Month: April 2017

Well Mini Crofter, we’re going on a sheep hunt, we’re going to chase the wee ‘un’. We’re going on a ewe hunt, before she has her lamb.
Bear? What bear? This is Scotland the brave Crofting boy (think Corries, land of t’ purple heather, land where the midgies gather), there’s nae bears. And besides, your mum has no time for the library at the moment so we’ll just enact the scenes if your pram could just detour the ewe from that gate and try not to roll into the electric fence…

As I was returning home from a walk with Mini Crofter I met a lady visiting a neighbour. She commented that she had seen me out frequently, my response, it helps get the wee one to sleep. Her reply? “Aye, there’s not much really to do up here…”. My eyebrow raised slightly!!! She turned to look up at the croft before adding, “Well, I guess having animals helps”. I gave a weak smile, thinking ‘Aye, not much to do!?! Want to come give me a hand? There’s not enough hours in a day in terms of the escapades that this croft has seen this week!’

Pay a gym membership but want to save money? Looking at ways of getting more fresh air? Want to improve your fitness? Then look no further. I fully recommend a new form of exercise -it’s called return various animals back to original fields. Do this under a time limit as to when the mini crofter needs his next meal and you are sure to reach your step goals.
I have now returned 2 steers and 4 heifers (after one ran though and broke the electric), one ram who found an old rotten strainer post to join the neighbour’s ram, one steer who thought the bucket used to retrieve the ram was for him, one young calf who went frolicking while the hay bale was getting dropped off into the byre, and I currently have one blackface sheep on the wrong side. Oh, and lambing has now started! Anyone looking at improving their fitness and lending a hand to chase animals (and improve fencing) are more than welcome to stop by. Bring wellies, you may not need them but they make it more of a challenge to run.

Well my beloved steers (insert sarcasm), you may think you got the upper hand undoing my last two days of hard slog in a nanosecond. But, come this autumn I will be personally driving you to the slaughter house!
Many thanks to the neighbours for looking after Mini Crofter this morning.
And sheep: we need to come up with a plan B, any ideas that don’t involve the deer rifle as much as I know you think that that would instantly solve one of your problems?

NHS wants to save money? Mini crofter is getting weighted at home fairly frequently at the moment. Rather than sending a NHS employee out from Inverness, why not contribute towards a sheep weighting scale and I’ll do it for them. They can then use the time elsewhere, carbon emissions are reduced, and I get to monitor the sheep and mini crofter. Happy all round. Think the NHS Highland Board would accept my idea?

1. What do other mums do with their wee ones when they need to feed hay to both lots of cows on the same day?
2. How do you keep a baby occupied while moving sheep pens?

3. What baby monitors work outside and have a longer range than just a couple of metres?

4. At what age can mini crofter go in the tractor with me?