Highland Bullocks from Octomore - Lighthouse Field, Port Charlotte

They are being fed a supplementary diet of draff mixed with silage and barley straw as the cold weather has badly retarded growth of just about everything....

Shorefield bullocks this morning

My favourite cattle and my favourite view!! - Carl

Two of the Shorefield Bullocks will be slaughtered this week

Two of the bullocks from the Shorefield Project will be slaughtered at the Avonvoggie Abattoir on Islay this week.  One of these will be used by Caledonia TV in the making of the Gaelic TV programme Am Boireannach a Dh'ith Bò (The Woman Who Ate A Cow) which has been commissioned by BBC Alba.

After hanging for 21 days, the carcasses will be butchered and each beast split into four equal quarters, vacuum packed into freezer-ready portions.  We already have customers for these, but more will be ready before long, so if you fancy adding yourself to the waiting list please let us know!!
Carl

Whisky and the Shorefield bullocks

Lots of boys like a wee dram, and the Shorefield bullocks are no exception.  They are given a ration of cownuts every day to 'bring them on', and also to get them used to, indeed positively enthusiastic about, human company.  This will make them easier to handle when the time comes.  The cattle nuts on Islay are made from 'draff' which is a bi-product of the whisky making here.  It is essentially the spent barley from the mash tun, i.e. barley that has had all of its carbohydrate converted into to sugars prior to being converted into alcohol.  The residue (or 'draff') is a sort of high protein porridge which can either be fed directly as a sort of wet splodge, or dried and converted into nuts - which is what you see here.

You can see Bruichladdich pier in the background.

Three more Bullocks in the Shorefield



The three new bullocks for the Shorefield had to have their passports checked today, which essentially meant putting them into the 'crush' so that they can have their ear tags checked and the numbers recorded.  Every movement of cattle has to be logged. 




 Reading the ear tags of Highlanders is not that easy - because they get covered in the long hair - hence the need to get then into the crush so that they can be safely seen.




Once that all-important job was done it was time to load them into the 'float' for the short trip from Octomore to the Shorefield.  All this is being done in pouring rain of course...




All went very well up to this point and they quite cheerfully entered their new home with the minimum of fuss.




This did not last long however, as very shortly after this photo was taken they decided to take a wee trip into Bruichladdich - and hopped over a wall.  Happily we managed to head them off before they got to the Mini-market...




The rest of the afternoon was spent further reinforcing some of the walling using stobs and rails.  We left them a wee while ago and have to hope that they will chill out and realise that the coziest place to spend the night is tucked up in the middle of some nice gorse bushes with their new pals...  



Moonlit bullocks at the Shorefield

It has been a lovely day - or at least a lovely afternoon here on Islay, and the evening did not disappoint either, with a big moon rising over the Paps and lighting up Loch Indaal.  Grabbed a couple of shots of the bullocks in the Shorefield as I was pedalling home from Dunlossit...
Carl

The Shorefield Project - Update

This rather cheeky ewe has moved in to Shorefield and was munching away on some seaweed over the weekend.  Not sure of her provenance - but I know you pay a premium for salt-marsh lamb..!!

For the latest on the Shorefield Project check out

The Shorefield Project

Cattle on Main Street Bowmore - Walter Rintoul

Another shot by Walter Rintoul from yesteryear...  Dairy cattle too...

The Shorefield bullocks - and a rook

 

Thanks to George Jackson for these shots of the Shorefield Highland bullocks in the snow - and a Rook helping itself to a big lump of fat from George's bird table...

The Shorefield Project - feeding in the snow

The Highlanders are being fed barley straw, which was baled earlier in the year after the grain had been harvested for Bruichladdich Distillery.  It is loaded onto the feed trailers using a telehandler.

The bale then has to be broken open and is soaked with molasses.  The Highlanders are happy with the low nutrient content of the barley straw, it provides the bulk to fill their stomachs, and the molasses adds the sweetness while also having a high calorific value.

The feed trailer is then towed up to the hill by James in h is shiny new Massey Ferguson.

The Highlanders come swiftly when called. 

They really do look magnificent in the snow, and give the impression of positively enjoying the cold weather, snug inside their thick coats.

Could this be the last day of hard frost?

The forecast is for the wind to pick up from the north-west and for the temperature to rise above freezing this evening.  I have a feeling the Highlanders will be quite pleased about that - there is probably only so much fun you can have eating frozen grass...  The lower shot is of a very frigid Loch Indaal taken from the Uiskentuie Strand.

Shorefield Project - the first Highlanders arrive late this afternoon

The first two Highland bullocks destined for the Shorefield Project have arrived - sourced from the mainland and delivered by Willie to a holding field near Port Charlotte.  The two beasts, which looked to be in superb condition, were completely relaxed after their journey - Highlanders tend to be more docile than some of their crazier continental relatives.  They have joined a small group of eight of their brethren and will be moved up to Octomore for their innoculations over the next wee while before being introduced into Shorefield. 

So there is lots to do before that can happen - pleanty of fencing work for a start...

Sorry about this shot being a bit gloomy - but it was getting pretty dark by the time they arrived.  More pictures soon I hope....
Carl

The Shorefield Project - Highland beef

In my freezer right now is what remains of a quarter of a Highland beast.  We have eaten the rest.  Eating 'whole' animals if different to eating meat selected from a butcher's slab - you have to think about things a little more and eat the full range of cuts that you get from the animal - not just the bits that you are used to eating.  Last night we enjoyed a couple of sirloin steaks, tonight we will be sharing a big rolled brisket with friends, earlier in the week we had sausages with our pasta and cottage pie - all derived from the same animal.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, I have always been interested in farming and its effects on the natural world, and I am just about to embark on helping with an exciting project which should provide loads of interesting material for this blog, help with the management of a piece of spectacularly beautiful landscape - and result in food for our plates.

The plan is to help raise some Highland cattle - and watch what effect they have on the land and its wildlife while we are doing this.  George has a stretch of rough coastal land that has been left to its own devices for a few years and it needs grazing.  James is going to buy some young Highland bullocks and the plan is to bring them on until they are at their optimum condition, and then have them killed at the Islay Abattoir, butchered, and sold. 

I went up to visit James' current Highland herd, kept up above the village earlier this morning. We fed them some cake and then went down to see the Shorefield. It is a classic stretch of Islay coastline, rocky, boggy, rough and beautiful. It will need some work doing to its fencing and walls before the beasts can be introduced. Actually, we don't even have the beasts yet, but we will find some from somewhere... It may take a little while. This is Islay after all...

It should be fascinating - to watch how the land develops as things start to grow in the Spring.    Highlanders can be raised on much 'poorer' ground than conventional breeds, and the density of cattle will be low.  The grazing should have a very positive effect on the land and its biodiversity.

The 'natural' landscape of Islay is not 'natural' at all of course - it has been shaped by its relationship with man and his domestic animals for literally thousands of years.  Fundamentally, agriculture on Islay revolves around breeding cattle.  The Romans never conquered Scotland, they never settled on Islay, but ever since Roman times, and possibly before, cattle have been raised here and sent to the mainland to market.  Nothing much has changed really.  The 'black cattle' that the drovers send away back then were Highlanders too - the modern fashion for brown and cream Highland cattle is actually simply that - a fashion.  The breed is little changed.

So - this is the first of what I hope will be many posts about this project - and I hope you will continue to watch this space to see what happens next.
Carl