 Gilbert taking the Tamworth sow to a new pen, with her X Saddleback children. We bought her in pig, and she farrowed at the end of November - not an ideal time for outdoor living. However she raised seven piglets through snow and ice - you can see the frost on the verge.   We keep roughly 80 ewes plus some lambs and wethers to cross-graze with the ponies. For more details see the Icelandic Sheep page. I very much dislike using chemical wormers, although do so for foals. For the other ponies we change their fields roughly four times a year so that they get different herbs, grasses and sedges; we given them a five-day course of garlic from time to time (using real garlic cloves rather than a processed form), and graze sheep among them. We're building up a small flock of Milk sheep as both Gilbert and I love the creamy taste of sheep's milk. Not only does it have much higher levels of vitamins than cow's milk, the fact that it's not pastuerised means that vitamins aren't lost in the processing. It tastes nothing like goat's milk, which neither of us like at all. Below is one of the Lacaune milk sheep, with her twin ewelambs to a Lleyn tup. See she has a huge vessel which is clear of wool for easy milking.  |
The farm consists of 600 acres in all, comprising of sitka forest bought from the Forestry Commission, rough grazings and permanent pasture. It runs for nearly three miles along the Lochindaal coast of the Isle of Islay. We bought the 6,900 acre Ellister Estate in 1971 but after Rod's death in 1977 the Executors of his estate sold off most of it, leaving me with just 135 acres, along with the house - after much beseeching on my part. Thanks to my neighbour, I was able to buy back the farm of Wester Ellister, after buying back 200 acres of the land that had been sold to the Forestry Commision. There are a number of Red Deer on the farm - these photos were taken in Foaling Field - and the sound of the stags rutting in October is awesome ! Gilbert shoots two or three a year for the freezer - venison, with home-rendered lard from our pigs, is second to none.  Ginger's new piglets - below - were born on October 5th 2011 - they are to a Kune Kune dad ! Below is a photo of them at six days old, venturing outside for the first time.  Left: Tamworth sow and X Kune Kune piglets at three weeks old. Below: the two purebred Lacaune ewes, Red & Blue.   The plan is to put an Icelandic tup to the Lacaunes and the Lacaune x Lleyns for lambing in 2012, as Icelandics are known for three assets: their fleeces, their meat and their milk. |
