Gone Fishing
Alison Younger • May 8, 2026
The last 6 weeks have been a bit of a blur with calving and lambing in full swing. The start was tough - spring has been very late to arrive and we were very over the persistent cold and damp. The dry weather of late April was hugely welcome then and whilst juggling the last of the shed checks we've been busy with fieldwork - liming, seeding, rolling and fertilising.
It wasn't just us that were feeling the drag of a wet winter. Our chooks in the big house were pretty fed up too. They get a bit more exposure with their housing to the prevailing winds - reducing egg numbers and thinner shells have been their way of letting me know they were ready for retirement. So tonight we have a squad of kids and cousins lined up to rise super early and help us catch up all our ladies and get them crated up for retirement. First thing in the morning the British Hen Welfare Trust will collect and distribute them out to new homes across the country - hopefully settling well into the life of backyard hen keeping.
We will have a couple of weeks to clean and disinfect housing before our new ladies arrive - and then the careful juggling act of feed and light to gain enough body weight before they start laying eggs late June. In the meantime then we are partnering once again with
Corrie Mains Free Range eggs to maintain our supply. These guys are based in Ayrshire and are a great family set up, fabulous quality and great welfare standards. Similar to other years the changeover period also impacts on sizing - we will likely only have mediums available until late June / early July so if your eggs look smaller than usual that is why! As ever we're happy to refund the difference if you are a regular large or XL customer -
just let us know.
Looking ahead to the summer we'll be at the Gargunnock Show again with the burger shack on Saturday 6th June - a great day out for all the family -and hopefully will see a lot of you there. We're busy with school visits and tours this next wee while and have our next beef butchery scheduled for boxes and bespoke orders for w/c 8 June. Phew! Think i'll be ready for a break after all that ! Hope you too are enjoying the seasonal roll into summer. Thanks as ever for your ongoing support.
And just like that we are into April - how did that happen? As usual the end of March brought with it a headlong rush into the start of calving and lambing. Every day brings it's own bundles of joy - one day last week we had 4 calves born 8 hours - so it's been busy! I always say we lamb the first two weeks of April - there's always a few early arrivals but this year we seemed to start with a bang and we are already 25% through. Last weekend was a tad stressful then finishing the shed prep and getting all the pregnant ewes back closer to the sheds. The bad weather last Sunday was pretty brutal but this week our systems are all up and running, the mercury rising ever so slightly and our extra lambing help arrived once the ferry from Mull started running again. We are now into the groove so can enjoy the next 75% of the madness! Elsewhere on the farm we are busy with beef butchery (just in) and pork due in next week so plenty of meat available to order. Our current chooks are reaching the end of their stay with us. It's always a funny time in the laying cycle - the shells start to get quite thin as they get older so we get a lot more breakages as we collect and grade. It seems a far cry from the lovely thick rich shells of the same ladies when they first started laying a year ago. They have earned their retirement via the British Hen Welfare Trust who will come and collect them early May. We will then have our usual supply from Corrie Mains in Ayrshire for approx 8 weeks whilst we clean and disinfect sheds and get our new young birds in and settled before they start laying. With the long Easter weekend about to arrive, and the school holidays don't forget to tell us if you're heading away and need to suspend any deliveries. Hope you guys have a great Easter - for this weekend only may all your eggs be chocolately !
I haven't needed my solar panel app to tell me there's not been much sunlight these last couple of weeks. The grey flat January days roll over, distinguished mostly by how much precipitation they bring - anything from a smirr, a smidge, rain but not wet rain, proper rain, fat drops, a torrent. And then sometimes, there's just a break, and there it is - the rays reaching us, reminding us of brighter days, of colour and depth. I soak these in like the warmth I know they will bring in a few short months from now and feel lifted by the promise of longer days to come. It's heat may not be there yet, but when the sun does shine the Kippen sandstone of our buildings glows. It might not warm your hands but it definitely warms the heart. There's something really special about this soft red stone that features in much of the vernacular buildings around here. Old Leckie House is built from it - quarried we think from the nearby 'waterfall' area with its towering cliffs - but much is covered by our traditional lime render which offers protection from erosion by wind and rain. It's much easier to see in the old Steading - and I never tire of the play of light on the exposed surfaces. Much like the land itself the buildings have their own tales to tell - the dated pencil etchings of the joiners who built trusses, the stone mason's marks carved into the stones themselves or the gouges scored out by years of sharpening knives on the stones framing the stable door. It's enough, even when the sun is low, to lighten your day.
