Glensaugh has endured the third period of ice and snow of the winter. This time the cold has been less severe and the quantity of snow much less than in December. The winter routine of feeding and bedding dominates our lives and there is little time for value added work.

During one of the brief thaws we had our suckler cows blood tested to identify carriers of Johne’s disease. The Johne’s bacterium infects the intestine, causes both sub-clinical and acute scour in cattle and is endemic in the Scottish suckler herd. We have been testing and culling reactors for about seven years and we have just had the results this year which, for the first time, are all negative. This is excellent news. With no reactors to manage the workload is reduced, as is the economic loss through culling and reduced performance.