I wonder if anyone responded to the idea of a tunnel across to the mainland? I’m thinking that there wouldn’t be much support for that. As I write, I’m watching the south easterly wind driving the waves furiously towards my house. Imagine going underneath those waves! I don’t think that it would be very safe either to have our islands open to anyone at any time of the day or night. I think it would be better to support the ferry service, although it’s often broken or stranded due to bad weather; at least there are better ferries on the agenda.
On the radio the other day I heard that a number of frigates are going to get built on the Clyde for the Royal Navy. I think they said that it would be in two years time. Also Arnish in Stornoway is getting a contract to transfer food and equipment out to boats at sea to save the boats having to come into port. Of course I can’t understand anything about that kind of work but I do understand the importance of jobs in Scotland and especially in Stornoway.
I don’t know when Lyme disease started out here. When I was young, lots of deer were shot by crofters and they didn’t come into inbye land – I was 30 before I saw my first deer on this land. It wasn’t fear of humans that kept them out on the moor; they stayed there because they had enough green grass out there. The sheep and cows were summered out on the hill until October and the moors were burnt methodically; so with the sheep, lambs, cows, calves and the deer grazing there, the management of the moor was healthy.
I was born in 1940 and when the men got home on leave during the war, the deer were a Godsend. I think that I wrote before how my Uncle Hugh shot a deer when home during the war. I was too young to eat meat but the others did. I believe that the deer had been wounded before, which made its venison poisonous. The other children were all very sick and it was only the skill of old Doctor AJ MacLeod that saved them.
The sheep wouldn’t have so many ticks either in those days as the muirburning killed a lot of them. However burning was not done so methodically as time went on, so the heather had too much chance to grow. Then in 1961, reseeding became popular and the gearraidh areas became greener and the moor became rank through lack of grazing. The deer were attracted to the greener areas and as time went on they then came to the machair and into the gardens.
I think muirburn should be done in different areas ever year with plenty volunteers as this would be helpful. We have trees now so they would have to be very careful not to burn them. Of course I know that when we were children and we worked at peats, we came home with lots of ticks on our bodies but we were never sick. Maybe they are a different breed of tick now.
I believe that the number of deer should be very much reduced but a huge cull would be heartbreaking. I’d like to see hardy sheep grazing on the moors along with the deer but that could only happen if some crofters got Hebrideans and Blackface after muirburn got rid of the tall heather. Of course the government should finance that and those sheep would become “hefted” on the moors which means that they would settle in their areas and stay there. In the late 70s we burnt the ranch, as we called it, on Marrival and when the grass grew the following year we had lovely green grass and the cattle loved it and were able to summer there until 1997, when the fence stopped being stock proof.
On the 11th and 12th November the young ones were very busy in Vallay. This is the time all the cattle get their medicines and checked out before the winter. There’s a lot of planning especially when the days are so short and they are governed by the tide. On Friday 11th the tide was completely out at 4 p.m. so they took medicines over to Vallay and also the vehicles they would need to use the next day. They then gathered the cows and their calves and put them in the field around the old houses. Saturday was the big day; Carianne, Fraser, Alexander, John MacPhee (the Wee Man), Craig, Ryan, Alasdair Don and the scanner, another Ryan. Hector Shepherd took them over in a boat about 7 a.m. giving the team all the daylight hours to complete the job. The cows got scanned to tell us how many are pregnant and medicine for worms, pour on for lice and they also got mineral boluses. Boluses are so helpful; since we started giving them those we don’t get white scour in the calves. I think the day went very well. Two cows, Morag Skye and Sobhrach, with twins from springtime were brought back to Kyles to be looked after. It’s a big job as there are 139 cows. Carianne takes a note of all the eartags and pregnancy information; she is so often with them and knows each one’s name. She’s a real cowgirl!!
Our most exciting piece of news that day was that Big Boy’s son, Little Big Boy, had managed to impregnate all of the heifers that had been put with him! He had been privately sold but on inspection, before he was due to leave, it was seen that his long hair had been caught around the end of his most important tool, which meant that some of it had to be cut off. We couldn’t sell him but wanted to give him a chance to see if he would heal and perform. He was put with heifers and kept in Kyles. Well, he didn’t let us down and we look forward to seeing his calves next spring! Again, how exciting!!
We’re almost at the New Year and this is the last paper of 2022. I hope and pray that God will make 2023 a happier and peaceful year. We must be thankful for all the joy we’ve had whilst remembering those no longer with us.
My choice of readings are Matthew Chapter 1 and Psalm 118.
Seasons Greetings to you all!
