More about us & "The Rumble"

My photo
Cuppaster , Isle of Yell, Shetland Isles, United Kingdom

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Make Hay Whilst the Sun Shines !


After a number of warm summer days here in Shetland, this week has seen another red letter day on the croft.  With the combined showers and warmth of recent weeks, everything's been growing madly from the grass to this years lambs.



I'm sure you've all seen the huge black sileage bales sat in farmers fields, well this is fodder for animals during the winter period when grass doesn't grow.  For those actually cutting the silage (we've employed someone to do it) they have a real job to pick the right time to do it. With some grass being over 2ft , last week was chosen for it to be cut. These bales are another "red letter day" in our little journey towards being a working croft.


We've had just 5 acres cut with the remaining being left for them to eat for the next 2-3 months. The cut grass was left overnight with Ryan coming back the next day to bale it. The grass should have about 50% moisture and when cut and wrapped into the black bales, and will start fermenting within a couple of days.  When you finally start feeding this to the sheep in a few months time, it provides a moist and highly nutritious fodder at a time they really need it. The main reason for doing this is that sheep need feeding during winter, and as most of our ewes will be pregnant they will need decent nutrition overwinter .





Not  a great picture above, but meet Errol The Peril.  Houdini more like, bit of an escape artist - note the husband stood a good distance off. He's a great looking ram with a .... fine .. pair .... he'll get a chance to go to the ewes this year. Errol that is.

Here's a pic of the long awaited hen house ... made almost entirely of recycled wood from the old house.





We added the metal roof last weekend - we still have waterproof felt to add to the walls on the outside, but its huge !!!


We've put stones around the edges, as theres a gap with it being elevated. Didn't want them getting underneath to lay their eggs!






24 nesting boxes and perches either side for them to roost on. Very homely ! The roof structure is made from the old roof trusses. Very proud of ourselves !!!




Gorgeous orchid like Monkey flowers to end with =)

s,s,d xxxx

Da Gallery