A week in February

We're into the middle of February already................ Eek! Where is the time going? Shep hasn't been idling, at least not this past week. Here follows a photographic diary of the past week.

It started by gathering some sheep ready for scanning the following day. They were gathered a day early and held close to the sheep pens as the weather forecast was threatening snow, as indeed it was doing as Moss turned these sheep and headed them closer to home. That was last Saturday.

Sunday saw Shep assisting at a couple of scannings.

The first scanning of the day was helping a friend out,someone who has just taken the step up from shepherd to farmer. The first time for them to scan their own sheep and good results were the order of the day. The scan man hid in his tent, couldn't blame him, a covering of snow and -8 recorded first thing had us all wishing we could climb in there with him.

The weather conditions found Moss and I jumping in with the scan man, hitching a lift to the second job, the sheep I'd brought closer to home the day previous. The farmer later reunited me with my motor when scanning and dosing had been completed, by which time the treacherous road conditions had given and car and I had an uneventful journey home.

There was little snow of mention but frost held out all week. Night temperatures varied from -10 to as warm as -2 over the duration of the week, far more fortunate than those further south whom experienced -16, Brrr... bet that was cold!

I had a few days in the company of these Galloway cows earlier in the week, I see quite a bit of them at the moment, they have been receiving a bite of cake (hard feed) and are keen to follow the bike around, as I was patching some fences in the vicinity where they live they seemed forever hopeful that they would receive more than one feed in the day. Intrigued every time the bike was moved to a different stretch of fence, was this a sign of more food??

Going by the circumference of this one it doesn't look like they need any more food, in all fairness to her these cattle are only a few weeks off calving so they probably have an excuse to look portly.

Then there was the moon, blimey! It wasn't half bright, t'was like driving into the sun in the dark. I was away out bye when I took this, a late finish with the fencing then a desire to find out what a police car had been up to saw me arriving home very late, and I may add none the wiser.

A dead end farm road in the middle of nowhere sees a police car on it, now my attempt to leave my job of fencing and hit the road before the police car returned failed and said car sailed past. Which I thought was a tad ill mannered. After all, out in the middle of no where on private property isn't the usual place to see the police, they are meant to be observant so surely ought to have seen me and quad, 2 dogs with 20 cattle following us heading towards the road. Well I thought they would have noticed but obviously they saw no reason to stop and have a crack and let me know what they were playing at.

Not to worry, thanks to the police car I had time to appreciate the beauty of the moon that night.

As the week went on this was a common sight.

There was ice everywhere.

Even the wettest of bike tracks appeared to be well frozen, this may look like puddles of water but in fact it is frozen solid, which made me decide to do a job I never relish. I had a list of possible jobs, the fencing was done for the time being, another on the list was to head out to the neighbours hill, that unfenced march between one farm and another meant sheep will have wandered over onto ground which they do not belong, as it was hard and frosty I decided to be a good bairn (child) and head out to send them back onto their own ground. I've often mentioned on these postings that I do not enjoy this particular task but it needs to be done. The neighbours ground is ungrazed heather, very rough, steep, undulating and just scary at times. However, I concluded that due to the hardness of the frost at least I wouldn't be able to bog the quad bike, I might get stuck by some other means but I couldn't possibly bog it. Could I?

How many swear words do you possess in your vocabulary?? Chances are I tried them all and added a few new ones to the list. How could I possibly bog the b****y bike??? What a prat!!

Bikes work by means of a thumb throttle, which means one hand has to be able to reach and use the throttle leaving only one arm to do the lifting and pushing. Well I lifted and pushed 'til I had no energy left to swear and still the b****y bike was stuck. I wasn't carrying the gizmo, that satellite tracking thingy, not that it would have helped as the batteries are done in it, and anyhow, it is for an emergency, not for a prattish act like this. Fortunately I had had sense to carry my mobile 'phone and eventually walked into an area which had reception.

