is no longer fertile. I guess the proof will be next spring…hopefully we have no hairy looking Irish Moileds! During the operation Jo behaved well under light sedation and was up and going in no time and hasn’t looked back since. In fact by the next day the virile little sod was feeling well enough to jump a fence into the cows next door and hasn’t left them in peace since!

DIARY

Diary page By Valerie Orr

Changes for the better