We have had a busy Day....Wrestling with Highland Coows!!

Well, today has been quite a busy and tiring day..... I had to collect my Blue Tongue Vaccinations for the animals that thave to be vaccinated, here in Scotland the Cows/Sheep/Goats are compulsory....however the alpacas are on a voluntary basis. The cows/goats and alpacas require two injections one month apart.

The alpacas were very well behaved indeed, I even managed to vaccinate they boys all by myself, with the use of the halter and using the lead rope assisted tie I have devised.

The most worrying to deal with were the 'Big Boys'.....the Highland Cows !!!.....after some head scratching and various plans and construction with several steel gates, we managed to sort out a holding pen !.....Haggis the older cow is lovely, he is a real gent, no problem there, I walked over to him lying in the field and injected him without any problems or any restraints.......However the problem is Dougal...known as the delinquent !...he is a different kettle of fish indeed....to cut a long story short, we managed after several attempts to herd the cows down into the large barn.

After alot of huffing and puffing, sweating and anxious moments we managed to get the job done, there were a couple of scary moments, to say the least...and the contraption that we made held up to the job very well. When you have a tonne plus of not happy cow jumping about, that's the time you are hoping the equipment stands up to the job.......thankfully it did !! just a little bit of swearing thrown into the mix !! for good measure.

I can't wait to do it all again in four weeks time !!......I'm in the process of making a more professional holding area, something a little safer, as this looks like its going to be a regular vaccination.....!!.....unfortunately.

We are all shattered, after our exciting/worrying day. The alpacas were a real pleasure to handle thankfully, the energy levels were a little drained after our Highland ordeal....!