Mobile 'phone reception is not a strong point in Tarset, you're more likely not to have reception than have it but there are odd pockets, one of which I walked upon. A weak signal tho' which cut me off twice. My first call went like this "Hi! just me here, are you busy? just wondered coz need help..."
Oh! that didn't go to well!
Second call went along the lines of " Will cut to the chase, am away out bye am stuck and need......"
Oh dear! I was starting to worry that the recipient of the calls might be beginning to worry.
Finally all was sorted and a quad was heading my way from away down the valley to pull me out of my predicament and as to "where will we find you" I replied that I would be walked away in by the time they arrived - but only just I may add, they either drove like a madman or else I dawdled.

My 'phone a friend did the job and bike was extricated, although not as easily as I had imagined, there was still a fair bit of lifting and grunting necessitated - now you would think I would learn wouldn't you?? We had a crack and I found out what the police had been up to, a new bobby on the beat had looked at a map and decided to acquaint himself with ground he didn't know, 'tis good to know but I still think he could have stopped and let me know that he was just being nosey, but there you go, who am I to question the manners of the police?

I never did succeed in heading out to that ground I never relish visiting, the day had flown by after all the excitement of rendering the bike immobile for a duration. The following day saw freezing rain, an unpleasant phenomena which saw Shep decide to baton the hatches down and knuckle down to some book work, the years accounts are at least now up to date, thanks to freezing rain.

The week was rounded off with a warm job, a job which will hopefully see us warm next winter too. The tail end of some hurricane in the summer kindly toppled this tree over, it won't be enough to keep the home fires burning all next winter, especially as it has two households to feed but it will be a help.

My job is that of mad axe woman, unfortunately the chainsaw had had a couple of days head start on me so for all my best endeavours I felt like I wasn't really getting anywhere fast. I ought to have been out gathering but due to the temperature lifting the weather was giving us hill fog making visibility too poor for gathering the hill sheep in, so mad axe woman it was.

A week in February, another week gone by. A week in which I saw many foxes, an ermine stoat, a very cold looking kestrel, many buzzards, ravens, and other birdy things including a pair of crossbills, a cropped and long distance shot of one which I will end this posting with.

Monochrome world

Aye, that was the sight which dawned on Friday morning, very much monochrome, cold, grey and white.

There wasn't actually that much snow around, just enough to whiten things and make life difficult.

Have to say I've been feeling kinda smug, somehow I've managed to miss the colder, snowier, frostier days for heading away out bye. I don't mind working in wintry weather, it's the travelling that is often the drawback, to date I have been fortunate, the odd day of wintry weather Tarset has experienced hasn't been the odd day I have to herd the tups out bye, like I say - lucky!

Until Friday morning that is.

Now the morning dawned kinda white, not a vast amount of the white stuff it has to be said, just a covering. I had intended to set away at daylight as a necessity to be back down the valley for lunch time could see the morning being a short one, however, the whiteness made me wait a while, hoping it would clear as more traffic hit the roads.

The thought did cross my mind to take our quad, but that was a bit of a wussy idea really, I mean, there was just a whitening, bad job if car and I couldn't manage the gradients we were going to face on our journey.

We trundled off, car and I. Obviously a 'new' car and as such an unknown entity on wintry roads as to date the need to try it out had not arisen. I now know it travels as well as I do on the slippy stuff. In all fairness we trundled along at my well known slow pace and managed to almost reach our destination without too much trouble other than the odd back end slew but momentum was kept up and all was well.

It wasn't until momentum had to come to a halt that all was not well. Just a few hundred yards from our final destination there was a gate required opening. I pulled the car up and walked towards the gate, only to notice from the corner of my eye that said motor was disappearing backwards back down the road. Oh Ho!

The drawback with the road conditions that morning resulted from the weather the previous evening. Rain, frost then snow. The snow wasn't deep enough to prevent tyres cutting through onto the ice so basically the journey had been done on 'white' ice, which resulted in the mishap or not at the gateway.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, if only..... if only I'd had sense to fling the gate open before trotting off to retrieve the motor. Laurel and Hardy really didn't seem to have a look in that morning, a black and white silent movie it indeed was. Did I say silent? That's probably an oversight as knowing me there would probably be some cause for an odd swear word or two to pass my lips.

