As the Corona Virus takes hold of us here and we are now pretty much put in lockdown, the concept of self isolating is not so bad at Glengorm.
Having closed all our tourist business off now, we get to enjoy the peace here at Glengorm. Whilst I am aware we can have too much of a good thing, it will be interesting to see how our animals benefit from a lack of humans roaming around.
Calving is well under way here, and we now have about 8 calves. Our younger mothers, the heifers are leading the way. The calf which I wrote about previously is doing well. Heifers are basically cows which have not yet have a calf, once they have had a calf they become a cow. The inexperience of heifers, when they are a first time mothers, can be an issue. The heifer when she has the calf, doesn’t always know what to do with it. Whether this is how to feed it or how to protect it. The one which I wrote about before, was hidden by its mother for nearly 3 days after being let out of the shed. The heifer appeared to have fed it, but we did worry that it may have died as we could not find it. It was eventually found safe and well.
Lambing starts here on the 3rd April. The sheep are all being moved about just now into the fields in by. This makes it easy for our farmers, Alexander and Ross to get around them all easier. They will get checked 3 times a day to make sure no one is getting in to trouble, and any sheep in need of help will get it.
The tups, at the moment are now confined to the shed. This is to keep them out of the way. Today they were clipped, this will help them not to overheat too much when the weather improves.
They look pretty skinny without their coats! They have a bit of an MOT when they are brought in and a few of the tups were also fitted with springs which helps their horns not grow too close to their faces.
Stay safe everyone.