We are still in the midst of farm building renovations here at Rhemore. he veg garden is at peak production and the polycrub is bursting with life. We are clearing the hay field of bracken ready for hay making and Thomas Coope has nearly finished the deer fence around the top half of the croft. On top of all of this, there have been a lot of cow movements on and off the croft over the last couple of months.
We took two 18 month old steers to the abattoir for beef, which is now mostly sold, and sold two of last year’s heifers to some friends with a small holding in Aberfeldy.
Our Highland bull Bracken (or Hamish IV of Battlecourt if you want to use his full pedigree name) has run with the herd since we’ve had him and it’s generally worked well. It’s been interesting observing the change in herd dynamics when he is about and the role he takes with the calves, taking turns on nursery duties. He’s not in charge by any means, as the cows often lead the whole herd, but when it comes to food or cow brushing, Bracken always gets first dibs. He knows he is the strongest and unlike the poor cows, who were polled as calves (i.e. had their horns removed), he also has the biggest horns.
After some deliberation, we decided to separate Bracken from the herd for a few months this year. The gestation for cows is nine and a half months, and at least one cow gets pregnant straight after calving each year. So if we left things as they were we’d soon be having calves in February with others coming in June. We had a kind offer to use someone else’s land down the road so we took Bracken, and one of the remaining steers for company for a wee holiday for a few months for a bit of a re-set. We had an interesting time getting him into a trailer and he must have used his big horns to steady himself against the roof as when he came out it looked like there had been a small gun fight inside.
I was a little worried he would be lonely as cattle are such social herd animals. Studies have shown that keeping bulls separately on their own can trigger aggressive behaviour – and I do wonder whether this is also true of male humans. We visited him and his companion Strudel, often and they did seem subdued.
The two heifers we sold had a much longer journey to their new home, a long drive followed by a mile of rough track. I’d not been to Duncan and Maya’s farm before and it was fantastic to visit the place. Duncan inherited his farm from his father Simon Pepper, who set up the Scottish arm of the World WildLife Fund and led the Scottish Environmental Network. He’d been experimenting with different approaches to woodland creation and habitat restoration since the 1980’s and Duncan grew up observing the changes. It is now a magical place with some of the most species-rich meadows we’d ever seen and incredible naturally regenerated woodlands.
There had been two old heifers on the land for many years, but one had died a few months earlier. The remaining one was 18 years old and pretty slow and placid, until, that is, she smelled the arrival of her new companions. Very excited, she went through a fence to find them, and scooped her new babies up in her horns as if all her birthdays had come at once. Duncan wasn’t quite as happy. His old heifer hadn’t eaten trees for years, probably because of her teeth. Whereas our two were eating Duncan’s carefully marked seedlings from the moment they arrived. “You’ve brought me cows that eat trees!” he exclaimed, much to our amusement, as in our experience there isn’t a cow that doesn’t like eating trees. There were plenty of trees for them there though and it’s a lovely feeling knowing they have a new home where they are going to be well looked after and are contributing well to woodland management. Duncan and Maya’s two young boys were already teaching them to eat from their hands (using branches from trees) when we left, and I can’t wait to go back and see them.
Bracken, our usually placid bull, had become a little over-excitable and difficult to manage while away from the herd. When we tried to move our usually placid bull he ran around waving his horns all over the place and it took nerves of steel not to just drop the food bucket and run.
It was a relief when the time came to bring him home and I had every expectation it would be a happy reunion all around. Bracken was certainly delighted. He leapt out of the trailer, sniffed all the ladies and looked out at the familiar view of Ben More. He hollered a moo that felt so strongly like the recognition of home I don’t think I will ever be persuaded it was anything else.
Sorrel was also delighted to see her son Strudel. The other lady cows seemed to have completely forgotten about Bracken however and looked quite horrified to have him back-for the first few hours at least. They certainly were not impressed by his persistent advances. It’s taken a good couple of weeks for things to settle in the herd again and they seem quite happy, particularly Bracken who now has four new calves to look after..
The old heifer with her two new babies.
Meeting for the first time.
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