I NOTICED Hugh heading out of the steading the other morning with a bottle of calcium and a syringe, not a usual sight around the longest day.

Turns out he was jagging a BF ewe with calcium that had been clipped the day before.

I guess it's no surprise that the stress of the handling, coupled with backend temperatures and having just had her fleece removed caused the old girl to have a bad morning.

Some calcium, magnesium and glucose and, more importantly, a blink of sunshine and she was up and away.

I've also figured out at least part of our problem with some of the BF hill ewes that I wrote about last month - ticks. The single lambs left grazing the affected part of Drumbuie hill weren't as good as the rest at marking time and they were covered with ticks.

I'm pretty certain now that these same dirty creatures were annoying the ewes in April and causing our mothering issues and some death amongst young lambs.

I remember when I started lambing the ewes in my early teens, being covered in ticks at night after a day among the hill ewes. But it isn't a problem we've seen for more than 30 years.

I'm not sure if the recent wet springs making burning difficult and less grazing of cows on the hill meaning more trash and cover for these wee beggers is the cause, but they are both likely contributory factors.

Whatever the reasons, whenever we finish bulling some of the spring calvers a bundle of them are heading to the low end of the hill to see if we can start grazing (or trampling) some of the cover off it.

And next spring we will certainly have to treat this group of ewes with a pour on at scanning time to protect the lambs later. When I was young we used to dip the lambs in old boilers in the buchts on the hill, by hand.

I'm hoping we can get away without treating the lambs with a pour on but if we need to we will as I don't want to experience this again.

Apart from this one group, the rest of the lamb crop is surprisingly good for the kind of crap spring they have experienced and, although finished lamb prices temporarily improved for a week or two, they are still a long way short of what they need to be.

The silage we have been cutting has also surprised me.

Two weeks ago, crops looked very light and although temperatures are low again, the warm week we experienced in mid June seems to have done the trick and bulked crops out tremendously.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, first cut will be safety ensiled, weather permitting?!

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the RHS but I noticed that there was the usual gaggle of politicians visiting and making announcements.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan seems to be making all the right noises about simplifying the mess left behind by his predecessor, but it remains to be seen what he actually delivers.

And, on the basis that nobody really has a clue what our new scheme will actually look like once it is operational, do we really want a Mid Term Review of the current CAP?

The last one made life worse, not better, and the danger of opening up the present can of worms would be a repeat of that - more complicated (if that's possible) and change for the sake of it to keep administrators in a job.

Also visiting was Liz Truss, the UK Agriculture Minister, who didn't appear to say very much about anything at all. NFUS were quite right to pester her to honour promises made by her predecessors to review UK CAP budget allocations next year.

The previous Scottish Secretary of State, Alistair Carmichael, also promised it would happen but his promises or public statements seem to have been a wee bit questionable recently..... so I'm not sure that helps us much!?

Either way, it needs to happen as Scottish farmers are seriously disadvantaged by the current payment levels and this should be a key policy priority for the 56 SNP MP's in Westminster.

Alex Salmond knows all about this subject as he wrote to David Cameron on this very matter in the run up to the Independence Referendum. NFUS will need all the help they can muster, so this should be treated like an open goal for the group of 56.

It's about the only good news likely to appear from government in the next year or two as Richard Lochhead doesn't seem to have many ideas about improving our lot if the new CAP arrangements are anything to go by.

He has, apparently, published a discussion document called the 'Future of Scottish Agriculture' at the RHS of where we might be in 2025. To be honest, I can't bring myself to look at it as I know it will be excruciating.

I'll bet there will be all the usual stuff about being more efficient as subsidies reduce; cutting red tape; farmers needing to be more market focussed; using BAT and training; collaboration and co-operation across the supply chain and, of course, how important we are to the world famous Scottish Food and Drink Industry.

I guess it might be quite hard to encourage farmers to collaborate and co-operate more when the co-operative held up as the salvation of a sector for a generation, namely First Milk, is now such a spectacular basket case.

And, I'm a bit confused if this 'vision' is instead of the strategies for beef, milk and another one for sheep (not forgetting Andrew Dewar-Durie as well - remember him?!) or as well as?!

With the full impact of the present crisis engulfing our industry still unfolding, as perfectly articulated at the RHS by Jimmy McLean of RBS, no wonder the Cabinet Secretary wants to talk about 2025!

It's a good way of ignoring what's happening now. Unfortunately, most farmers don't have that luxury or choice!