If it's a recent picture you would see hundreds of black and green round silage bales! Half the island is owned by one farmer, who keeps about 120 head of cattle plus "followers" - calves. His herd is all home bred, 3 bulls being bought in over the years. He also has about 150 sheep plus lambs. Three other crofters keep about 10 head of cattle each, plus about 100 lambs. And another so called "hobby farmer" has about 50 sheep. All farmers will have some fields which they will cut for winter feed (silage and hay), and will have fields of "neaps" again for winter feed. A small field of oats may be grown, but generally no arable crops. Due to various Government schemes there are also areas of "set aside" where farmers are paid to plant trees and just leave the land. And there are still some large tracts of natural heathland, very ancient. But the majority of this is owned by the crofters and may in time be fenced in and grazed. Several others (myself included) have a few acres attached to the house. I have a 3 acre field behind my house, leading to the shore. I wanted to make certain no one could build and obscure the stunning view from my conservatory! I allow a neighbouring farmer to use it for summer grazing in return for delivering my oil (for central heating) and petrol cans, plus a myriad of other jobs he does for me. I like seeing livestock out of the window but without the hassle of needing to do anything, apart from phone the farmer if anything is in trouble or looks sick. I have learned various bits of useful information - if a cows ears are horizontal all the time, it ain't feeling well......! Crofting tends to be subsistence living, so additional employment is needed. One crofter is also the harbour master, cleans the waiting room, mows the grass at the kirkyard and collects the refuse. He is also the local supplier of calor gas. Another is also the postman, another runs the post office, while her husband works offshore on a supply ship for the oil rigs off shetland. I work from home full time as a medical researcher employed by various Universities throughout the UK. The rest of the folk on the island are either retired or at home raising the kids and working on the farm. Incidentally the kids go across to Stromness to school. Under the age of 14 they have a "minder" employed by the local authority to sit with them on the boat and deliver them/collect them from school. One child aged 3 goes over to Stromness to Nursery twice a week. If the weather is very bad they stay at home, otherwise they journey on the ferry each day from the age of 5. Sian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Royce Perry" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2007 5:13 PM Subject: [ORCADIA] Graemsay Economy > Talking about chickens yesterday stirred my curiosity a bit. Yes,,my mind > follows strange twists and turns. When I was looking at Graemsay on Google > Earth I didn't see any sign of the typical patchwork pattern that you > usually see in agricultural areas. Granted, the images aren't very good, > but > you can at least see the pattern, dimly, on Mainland. Wikipedia (seldom a > good source, but handy) lists crofting as the main occupation. So I was > wondering what are the primary occupations on the island? If farming,,what > do they grow,,for home consumption or cash crops. Is there any herding > operations,,like sheep, or cows,,,or??? > Just me being nosey. > R > > _______________________________________ > Orcadia Group Photo Album > http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Well the low res satellite images that Google/MS use for Orkney barely shows a blurry impression of the topography,,,never mind hay bales,,even the big round ones. I would have guessed that livestock would be the main activity. Actually sounds like more than I would have thought. Which brings up an interesting question, how do they get their critters to market? The little ferry doesn't look up to hauling a bunch of calves and sheep over to Mainland. Or do they send them someplace other than Mainland? Maybe across the Firth to Scotland? It's surprising the difference between places sometimes. You raise neaps for animal forage and the humans eat the left over bottoms? Over here we eat both ends. Nothing better than a big bait of turnip greens!! Our friends if the Highlands sent a video clip once of her and their son out in the "back garden" harvesting the neeps. They were cutting off the tops and tossing them in the composite pile. Don't know which of us was more surprised, them at the idea that humans eat the tops, or me at the notion that the tops were only good for livestock...<G> R -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sian Thomas Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 3:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] Graemsay Economy If it's a recent picture you would see hundreds of black and green round silage bales! Half the island is owned by one farmer, who keeps about 120 head of cattle plus "followers" - calves. His herd is all home bred, 3 bulls being bought in over the years. He also has about 150 sheep plus lambs. Three other crofters keep about 10 head of cattle each, plus about 100 lambs. And another so called "hobby farmer" has about 50 sheep. All farmers will have some fields which they will cut for winter feed (silage and hay), and will have fields of "neaps" again for winter feed. A small field of oats may be grown, but generally no arable crops. Due to various Government schemes there are also areas of "set aside" where farmers are paid to plant trees and just leave the land. And there are still some large tracts of natural heathland, very ancient. But the majority of this is owned by the crofters and may in time be fenced in and grazed. Several others (myself included) have a few acres attached to the house. I have a 3 acre field behind my house, leading to the shore. I wanted to make certain no one could build and obscure the stunning view from my conservatory! I allow a neighbouring farmer to use it for summer grazing in return for delivering my oil (for central heating) and petrol cans, plus a myriad of other jobs he does for me. I like seeing livestock out of the window but without the hassle of needing to do anything, apart from phone the farmer if anything is in trouble or looks sick. I have learned various bits of useful information - if a cows ears are horizontal all the time, it ain't feeling well......! Crofting tends to be subsistence living, so additional employment is needed. One crofter is also the harbour master, cleans the waiting room, mows the grass at the kirkyard and collects the refuse. He is also the local supplier of calor gas. Another is also the postman, another runs the post office, while her husband works offshore on a supply ship for the oil rigs off shetland. I work from home full time as a medical researcher employed by various Universities throughout the UK. The rest of the folk on the island are either retired or at home raising the kids and working on the farm. Incidentally the kids go across to Stromness to school. Under the age of 14 they have a "minder" employed by the local authority to sit with them on the boat and deliver them/collect them from school. One child aged 3 goes over to Stromness to Nursery twice a week. If the weather is very bad they stay at home, otherwise they journey on the ferry each day from the age of 5. Sian