It was so dark this morning at 8am I had to double check my dates - I can't quite believe we have another 9 days of the light getting less before we hit the winter solstice. I love Christmas but I think I may just love this advent of increasing light just a smidge more. Perhaps in cold, crisp winters it doesn't land so hard, but with the sogginess and gloom of this December I am especially grateful for the twinkle of the Christmas lights. We're all set with our Christmas butchery to help add some tasty treats to the table - mouthwatering grass fed beef, and hams cured to perfection by butcher Graham. If anyone is still looking for something a wee bit special we have a small number of hams left, and a couple of choice beef roasts. Loads of chipolatas to add to the platter and some of our streaky bacon too - yum! If you'd like to order follow the links below, drop me an email or give me a call on 07825 241196. With Christmas and New Year falling on a Thursday we're having to shuffle delivery dates forward - please see new dates above. Christmas meat orders will be delivered on the usual egg runs on these dates, or available for on farm collection at any time. With us super busy getting everything out the door please let us know as early as possible if any extra egg or meat orders. We hope you all have a fabulous run into the festive - and we wish you all the best for a very Merry Christmas.
Like many we have been asking ourselves whether this is spring or summer. The clear blue skies, dusty farm track and short grass may be more typical of mid July but other seasonal indicators are telling a different story. The rhodendrons are just coming into magnificent flower, the last lamb was only born a week ago and the first of the cattle are not long turned back out into the fields. In some ways the dry weather is welcome - lambing is certainly a lot less stressful with no persistent rain, and we have managed to cultivate most of the fields that are scheduled for re-seeds this year. We had to postpone the field work in a stubble field near the main road - just as we were about to work in the dung we realised we had 4 pairs of Peewits nesting there. Named for their calls these large winged birds with impressive crests are also known as Lapwings. An open empty field didn't make much sense to me for a nest but they lay 3 or 4 eggs in a ground scrape - and now the chicks have arrived I can see they are well camouflaged with their downy plummage. Now they are more adventurous we get some great displays as their parents wheel through the sky above us trying to draw our attention away from the wee mites as they totter about. As lovely as they are we are relieved that we should be able to get into the field in the next week to work it. We will need the grass seed in before the next rain comes - like many farmers we are already worried about the slow grass growth due to the dry weather and knock on impact for feedstocks. Elsewhere on the farm it's a real joy to see the lambs gathering in their nurseries, running races up and down the fields and quite literally springing with joy. The cattle are pleased to be back out on grass and Fergus has his tatties in the ground. After a few challenging years with our Leckie Leaves and the dreaded flea beetle we are trying a different approach in the polytunnel this year to see if we can throw it off it's cycle so we may not have much on the salad front this summer. Our new Leckie layers have settled in really well - after a few weeks of donating our small pullet eggs to the local food bank the size is starting to increase. With this changeover now complete from this week we will be shifting back to a 100% supply of our own eggs - albeit large customers will find they may get medium eggs for a few weeks as they continue to size up. We've got loads of pork and beef butchery coming back over the next few weeks so we can be well stocked for the summer BBQ season. Meat boxes now available to order for later this month - links below - and don't forget to look out for us at the Gargunnock Show on 7 June cooking up our fabulous burgers - come and say hello!.
It's silly season again. No sooner have the clocks changed than worklife expands to fill daylight hours. Lambing is well underway. Calves are popping out left, right and centre. The scaffolding went up, shortly followed by the solar panels. 835 hedging plants arrived and are now in the ground for this year's hedgerow. Nights seem short, but the problem is so do the days. It always feels the same at this time of year - never quite enough hours to get everything done. But we must be thankful. So far we aren't seeing too many lambs (or calves) with Schmallenberg problems. It has been such a relief after the worry of the last few months - we're only 6 days in and don't want to jinx ourselves but it feels like we can breathe a bit easier. The weather has been amazing - no rain at all and wall to wall sunshine. It's hard to explain how much of a difference it makes for both the new borns in the field, and for team spirits. The cold east wind has meant we still need to be vigilant - out super early to bring in anything chilled to the warmer. But this week despite our hourly checks of the fields the gateways are mud free, our wellies are mud free and the 'hospital' pens in the byre remain, for the moment, relatively under-utilised. The school holidays have just started but weirdly the usual curse on the weather hasn't kicked in and the forecast for the next week looks much the same but warmer. As the lamb pens in the shed keep up a regular cycle of needing emptied, cleaned and re-stocked with fresh straw the extra pairs of hands from our home grown child labourers will be welcome. Fergus is reporting he's already lost a few pounds and as both sheep and lambs are caught in the fields my daily step count has jumped up whilst muscles I haven't used for a while remind me they are there. And most importantly there is a new arrival at the other end of the farm - the safe arrival of Archie, born to Struan and Martina. It really is the season of new beginnings.
