January 29, 2008: Calving Season.
It has been yet another relatively quiet week here on the farm. While the sheep are back at the hill, it is calving time. Kelvin has been helping to keep an eye on the cattle and has now delivered 4 calves. He is very proud of his efforts and Tulip, a Saler (one of the oldest French breeds of cattle), seems to have given Kelvin her stamp of approval by constantly licking his ear and nuzzling his back. Tulip is quite the character as she is a free spirit with a penchant for jumping fences and moving around at the farm at will. We are forever chasing her out of various fields where she should not be.

The cows are quite co-operative when they are in the early stages of labour. However it is a whole different ball game when their calf is on the ground; this is when they become very protective mothers. When moving calves, the cows are very attentive and try to gently nuzzle you away from their calf. For a lightweight like Kelvin, this means he gets pushed and shoved all over the place. It is particularly 'interesting' moving calves in pitch darkness and the cows are mostly black!

Late last week and over the weekend we had a very ill pup which required a weekend stay at the vet. An unknown virus nearly stole the life of this dog right before our eyes. Thankfully some heavy duty antibiotics and lots of TLC has seen the dog on the road to recovery. He is showing sparks of life with brief playful spells with a tennis ball and a seemingly insatiable interest in shoes.

Angie went off trialling on Sunday to her local nursery league. The trial field was super. A nice gentle uphill to the sheep - Scottish Blackface hoggs. The sheep were a little touchy but nothing like the wild beasts on this farm! Angie had an OK run with Roy finishing 6th overall. They ran out of time and did not complete the shed but were very pleased to get the pen. Alastair Mundell had two very good runs and took first and second places. Ironically, Alastair used to own Roy's mother. It is a very small world! Alastair is a super handler and is another who is very quiet with his dogs. The best pen of the day was possibly Joe McRobert with Taff, although new handler, Derek Archibald put on a superb display of patience at the pen. With his dog, Rick, Derek was successful for the very first time at penning in a competition. It was terrific to see Derek meet with such success. Derek and Angie are the two 'beginners' in our local league; a league which is hugely supportive of, and encouraging to, 'newbies.'

Sorry we don't have a lot to report this week! We have mostly been busy working away on various website designs and Kelvin is busy with his teaching. Kelvin also started a wee consulting project for a leading North American natural gas producer based in our old home town of Calgary (Alberta, Canada). We have had lots of time, though, to put our dogs through their paces, and we even ventured up the hill with the older dogs for some hill training with some very cagey ewes. The torrential rain we had on Friday did not stop us taking all the dogs for a good walk/explore of the hills close to our cottage. The dogs just LOVE snooping around and being free to explore their world - and is it rewarding being able to watch them do so.