Luing Cattle Society

This month is usually quiet so a lot of the staff take some holidays, but this year we have had the Luing Cattle Society open day. Therefore it was all hands on deck, clearing out the rest of the cattle sheds, and washing them out with a pressure washer. We also washed the cattle handling pens at Lochty and North Baldutho. The open day was well attended with over 250 farmers coming to see the cattle. We transported in trailers around the farms, stopping for lunch at North Baldutho were we had a “Balcaskie Beef” barbecue. The Society organised a raffle, which raised £800 for the RHET Fife charity. A good day was had by all.
We have also rouged some fields of barley and wheat. This is when we walk through the fields pulling out wild oats. This is a weed, if not kept under control, it can spread quickly resulting in the use of chemicals to kill it. We have also topped some fields of grass that have gone to seed. The hay we made last month was loaded onto carts and taken into a shed at Carnbee. Most of bales are good but there are some that have heated and will have to be fed to cows.
The rest of the ewes were also clipped this month. The lambs were treated with Crovect which deters flies from laying eggs on their wool. If the lambs were not treated the eggs would turn into maggots. We have also topped some fields of grass that have gone to seed.
Balcaskie Farms took a stall at the Bowhouse market, selling beef and lamb. This was quite successful considering this was our first time selling directly to the public.