Curing Lismore's hide

We didn’t have much luck doing Bif’s hide. The hair slipped because it started to go off while we were still curing it. Probably not helped by it being the heat of summer.
We tried really hard to find someone who would do it for us professionally but we just couldn’t find someone who would take on a single hide.
So we decided to try the alum’tawing’ method we have used on rabbit skins.

I had to scale up the recipe somewhat for the bigger skin and decided on the following:
50 l water
3.15 kg alum
3kg salt

The skin sat damp and salted for a month while we tried to find someone to cure the skin professionally as it is a LOT of work, and also professional tanning can get a softer and often washable result as they have machines to help and can use harsh chemicals that we don't want to work with by hand. Eventually we had to give up trying to find someone as we followed several leads but could not find somewhere that would take a single skin.

Before starting I removed the worst lumps of flesh and fat, there were a lot still on there though and it wasn't a neat starting place like many I see on the internet where somehow they have managed to beautifully 'flesh' the skin. I then put the skins through the washing machine at Intermarché twice to get rid of as much grease as possible and all the salt. This is a 30C wash with washing powder added automatically. Bit of a weird thing to turn up with, but it is outside and self service so got away with it!

The skin then soaked for about 6 months in the above solution in a bin that must be something like 70l. 2 or 3 weeks would have been enough, but life got in the way!
It only got taken out in the end because we killed some lambs and needed the bucket to start processing their hides.

I hosed it off on both sides and chopped off a bit more fat and ook from the skin side. It looked pretty unprepossessing... but I continued on in the hope it would turn in to something worth while. Then life got in the way some more and it hung under a tarpaulin for another few months until Spring. I then washed it quite thoroughly to get the alum and salt out of the hair and remove any excess from the surface. This was with warm water sprayed on with a hose and dog shampoo.

This made it quite wet again so I let it dry to just damp and started working it by putting it skin side down and rolling a section back and forwards over itself. I did this all over for several days until it was dry again. We then had a go at sanding it with the power sander, this worked ok but it was too uneven a surface really which meant that some bits got sanded a lot more than others. So I oiled it with this and continued to work it some more.
https://www.snowdoniasupplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/view_larger.pl?ref=CP84

The skin still had bits of flesh on that we failed to scrape of earlier. Was hard work to sand off, be we did it eventually.

By now it was getting a lot softer so I was able to finish sanding off all the remaining flesh and whatnot from the surface. It took many many hours of sanding, but the result is a nice soft suede-y surface. The skin is still pretty stiff as it is so thick, but much more flexible than before all that work. Good for a rug.

As a final step I trimmed round the edge with a knife to give it a more even and symmetrical shape that looked kind of cow shaped so it was obvious that this was once a real animal.

Now for those sheep skins!

Myrtle giving birth

We have never actually seen one of the cows giving birth as they seem to sneak them out in the early mornings. We have been watching Myrtle closely though as she had a bad fall at 7 months pregnant and that can result in a uterine torsion which obviously causes complications giving birth.
She went in to labour on Friday afternoon, we were worried it was going to take all night and interfere with our Friday evening!
But she got on with it quickly and gave birth to another little bull. We have called him Wellington.

The ligaments that hold the hips in place disappear just before birth

Labour had started already, not sure how long ago, but since we checked her in the morning anyway

Contractions arch the back and make the tail stick out

We stayed out of sight and not to close as it is her first time - though she is v friendly we didn't want to stress her. This is the water sack with feet in it

She wandered around for over an hour with the water sack and feet coming out a bit more then going back in. It was quite stressful as we weren't sure what was normal. Once the nose appeared and the sack burst it went much faster.

Splash! Baby on the ground.

 Lots and lots of licking. Every time he tried to stand up he was getting a bit further down this hill so I ended up carrying him up to a flat spot. A hill is clearly not the ideal birthing area.

He was trying to suckle from the moment he hit the ground pretty much even before he could get to his feet (which took about 5 mins). Mum was a bit put out and kept moving her udder away every time he got near it, but they eventually worked it out.

Duck Egg!

Mr Duck looking very fine

 Our first duck egg (bottom left) and two chicken eggs

Yummy!

Venus has her calf

Venus had a her calf while we were in Samoëns! Oops! We thought we would be back in time and our friend who was looking after everything while we were gone would have an easy time of it...
I guess it wasn't too much extra work, but a great responsibility. We debated rushing back, but in the end continued with our holiday as everything had already happened and there wasn't much for us to do really.

Meet Stu (Stew geddit??)

With granny butters when he is a couple of days old (photo taken by our friend)

Mum on left and granny on right

Here is a picture of him when we got back. He is growing well and is a sturdy little fellow. We have castrated him as bulls can be dangerous even when quite young. Particularly Jersey bulls.
His mum is a Jersey and dad a Highland - Islay's son who got in with the Jersey heifers just before we sold him. Good job!

Visit to Samoëns

We bought an apartment in Samoëns in 2005. It is rented all the time through the company we bought it from. We haven't visited in nearly 10 years, so it seemed like high time. We went after the area here closed so we got an extra week skiing at the end of the season. Nice to go and see it is being well looked after. It is a 10 hour drive from here so not feasible to just pop over!

The living room

Skiing

We could only take our favourite skis with us in the car

Still plenty of snow

The low down pistes were only just keeping going. I love the soft spring snow though (as long as it is not to sticky...)

Amazing views from the top of the ski area This is Mont Blanc

Moguls! We don't get them much in the Pyrenees. Not enough people.

Funny lift in Flaine. You have to run to get in and then jump off backwards at the top.

Another groovy lift. 60s style bubble.

We had some nice walks with the dog as well as skiing

Poppy met a friend, looked very like her but brown and with a full length tail. We went for a walk a few times with the doggy and her owner as the dogs had such fun.

Swimming in a v cold alpine lake

Outside of the apartment block

Outside of our apartment

It was nice to be in some different mountains and ski a bigger area again. We also enjoyed the local wine and beer that we used to have in Chamonix.

It was lovely to get away for a while, but also lovely to come back home.

Visit from Aidan

Aidan thought he was coming for some skiing... but really he was coming to slave labour on the farm! The date of the visit was planned to coincide with BREXIT, that didn't work out but still a good time for it with lovely weather as well as good snow for skiing.

 We had some nice food as well

 and we did allow a little skiing

 There was quite a bit of gardening - we tied up the raspberries (Doug put the frames up a little while ago)

 We dug a hole in to the bank to create a flat area for a compost bin

 and re-used the soil from that to fill in the divit left in the lawn when the rubble was dug off it.

 It took many barrow loads

 Compost bin looks good

The lawn will eventually look much better when the grass seed we planted grows.

The weather for the visit was brilliant. Come back soon Aidan!

Naughty chickens!

We were wondering why egg numbers had reduced drastically. All became clear when I discovered  huge stash in the nettles. I tried putting a nice shelter where they were laying but several of them have spurned it and continued laying in some different nettles.

We have also put some branches along the downhill wall of the chicken enclosure to try to dissuade the kites from taking the chicks... there seems to be an ever increasing number of both red and black kites. Beautiful birds, but I would prefer they ate something else!