Bog Myrtle & Peat

It is three weeks since Charlie the bull arrived on the farm, and it has been a mixed story so far. His painful feet have not improved, and it has emerged that there is something bothering his rear left leg. It’s almost impossible to gauge how serious this problem is because it is masked by his antiquity and his stubborn refusal to show any weakness.

When he first rises or begins to move after a prolonged period of stasis, he makes for a chilling spectacle. His gait is jarring, slow and he seems to be heavily lame – the prospect of him surviving even another few hours seems remote. But after a short stroll, he soon begins to loosen up and his movement becomes much more fluid. I made him move from a lying position last week and heard every joint in his spine popping as he rolled over and stood up – he looked every inch the tired old man. I always knew that buying an old bull was going to be a gamble, and I have had to face the possibility several times over the last few days that he is effectively too crippled to work.

It was interesting to receive a visit from the Riggit Galloway Cattle Society on Wednesday (of which more anon) during which I invited thirty knowledgeable delegates for their opinions on whether or not Charlie was working and was capable of getting the heifers in calf. Opinion was extremely mixed, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that Charlie was on extremely poor form. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so lame, and my heart sank to think that my gamble made me look like an outright idiot in front of some highly esteemed guests.

Reaction from the Society members was mixed but had a general trend towards the gloomy. Many people declared that they would be surprised if Charlie was working at all, but several said that it’s impossible to tell and one said that he’d had calves from a far less mobile bull. I was effectively reduced to my original situation – that I’ve taken a gamble, things don’t look very rosy but I’m a long way from disaster. Quite apart from the Society, friends and knowledgeable family members have shown a reserved optimism, and I choose to remain upbeat.

On the plus side, cow fertility works on a three week cycle. I never saw Charlie actually mounting a heifer, but I noted down the dates when he showed interest in and pursued each of the females. If they are not pregnant, the first heifers will start to cycle again this weekend, and I will have the first clues as to whether or not Charlie is working. I feel like I am clutching at straws a little, but I take considerable encouragement from the fact that he seems to have lost interest in the heifers over the last forty eight hours. He now lies away from them, and they don’t seem interested in pursuing him as they did. The worst case scenario is that he is now too lame even to remain in the running, but it is equally possible that he has done his job and the heifers have no further use for him. This seems fairly optimistic, but it is worth recording as a strange break in continuity.

I will be disappointed if I don’t get any calves from Charlie, but it will hardly be the end of the world. This project is more for pleasure and exploration than it is for profit, and a missed year of calving is more of a setback than a crisis. If I moved quickly, I could set up contingency plans and emergency bulls to ensure I have calves in 2018. Perhaps I will look into some of these avenues over the next ten days… more updates will follow.