TALES FROM THE FAR NORTH

LAMBING OVER, BACK TO THE FENCE LINE!

Welcome back once again to my latest tales and adventures as a fencing contractor and crofter in the far northern Highlands of Scotland.

The year is flying by! Following on from my last column in the April & May issue, I was getting tidied up on the fence line where we were on multiple jobs involving stock fencing, deer fencing and some domestic garden fencing in order to get it to a point where we could jump off the tools in time for the lambing season of 2026!

Said lambing came and went. It definitely goes faster every year and I notice it more the older I get!

The lambing went ok. It was really good having the kids involved although it was a fair challenge at the start with the weather. Snow showers and bitterly cold winds at the start of April meant lambing outside for us with hill sheep was testing to say the least. We were going round and praying that anything born through the night had a sook and was strong enough to weather the storm so to speak!

Fast forward a few testing weeks and we were into the good Scottish spring weather. Plenty of lambs on the ground so it’s been worthwhile seeing where the 3-4 weeks have gone but it’s now back to the fence line and get some metres up!

I forgot to mention on the last column that we have a new border collie pup in the family and who joins us at work daily both on the fence line and the croft. His name is Brock, he’s an ISDS registered pup. Hopefully he will be another good sheep dog to join the team.

Things are lining up to be an extremely busy year on the fencing side. I am always busy but this year just seems to be even better than most. I’m winning around 80 percent of the jobs I quote for currently but it can be a challenge sometimes sorting out the logistics to make it happen. I’ve been over to the west coast recently to look at a few jobs. If you provide a good service to customers and communicate with them as much as possible then more often than not, it’s repeat business!

It’s better looking at the work than looking for the work!

It’s that time of year again when the Highlands villages and towns really come to life with plenty of traffic about, despite the fuel price hikes and it’s so good to see tourists out enjoying Bonny Scotland. Why not get yourself up to the top and explore the mesmerising NC500…it should be on everyone’s bucket list!

Anyway folks until we catch up on the next column, I hope everyone stays safe and hopefully enjoys some good weather and we will keep our heads down at this end and get through the work.

All the best,

Mark