Long day at the lamb sale

6.00am Sunrise over Ben Hiant

The lamb sales  mean an early start. Ewes and lambs have to be brought into the handling pens, the lambs shed off and loaded. Then its sixty miles to Ft. William auction mart, 30 miles of single track road and the ferry at Corran narrows.

 

8.00am Lambs and a cast ewe loaded and ready to go

 
The sale starts at eleven and this year mine were number 12 in the ring, just as the buyers are getting into their swing hopefully. Unloading, penning , washing the trailer and sorting takes time  but there are usually neighbours there to help.

11.30 am Nan Maclachlan moving  lambs to the sale ring

Despite the sale prices being down generally I did better than last year, averaging £45 a lamb due mainly to the Charolais x Texel tup who produced some  fast growing meaty offspring, just what the buyers want.

1.00 pm Blackface lambs from Skye in the sale ring

Good quality Blackface lambs were in demand. There is no better roast lamb than heather fed Blackface cooked very slowly in the bottom of the Rayburn oven.

5.30 pm Home

Home at teatime and the end of the Shepherd's year. All of the lambs to be sold have gone and its time to start the preparations for next twelve months. The new year starts with eleven ewes, four shearlings, one ewe lamb and the tup.