There is a real knack to carrying hay bales through ankle deep mud. It's a pointed foot action - driving the toes down, keeping heels up and hoping to avoid the suction of a flatfoot and the loss of a boot. It's worse when carrying the extra weight and bulk of a hay bale. Our hay racks take two a piece - when new a small pin holds the roof on each rack to shield the hay from the weather. When the age of ours the pin has long gone, the seemingly easy replacement of which has for some reason never reached the top of the to-do list. Inevitably we just find a bit of bailer twine in our pockets and tie the lid down with that. It usually works fine with the one exception that it can rarely be undone with one hand, so for each rack filled there is an extra transit through the danger area to get the damn thing open. Only the foolhardy make the first approach with bale in hand (or on shoulder), always followed by the cursing of whoever it was that tied it up the last time. For some reason no one but yourself can ever tie a quick release knot. At least there was sunshine on the mud yesterday. You can forgive most things when the temperature has lifted and the birds are chirping away. The hay run this morning will feel quite different with the return to heavy winds and rain. It's funny how the weather can make the most routine of tasks into a heroic battle though it makes for a more entertaining coffee break as we share stories of losing wellies, hats and tempers. With some of the young cattle off to market this week we were grateful for the weather window yesterday to get them weighed and clipped so they will look their best going through the ring. It's not just the cattle coming and going. After being fab layers for 15 months our Leckie Layers are heading for retirement next weekend as part of our scheduled changeover. As ever we are working with the British Hen Welfare Trust to find homes for our ladies - just the small matter of catching up 1200 of them before 8am next Saturday. The usual deep clean of the houses will follow before welcoming our new chooks mid March. We're partnering again with Corrie Mains in Ayrshire to provide eggs for us during this 6-8 week period until our new hens come into lay. Humans are on the move too - we've said cheerio to Silvia from Mallorca who's been a great help over the last few months and later today welcome Lale from Germany - an agriculture student who will be with us now until the end of April. Come March we have Matthew starting on a work placement for a couple of days a week, Struan will be off on paternity leave and Glenn the Kiwi will arrive via Mull to bolster the troops for lambing. Never a dull moment - do give them a wave if you're walking through the farm!
We're only just into February and already this year is threatening to be a challenging one. As Storm Eowyn blew it's worst we hunkered down and were lucky to escape with just a few roof panels off and a lot of timber down. The seasonal spike of Avian Flu has arrived - the awful news in England (the cull of a million hens at one site) is a salient warning of the havoc it can wreak. Our biosecurity measures have been heightened to help try and keep our Leckie Layers safe. Whilst both worrying they are common enough occurrences now - and we are confident in our preparations and responses. But spring of 2025 has also brought two new worries, and like with most things faced first time the newness of them brings its own added fear and stress. Our neighbouring farm has faced a number of abortions within their cattle due to exposure to the Neospora parasite. This wee nasty takes advantage of man's best friend, hosted in dogs and transmitted through their poo - most likely picked up from either direct grazing in fields where dogs have been, or the consumption of feed harvested from those fields. Whilst the Vets are cautioning that dogs should be kept to roads, paths and tracks and not walked in fields it does also make you think extra hard about the need for dog walkers to pick up and safely dispose of their dogs' poo - wherever they do it! A lower than expected sheep scan last month raised some alarm bells for us at Old Leckie. For a number of months vets and animal health agencies have been monitoring the spread of the Schmallenberg virus through the UK. Yet another reason to detest the humble Scottish midge, this virus has been spreading through livestock thanks to these biting pests. Whilst it bears no risk to humans it can be transferred to sheep and other livestock and cause a fever and drop in fertility. When sheep are exposed to the virus at a certain point in their pregnancy it can cause abortion and malformations of the foetus. Some farms that are lambing just now are reporting levels as high as 70% loss rate of lambs due to the infection so it's really serious stuff. Unfortunately our Vet testing has confirmed that pretty much our whole flock has been exposed to the virus. This likely will account for the low scan rate, and we will just have to wait and see what April lambing brings. We are hoping that their main exposure was before the critical stage of pregnancy - in which case we might still have predominately healthy lambs - but only time will tell. I don't like writing such gloomy news so need to finish on a more positive note. Half term is nearly upon us (don't forget to cancel any orders if you're away), the dawn chorus was really noticeable this morning heralding that spring isn't too far away and we just a had a surprise wee highland calf that is super cute. And thanks to Eowyn we've got plenty firewood for the boiler - lets cling to those silver linings and keep our fingers crossed for April.
