The Kintyre Forum

Hi
I know this is a bit odd, but wondered if anyone in Kintyre was still growing barley or oats for harvest as grain, rather than whole crop?

Yep, thers lots of acres of barley just been sown, ours will all be for grain anyway. Dont know of any oats in the area tho.

BRILL

how do you bale it?
when do you harvest it?

is there anyone with any small bales of straw left over from last summer?

Hi from Achadh an Droighinn - Auchindrain Highland Farm Township!

Our friend ardchattan is asking this question for us, and we hope someone in Argyll can help. We are immediately looking for around 25 traditional small bales of hay or straw - ideally barley or oat straw, but hay would do. We need these during May. After that, we're looking for a regular annual source of supply of about this number of bales, as close to us as possible.

We use bales as temporary seating for events. When they break, they become litter for our hens.

None of our buildings has a doorway large enough to take a modern Hesston bale!

Surely someone in Argyll who is growing barley for grain, or making hay, has an old baler that still works? We do hope so!

I also have an interest for a number of crofters a bit further north who have a need for some small bales for bedding livestock.

And there is also a curiosity to learn how to stook straw and hay as done in previous centuries -- if anyone knows anyone who has such skills and could teach it ??

Yes, how DO you build a stook of hay or straw so that it can survive outside through the winter weather without all getting spoiled? We know this was normal farming practice back in the day, but ..... how do you actually do it? Achadh an Droighinn/Auchindrain has a good number of stone rings for stooks, and come August we'd quite like to be able to use one or two of them for the first time in perhaps 50 years.

You should get this topic discussed in the Argyll FM Farming programme ... Briefly:

stooks are very temporary - for a few days to dry out the oat sheaves before the get brought in. They comprise six sheaves, normally.
stacks , or more commonly ricks are what you build with the dried out sheaves. Rising to around 12 feet high, they are covered up and keep the straw good for use later in the year.

Your local agricultural society should be able to help with local methods and terminology.

Stooks were great for hiding in as they were like a tent. You got a row for making a mess.

A lot of the farmers still call an area of the farm "The Stackyard" although it may be used for something else today.

Thanks for the lesson in terminology!

Auchindrain didn't have a single area that functioned as a stackyard. Each of the tenants in the township had their own barn, and adjacent to this there are rings of water-worn stones set into the ground, around 6-8 feet in diameter (they vary) to form the base of stacks. Each tenant seems to have had two or three of these stack-rings.

What interests us is to understand the technique of forming a stack that would preserve its contents over the winter, and which when the time came could easily have material taken from it without the whole structure failing. And how was it protected in the days before large plastic sheets? We know that stacks were thatched, but how and what with?

And DOES anyone have a small stock of traditional bales of straw or hay left from last year, which they could sell us?

well... i am far too young to know anything about stooks etc, apart from our stackyard is now under a shed.

We have got a few hundred small bales of last years barley straw, and could help you. phone me (james) on 07917430935 if you want to know more.

Th ARgyll Fm Farming Programme would like to discuss and chat about this on air.

Reply to 4th gen Suthen'.

That's great news that the Argyll farming programme would like to cover this issue.

Please have a look at our website at www.auchindrain.org.uk for contact information, and telephone us. Ask for the direct contact details for the Trust's Development Manager, and take it from there - looking forward to hearing from you.

This line of conversation has tweaked my curiosity as a gardener and crofter.
I wondered which varieties are being grown in Argyll these days?

Mary G wrote:You should get this topic discussed in the Argyll FM Farming programme ...

4th gen Suthen' wrote:Th ARgyll Fm Farming Programme would like to discuss and chat about this on air.

Great minds, and all that ...

My guess is that there will be massively different techniques in use, when comparing the fertile lands of Kintyre with the poor conditions that exist at Auchindrain. Particularly in years gone by, but still today to an extent.

The same applies to grain varieties.

An interesting conversation, nonetheless. And one that would elucidate more the differences in agriculture across Argyll.