So there I was, just about to open the gate when I noticed the car was disappearing backwards with no one in the driving seat, I trotted off after it, jumped into the empty seat and went to put the handbrake on. Handbrake was already on. I yarked it harder and stepped out of the motor and watched quizzically as it continued in a backwards direction without the wheels going around and again without anyone behind the steering wheel - my car was possessed!!

Next time this ever happens I will open the gate before running after the motor - promise!

Car wouldn't go forwards so we gracefully slid backwards until the soft grass verge halted our journey. I then got out and opened the gate (that was the easiest bit of the whole manouevre!) Car and I were reunited, it still where I left it this time, only I found it seemed to quite like being where I'd left it, going forward wasn't an option and it seemed going backwards wasn't going to be either, a combination of soft verge and icy, snowy road was trying to snooker me - well I'll be damned!

It felt like the longest part of my journey had been that gateway, I had to laugh at the ludicrousness of the whole situation although there was a slight concern of the drains on either side once some sort of movement occurred. It was a slow process, not a steep gradient at all but 'new' car and I were not seeing eye to eye on this one. Eventually I won. We made it to our destination.

Animals got fed, this Galloway cow just adding to the monochrome morning

Moss enjoyed his snow bath so at least someone was happy. I felt that I just had time to do the necessaries before turning around and heading back down the valley only to find road conditions had worsened with good old car giving me one or two almost heart stopping moments. We did both arrive at our final destination in one piece however and we never offered to budge again for the rest of the day, and for that matter the car remained stationary for a number of days to follow.

Friday evening saw I and other half heading to the local Town Hall for the Amateur Dramatics Christmas play 'Excalibur', only too grateful to accept a lift off friends so no need to drive again that day. I hadn't been the only one having fun, the other half found himself leading silage over into the Rede and he too had had 'fun' - so pleased the exciting moments were shared! albeit seperately.

The play was well worth seeing, an excellent production. Far better than the roads which were deteriorating rapidly due to slush and ice, even the main routes were covered in black ice.

The following morning saw me heading away out bye with our quad, wussy or not, I really didn't care, car and I were not going to be made a fool of again! We probably arrived at our destination a lot quicker but also a lot colder!

Not quite such a monochrome day as we had had the day previous, the hard frost ensured some sunshine once the flightering on of snow ceased.

At least the clarts weren't too bad, and there were some 'pretty' moments.

The day was a cold one, time was running short and not all tasks were completed, again probably my fault for not heading out there as soon as I ought to, more a desire to wait till the frost gave a little, although I doubt very much that it did give at all. The view as I left had a 'warmth' about it which I couldn't feel but could appreciate with the eye.

There is no doubt that the ground is white and crisp and even. Crisp being the optimum description with -5 and -4 recorded at my back door these past couple of nights, that is all to change if we believe the weather forecasters, mild weather and rain is heading our way, ground will be bottomless but roads safer to travel - there's no winning!

Carlisle Galloway Sale. 4th Nov 2011

Shep was on wander about once again. Carlisle Auction Mart run by Harrison and Hetherington over in Cumbria was the venue. A 'hot' date, organised months ago by a farmer I work for in Cumbria.

The said farmer was selling some of his Galloway heifers. I have worked for the gentleman ever since going self employed many years ago, I knew of him through his connection with Galloways and it is this which drew us together so to speak.

Having had a penchant for the black hairy beast ever since my first full time job upon leaving school I still find I have a huge soft spot for the creature. Once prolific on our hills she has seen a decline but is hanging on in there, there are still those who find her attributes the most suitable for their farming practices and there are twice yearly annual sales for the breed held at Carlisle and Castle Douglas, just as there were in my youth.