What better way to get through the dark days of January than a summer diary date to look forward to! After a few fallow years we're super excited to announce that this is officially a Barndance Year! So, dust off the calendars and mark up the date - all welcome for the usual heady mix of great food, good fun, live ceilidh band and obligatory field campsite. To say I am super excited is a bit of an understatement - roll on August 30th and keep an eye out for more info nearer the time. Whilst I say dark days I'm probably not the only one who has seen a hint of the returning light. We can meet slightly earlier for morning stock moves, and it's no longer totally black when trying to juggle the last carry of eggs trays at the end of the day. Always a very literal balancing act it's definitely not made easier with limited daylight - or ice for that matter! Despite the need for extra caution however I would take this cold, dry weather over persistent mud any day of the week. Out in the fields the sheep are also grateful for drier feet around the hay racks. At the moment they are hanging out at the fringes of the farm, ready to head nearer to home next week for their annual scan to see what lambing season will bring. And so the year begins again. Beyond the barndance we've got an eye on some other key dates coming up which are keeping us busy: - First beef boxes of the new year will be available w/c 27 January - order now if you want to reserve , or book a courier box - Current Leckie Layers ladies are getting rehomed at the beginning of March with new chooks arriving mid March - We're hoping to install solar panels on our shed roof this Spring - this has been on the wishlist for a while so keeping everything crossed for a good weather window! To celebrate the New Year and wish you and your families a healthy and happy one we've got a heartwarming discount on our Meatballs - 15% off both our Classic and Sweet Chilli (G/F) beef meatballs until end of day Sunday 19th January. Use discount code ILOVEMEATBALLS at checkout
Old Leckie is classified as a small mixed farm – “mixed” in that it grows both livestock and crops and also that it has a varied mix of enterprises. This mixed type of farming allows for a self-sufficient type of agriculture whereby most fertiliser is produced on the farm for the farm. In recent weeks after a long 6 months of being “housed” the cows have returned to pasture much to their and our relief. They get to enjoy fresh grass again rather that dry hay or preserved silage, feel the sun (and rain) on their backs and have the freedom of their fields. For us it means the end to the 7 days/week routine of feeding and bedding (with straw) the cattle with only daily checks required and weekly shifts between fields. When the ground has been firm enough to allow a tractor to travel over fields, we have been mucking out the sheds and carting the dung to the fields where the crop rotation demands it. Generally, half the dung will go to the “carse” (the flat clay/silt soil) ground and half to the “dry field” (more rolling mineral soil) ground. The carse ground is where we grow our barley crops and hay and silage for the winter feed for the cattle and sheep. The typical rotation is 3-4 years in ryegrass and red clover (silage and clover is a legume so fixes nitrogen in the soil and builds fertility) 1-2 years in barley (grain and straw) and then back to timothy grass (hay) for 7 years. The dung is “middened” (put in a heap) in the field for 1 year to compost before being spread and cultivated into the soil for the hungry barley crop. The dung is composted to allow the straw and manure to break down so that it is more digestible for the worms and micro biological life in the soil. On the dryfield land the predominant use is for grazing pasture, however after 10 years the grasses in these field tend to become dominated by lower yielding varieties and it is often necessary to reseed these fields with a new diverse sward of clovers and grasses. To go “grass to grass” is often difficult to establish the better grasses so it is often better to sow a “break crop”. At Old Leckie this tends to be a brassica fodder crop of kale a bit like 1-meter-high broccoli. Similar to the carse ground we midden the dung in the field (or part of the field) a year ahead of sowing before applying in early summer as we sow the kale. The kale provides a really nutritious food for the pregnant ewes through the lean winter months fed in sections every two days alongside silage. The kale also provides a great habitat for over wintering birds. The grazing action of the sheep and their feet creates bare muddy ground which allows us to sow a new grass pasture the following summer with only the need for minimal cultivation. These crop rotations, good soil health (lots of worms and organic matter) and crucially dung are key to sustaining a mixed farm and minimising the need for chemical fertilisers. Cleaning out the sheds and creating new middens each year is satisfying in a spring-cleaning sense, but also gives you a good feeling that you are keeping the soil on the farm in good “heart” for the future. Our farming forefathers knew all about it, and there is some truth in the old saying, “where there’s muck there’s brass!”
