I’m writing this whilst waiting for a cow to calf.
We have a few autumn calvers just now, and I know that the experts suggest spring calving is the way to go, but at this time of year we have time to focus solely on them without having to juggle lambing and sowing too.
The autumn calving will be finished by December 31, and we’ll then start spring calving on January 1.
However. I feel like I have an arm missing as I lost my phone today. It’s currently in a cattle court after falling out of my boiler suit pocket when shifting a calf. It’s quite concerning how much we’ve come to depend on them although I’m actually considering not getting a replacement as I got the cattle fed half an hour quicker for some reason this morning!
Maybe I should revert to the old days when my father would be out on the farm then cram about five phone calls to tractor garage/feed merchant/ agronomist etc into a frantic half hour after “denner”.
Maybe, though, what’s really putting me off going to the phone shop is having to sit and listen to some teenage assistant manager called Darren try to sell me a phone and bombarding me with a heap of technical information I know nothing about.
The last time I stupidly asked him what the Cloud is I caught him smirking to himself. I thought to myself: “Aye bonny lad, I’d love to see you replace a bearing on a baler or bleed an engine.”
Daughter Alice is fairly growing and will soon be ready to start eating mashed-up foods. She’s also started saying “eh” quite a lot… no doubt because she was born in Dundee and not Perth.
It’s brilliant to see the Covid vaccines getting the green light and being rolled out.
This is something I think the sheep lads could help with. I’ve got it all figured out. Just get everyone in town into the high street with a gate at either end and a race outside Boots the chemist, with a good handling system, and a shepherd could jag around 250/300 head an hour – so long as nobody wants the needle changed.
Now, to top it all, the six hens are having to self-isolate due to bird flu and they’re not happy about it – especially Elsie, as she has a sister in Carnoustie that she can’t visit now.
I was saddened to see the death of Buff Hardie, the last of the north east comedy sketch trio Scotland the What?
Although I never saw them live, watching them on telly at Hogmanay was a must and they left a lasting legacy on me. They brought Doric humour to the south of the Esk and beyond. Thanks to YouTube a lot of the sketches are available online and I’d recommend them to any youngster who hasn’t seen them.
But there was some good news in November with our national men’s fitba team finally qualifying for a major tournament for the first time in 23 years.
I think even the non-football fans would agree it was just what the country needed.
There surely must have been a few folk that missed all the drama though if, like me, they switched the telly off as soon as Serbia scored in the last minute of normal time.
That’s when Floss was abruptly taken for her evening walk. She must have wondered why I was swearing and muttering to myself as we walked all the way up and down the track. Thankfully we made it back in time for the penalties.
I went berserk when that penalty was saved but couldn’t make a noise as Alice was sleeping so Floss looked even more confused as I was dancing round the living room like some muted nutter.
So, at long last there seems to be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel and next summer looks to be something for us all to look forward to.
From everyone here at the ‘fer-um’ , we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and all the best for a prosperous 2021. Cheers.
