We've got three ewes, three gimmers (year old females) and six lambs on the croft. One of our gimmers was 'got at' by the tup last autumn so we have just have our sixth lamb. Hebrideans are all black, very hardy, don't need winter hay and are excellent mothers.
Our sheep have escaped into the plot a couple of times but have only eaten one of the new trees, Strangely they polished off the mint patch which gives us an interesting choice of supplementary feed before they got for the freezer. Hebridean lambs don't go for slaughter until their second year, unlike most types which are only 6 months old when sold on.
It's good to see stock on the croft and the lovely traditional hay pastures getting grazed properly.
The next stage of running the croft is a planning a coppice planting scheme which will provide for all our fuel needs for both the Mill and our house. We'll plant mostly ash, but strangely there is sweet chestnut on the croft in a small copse planted about twenty years ago as an experiment.
Our sheep have escaped into the plot a couple of times but have only eaten one of the new trees, Strangely they polished off the mint patch which gives us an interesting choice of supplementary feed before they got for the freezer. Hebridean lambs don't go for slaughter until their second year, unlike most types which are only 6 months old when sold on.
It's good to see stock on the croft and the lovely traditional hay pastures getting grazed properly.
The next stage of running the croft is a planning a coppice planting scheme which will provide for all our fuel needs for both the Mill and our house. We'll plant mostly ash, but strangely there is sweet chestnut on the croft in a small copse planted about twenty years ago as an experiment.
Well, it looks highly unlikely we'll be planting a lot of ash now, given the spread of the chalara disease, including in Scotland. As our own Alders have really taken off and coppice well, it looks like this'll be the main species when we get the planting done.
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