As the days begin to lengthen and the weather warms once again, spring heralds new life as crops and plants grow and bloom and animals are born. 

After a period of relative dormancy on the farm, farmers and crofters now readily prepare for one of their busiest times of year.  

Animals are vaccinated and tracked, ready to welcome their young to the world. Many breeds of cattle and sheep are brought indoors to give birth, but hardier breeds can remain outdoors. There are also a number of tasks to be done on arable farms including ploughing, spreading manure, crop spraying and planting.

Spring is linked with the religious festival of Easter as well as Beltane which is celebrated on the first day of May. Historically, spring was the time of year when people from travelling communities took to the open air after a long winter spent indoors.

Our collections tell stories of different seasons on farms and crofts. Here are eight objects from the National Museum of Rural Life that can tell us more about spring in rural Scotland. 

1. Sowing seeds

As temperatures rise and the soil starts to warm, spring planting can begin on the farm. The crops usually sown in Scotland at this time of year include spring barley, oats, oilseed rape and, of course, potatoes.

A number of different sowing methods and tools have evolved over the centuries. Farmers could use a seed fiddle or a broadcast sower, or implements like seed drills and harrowers. All of these tools can be seen on display at the National Museum of Rural Life.

This replica cast from a tombstone in Liberton Kirkyard dated 1753 shows a team of workers ploughing, sowing and harrowing the land. The top half depicts a man and woman sowing the seed, as a horse-drawn harrower quickly covers the seeds with soil behind them.

2. Planting potatoes

Potato planting takes place in April and May, once the threat of frost has gone. Potatoes started to appear more prominently in Highland diets in the middle of the eighteenth century. The potato became the basis of subsistence in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland from the end of the eighteenth century. At this time, parts of rural Scotland were experiencing migration, poverty and hardship.

Feannag, or ‘lazy beds’ as they are also known, is a very old method of growing crops and was often used to grow potatoes. It was put to use extensively by crofters from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries in areas where the soil was uncultivated. 

Feannag used seaweed (a natural fertiliser), carried from the coast in creels or on horseback, which was spread out in strips of around one metre wide. On either side, turf is dug up and laid on top of the seaweed, making raised beds and ditches. This method can be seen in this photograph at Lochboisdale, South Uist, taken in 1934. 

3. Lambing 

Traditionally the lambing season begins in early spring, however, these days lambing can take place any time between November and May. The lambing season is a busy and intensive time during which farmers have to carefully monitor their flocks.

Shepherding is one of the world’s oldest occupations. In winter and spring it was the shepherd’s job to look after pregnant ewes and lambs on the hill. 

This photograph shows a shepherd called Andrew Cowan at Fintry, Stirlingshire, in around 1900. Andrew is wearing shepherd’s plaid, holds a crook and a lamb, and sits alongside his sheepdog. The plaid kept him warm but could also be used to carry lambs. His tough hill boots have upturned toes which were good for the extensive walking required of a shepherd. 

4. Calving

Calving also takes place in spring on the farm. This period is one of the most important in the livestock calendar. Farmers will try not to intervene with cows when they are ready to give birth but there are ways to monitor them. This reduces risks and ensures calving cows are kept in the best conditions.

Today, advancements in agricultural technology allows various ways of monitoring livestock on farms. One way that farmers can monitor and care for calving cows is through calving sensors. 

The device is mounted on to the tail of the cow and can immediately gather data from its patterns of tail movement to predict when the cow is likely to give birth. The sensor sends alerts and data straight to the farmer’s mobile phone.

5. Milking 

Dairy farming has been an important part of agriculture for thousands of years. Over time dairy cows have been bred to produce large quantities of milk. Although milk is produced all year round, dairy cows are required to give birth to one calf per year in order to produce milk for the year ahead.  

Our rural life collections tell stories about how milk was produced and used to make other dairy products. At National Museum of Rural Life, we hold an impressive amount of milk bottles collected from around Scotland that date between the nineteenth and twenty-first century. Here are just 14 beautiful examples of Scottish milk bottles, from a collection of over 300.

6. Crop spraying

Crop spraying typically begins once sowing has been completed, which is usually between March and June. This crop sprayer on display National Museum of Rural Life dates to the 1920s. It was originally horse-drawn but was later converted for use with a tractor.

In the nineteenth century, chemists began exploring the different ways that chemicals could be applied to crops. The intention was to protect them and improve yield by stimulating growth.

Agricultural chemistry developed throughout the twentieth century. Today the use of fertilisers, pesticides and other chemical applications are tightly regulated to protect the environment, biodiversity and the food supply.

7. Peat cutting

Peat has been used as a fuel in Scotland for much of recorded history. Spring, usually May, was the time of the year when crofters took to the peat banks with their spades to cut peats for the coming year.  

Peat cutting was a community effort and the methods used for cutting and drying peat differed from place to place. The National Museum of Rural Life has a large collection of turf spades, or 'flauchters', and peat spades, or 'tuskers'.

Today we aim to protect and restore our damaged peatlands. Peatland covers over 20% of Scotland and can be used as part of the solution against climate change and biodiversity loss. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and can store millions of tonnes of carbon in its soil.  

8. Beekeeping 

Bees and other pollinators make up a vital part of our biodiversity. Many types of pollinators become active in spring, including bees which can begin to swarm in May. Woven baskets, known as bee skeps, were a form of traditional bee hives. They were used up until the twentieth century to catch, transport and even keep swarms. Skeps usually had small apertures in them so that bees could come and go as they pleased.

There are several examples of bee skeps in store at National Museum of Rural Life. Skeps were made of whatever material was available. These two examples are made of coiled straw and were constructed using similar straw working techniques as those used in Orkney and Shetland.