Recent content by Arnol Crofter

You're right it would have made sense to have the abattoirs close to the customers to make sure the meat was as fresh as possible. Similarly I believe there used to be dairies within cities too, again to ensure that the product was fresh reaching the customer. That would have been some sight!

Thanks for the replies, seems it's not that uncommon then. Looking at the history of the site in Glasgow, it was previously the location of a large cattle market and even bigger slaughterhouse operating from the late 1800's until the around WW2. It's very interesting how cities have changed and...

Hi everyone, got a couple of questions on the above. While discussing Glasgow's regeneration in my urban geography class at uni the Glasgow abattoir was mentioned. I was surprised to find out that the abattoir, which was less than a mile from the city centre, was operational until as recently as...

I'd like to add that I don't think that individual crofters buying their own crofts achieves anything either, all it does is create more private landlords. I realise that crofting does get a better deal in some areas than other forms of agriculture. Maybe tenant farmers should get similar...

In this debate we have to differentiate between the community buyouts of large estates from the tenants right to buy which seems to be the main focus of this thread. Being a crofter I don't feel qualified to speak on the issues facing tenant farmers but I don't think that the right to buy your...

Absolutely, the weather was fantastic for most of the day but we still had a couple of showers!

Gathering sheep yesterday, Isle of Scarp.

Smart looking sheep there gadgewalker, do you breed them pure? Haha Dave, you'll have to try harder!

Great thread so far but no Blackies yet! So here are a few photos of mine, the first three are from last years lambing in April and the last two are from June. ps. Where are all the Cheviots, would be great to get some pics on here!

Do you shear them yourself or get contractors in? More and more crofters seem to be stopping hand shearing and getting contractors to do the job for them, saves a lot of time and effort when you have a big flock! Suppose it's just the way it's always been done here.

Most of the crofters in my village still tie three legs before shearing, makes the whole thing a lot easier but it does take a while to tie them, especially big tups and wedders!

I would be very wary of using contaminated silage. Here in Lewis blindness, abortion and sudden death in sheep have all been attributed to contamination from goose droppings in silage and on pasture. Perhaps you would be better buying in forage this year. Geese are becoming a real issue here...