 

The Galloway is a hardy beast, hairy with it. A beautiful animal with her anvil shaped head, proud ears and mossy browny black coat. She has a reputation of being wild but those that know them will tell you they are indeed no wilder than any other breed. Like the hill sheep they are to be treat with respect and their strong motherly instinct is probably what gives cause for some to imagine they are a wild creature to handle. Like hill sheep I believe them to be genuine and tough.

 

It has to be said that this particular herd doesn't exactly survive out on hill ground and this is ultimately going to be the downfall for this particular mans life long passion. As age creeps on and son takes the helm different farming practices are coming to hand. Ground which will carry Limousin cross cattle will find itself doing just that and the humble Galloway will find herself history on this particular farm, as has happened on so many others in my working lifetime.

The said farmer requested my company at the sale at Carlisle. A consignment of about a dozen heifers to sell and he wished to share it with someone who like himself had a soft spot for the breed. There are still a handful of cattle on his farm which are nursing galloway calves and an even smaller handful in calf to the galloway and then that is it, from here onwards all of the galloway cows remaining in the herd will be crossed with the limousin. A lifetime of breeding come to an end. No wonder the guy wanted to share the day with someone who was sympathetic to the cause.

 

An early arrival at the mart to assist with showing of cattle. The above photo shows the judges of the day perusing one of the classes, there were many classes both pedigree and none pedigree for those selling their cattle to be put forward for judging. I have to say I was disappointed in one class my farmer showed in, just shows how old fashioned my views are, he was beaten by a canadian type galloway. They appear bigger, leggier, blacker and in my mind not as pleasing to the eye - definitely uglier, lacking the sweetness of the traditional galloway which I have been so accustomed to over the years. Just as well everyone shares different views, in my mind his was the best forward for that particular class but then maybe I was biased, hoping that the elderly farmer could go out on a high, red tickets and silverware and why not? Blue and yellow tickets were the order of the day, at least he didn't go home empty handed!

 

I did think the trade on the day wasn't too bad, especially as the reports filtering back from Castle Douglas hadn't been too promising but then I don't believe there were many forward for sale that day. Bulling heifers from Solmain (above) topped at £1,050 and would average about £800. The top price that I noted was £2,000 for heifers off Peela Hill.

 

These heifers are off Hindhope, true hill cattle and ones whom the farmers son appreciates, hopefully a herd which won't be biting the dust in the near future.

I have to say on the day I was somewhat flabbergasted. I mentioned arriving early to assist with setting cattle out for the judging and that there were many classes forward for the judges to study. As with all show events there is usually one which is deemed the best of the best - the overall champion of the day and so it was at Carlisle. However, the event seemed to be overlooked when the beast entered the ring. Usually at marts I attend whatever animal has won the championship finds its owner being presented with silverware and a round of applause is given by those collected around the ringside. This appeared to be overlooked at Carlisle.

I really was flabbergasted. There were silver cups up on the rostrum not far from the auctioneer, I don't know whether they were all intended for the champion beast or whether some were designated for other prize winners, regardless, they were overlooked. The champion entered the ring and if it had not been for the farmer waving the champion rossette under the nose of the auctioneer I do believe the auctioneer would have sailed on regardless, some splutterings were offered, thanking judges etc and bidding commenced - end of story. Quite an anti climax I'm sure for the farmer who had taken the championship rossette. Not what I am accustomed to that is for sure.

 

I have said Galloways are black hairy beasties but they can come in a variety of colours, Dun, Red and White and then there are the Belties (Belted Galloways). Traditionalists like myself prefer the black, there are those who harper for Duns and then there are those who specialise in Belties which I have to say do have an appeal although many traditionalists don't have much time for them.

 

Maybe more ought to have time to appreciate the beltie as they were a strong trade. Sold at the end of the sale, many had left the ringside but those who were left bid. Collectors items maybes - who knows but I do know they were in demand. Red ones especially with one incalf heifer realising £5,000 admittedly the catalogue did read "a rare chance to buy a red heifer" she was a decent beast and someone took the opportunity of the rare chance to buy her.