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Yes, straw is light. Put it in a bale and you need a wee bit of ‘umph’ behide it. The kind of umph I’m missing while counting down to a labour party with a midwife. So with that came help last weekend to give the cows a bale. Community spirits are alive and well around here and I am thankful for the help I’m being offered. With the help means I can usually avoid all strenuous, heavy and hard tasks. It just means someone else ends up doing it thought. So with that at the weekend, half of the straw bale was unrolled in the byre and the rest stacked in a corner for another spreading mid week. Hence my job today.

A fairly easy job really but I seem to be more in tune to camels. Thus I needed a wee lie down, although not for a broken back, just because it felt that I had forked hard core for an hour. But while doing the task, I was thinking about labour. Not the political or midwifery type, but just how much ‘work’ goes into the croft. This came about after a conversation with a researcher for Newbie at the James Hutton Institute. We never found a concrete answer. Looks like I’ll be doing one of those hour by hour charts for a week to see. Slight problem at the moment is a 15 min task takes about an hour. Never mind, tractors were made with lots of space…

Since the sheep have been moved next to the house, it makes it easier for watching them. And with that, one was spotted on Sunday with a bad limp. As she was holding it up this Monday I decided I needed to have a wee look. Och fine, it’s just a wee ‘un thankfully (and just one). I can do that.

Plan A has been to move the sheep hurdles into the chicken pen and I would then be able to get her contained. However, the sheep looked like they were pretty interested when I appeared so I thought, ‘No bother, I’ll see if I can get them in without all the lifting of gates’. Walk in with a bucket, and they join me like the 12 lords a’ leaping. What a festive bunch.

Then came the unexpected, for right in front of me was said lame sheep. Pretty wee so figured I’d just upturn her and see (although I had no foot trimmer or spray with me). During this time I should say that my mother-in-law was watching on with the Mini Crofter so I wasn’t being totally unorganised.

However, wee sheep can put in a bit of ‘umph if they decide they don’t want contained! With the help of a mother-in-law and a mini rugby tackle (my tackle was anything but graceful, and having a Micro-Crofter on board catches you off guard with maintaining balance, it was more of a science from Wallace and Gromit, and besides, some people pay to go to rides at amusement parks just to be jostled about). But, with the undignified pile on, one limping sheep was caught. However, the kit required was in the shed so Mother in law was given the option of holding said sheep or going to get the hood trimmers. She opted for the run and Mini Crofter stayed with me.

With the return of super-granny, purple spray, and a hoof trimmer the foot was inspected. Thank goodness she’s a wee one because after just a basic trim, I was feeling it. Guess that’s another thing off my ‘still doing’ and moved to the ‘need to ask for help’ list. For yes, she looks like she has foot rot. But from my view point, I’ll get someone who can bend easier. Now where’s that number for the lady who does mobile nails and gel polish, think she could fill in…?

Or maybe more Mr Punk. But either way, the sheep were moved back to the top field where trees abound to give shelter. They decided to set up a spontaneous gathering at the nearest gate while I was supposed to be sorting the cows (spreading out more straw and ensuring they have hay and water). I may have been one field away but when you are aware you are being watched by multiple onlookers, you decide it might be worth heeding their silent pleas and go open a gate.

This was after a wee incident in the byre though. See, before the Crofter left for work I was back in the tractor seat to ensure full confidence in getting bales into the byre. Not a difficult task, just when you get full risk aversion due to carrying a Micro Crofter, any potential for tripping a tractor or other damage starts to be a potential threat. Now, I know this dip in confidence will return but nature has a way to avoid placing us in danger. But it can be a problem with ‘normal’ tasks. So, on Sunday straw was placed in the byre by myself which went smoothly enough. A hay bale was upturned to minimise me heaving bales into position. The straw bale just needed to be spread out today. The hay bale however, had taken a turn for the worst. As the cows chomped through it, it tipped back away from their feeding line. I had promised the Crofter I would not man handle any full bales while he was gone. He didn’t say anything about half bales right enough. And considering we use to have to tip whole bales every week before we got a tractor with a front loader, I looked at it and thought, ‘aye, should be fine’.

Maybe not. And before I have a team of Manual Handling Experts come at me for it, I just tried giving it some welly from my shoulder. No abdo muscles or misusing a pregnancy bump. And quickly decided that this wasn’t an option at 36 weeks. Problem solving was used (yes, I could phone a friend or two but I’d rather save that requirement for when I need help and have no way of getting by). So, I’ll just be pulling hay off the sides until light enough to tip back. Everyone happy (well, until the Crofter reads this and finds out).

Once the cows were back in and sorted, it was on to the sheep. Simple task of walking over to far field to open gate. Well, it left like I was 16 hours into a days Munro bagging trip and still had four to go. Waterproofs, insulated wellies, layers, all made it more of a waddle and not an easy one. Breathing can be hard with so little space but the eyes see it as a quick and easy job. Think basic tasks are going to get harder in the next few weeks so here’s hoping for mild weather and a baby who waits until the Crofter returns home.

Little did I know that having a Mini Crofter would open up the realms of children’s songs. And therefore, tunes that get stuck in my head while performing tasks. Such as winding in electric wire to allow sheep and steers access to the woods in winter when the time comes to it. Neither are in the field yet but if the weather turns and they need more shelter it will be ready and waiting for them. However, it would appear that the wire had been tampered with by intruders from the hill. Never mind, venison stew for tea tomorrow.

Wind the fencing in,

Wind the fencing in,

Pull, pull, tug, tug, argh!

Wind it back again,

Wind it back again,

Trudge, trudge, unknot again.

Walk to the end gate

Walk to the post

Walk to source the culprit

Walk to make a roast

The United States has Black Fridays, the UK seems to be taking this on. But on the croft, it could be any day really, but it’s more of a brown.

Yes, the cattle handling area needs regular cleaning. So while some spend time spending money on shopping, why not spend time getting to know where your food comes from and the work involved? It’s not all glamour work but even shifting muck that will then rot down to be added to the soil in the vegetable garden can give a better understanding of plant and animal based foods. Welfare of animals and their upkeep are fairly important. As we head towards Brexit and possible trade deals with countries that have different standards, it seems that now is the time to start getting to grips with understanding food and making choices about what we eat. As they say, don’t make assumptions that just because something is reduced in a sale doesn’t mean it’s a bargain; the same can be said for animal welfare and meat quality. Just because you think a said country has high standards, doesn’t mean that’s what will end up on your plate. And even something basic such as keeping the handling area clean, can affect the health of our livestock. So unlike the newly adopted yearly Black Friday brown days are much more common.

Lesson for the Mini Crofter: time spent together can be of more value than money spent together. That and sweeping up muck is better if you use the brush the right way up.