A small family farm in the Scottish Highlands, raising Hebridean sheep and Gloucestershire pigs, and using regenerative and sustainable practices – old and new – to bring the family farm back from 30 years of neglect. Share our journey with us!
Hirsel:
1. Scottish : a flock of sheep
2. Scottish : the land grazed by a flock of sheep
– http://www.merriam-webster.com
The Hirsel:
A small family farm in the Scottish Highlands
Our ‘softly softly’ approach to reclaiming the farm from 30 years of neglect means that we push the accumulated overgrowth back just as far as necessary to enable us to tend to our animals and crops, but leave as much ‘wild’ as we can to encourage many species of birds and small mammals to take up residence with us. The wild pheasants especially like cleaning up after the song birds at the bird tree. And we’ve recently welcomed red squirrels and hedgehogs to the community of wildlife living in our woodlands, meadows, and bog.
We raise pure bred Hebridean sheep for their wool, meat, and conservation grazing benefits. A native Scottish breed, these sheep have survived near extinction, and are gaining in popularity again. We breed both the modern HSS registered (small black) lines, and the Seann Innse’gall lines: red (raddie), silverback, and white. In spring of 2020, our first white ram was born after 4 years of white ewe lambs. and In the autumn of 2021 we added a 4-horned ram to our flock. The multi-horned characteristic of this breed was one of the reasons rare breed keepers first collected them, saving them from extinction. Though most keepers breed 2-horned now, for convenience, we’re looking forward to seeing Lachie’s lambs!
Our Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs – Basil, Ginger and Saffron – joined us in the autumn of 2019. This docile and hardy breed is perfect for our mixed terrain farm, and for our style of animal husbandry. They settled in nicely, ‘plowing’ our rough grazing for us, and making snacks out of unwanted thistles and reeds.
