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Archive of posts tagged cattle

4 years just flies by

Posted by Richard on 17 December 2020, 6:59 pm

In our area, there is a 4 year regime for cattle TB testing as a result of the generally low incidence of the disease here. It’s still a theoretical possibility that they might test positive but it’s fairly unlikely. When our Dexters had their first ever bovine TB test in Dec 2016/Jan 2017, the event …

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| Tagged cattle, tbtesting | Comment

Rain + Pig = mud

Posted by Richard on 5 December 2020, 4:54 pm

On Friday morning we awoke to find a couple of inches of snow had fallen and settled too which was a slight surprise. It wasn’t quite cold enough for it to stay though and it rained occasionally for most of the day so everything turned first to mush then fairly quickly into mud For most …

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| Tagged cattle, pigs, weather | Comment

A long overdue update

Posted by Richard on 3 October 2020, 4:52 pm

Despite working from home for the last 6 months and hardly ever leaving our holding, it seems to have been impossible to find the time for a blog update. There are always a number of other tasks that seem to be more important or an unexpected event happens which throws any plans that had been …

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| Tagged breeding, bull, calving, cattle, hay making, hoof trimming | Comment

Calving with native breeds

Posted by Richard on 31 May 2020, 10:01 am

One of the reasons we originally decided to get pedigree Dexter cattle was because they are a native UK breed. This means they are well suited to the British climate and able to live outside all year round even here in the North Pennines. However, as they’re always outside that means they have to calve …

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| Tagged calving, cattle | 1 Comment

A weekend of big events

Posted by Richard on 23 September 2019, 7:05 am

Now that the weekend is over I can reflect with some satisfaction on the wide range of events that took place in a relatively short space of time. Each in their own way could have had a different, more troubling, outcome but in the end all have been completed fairly successfully Esther Farrowing One event …

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| Tagged cattle, piglets, pigs | Comment

Cattle departures and arrivals

Posted by Richard on 21 August 2019, 7:08 pm

Last weekend was yet another first for us – the departure of 3 animals from our relatively small Dexter herd. We’ve never sold live cattle before so loading them into a trailer and watching as they’re driven away was quite an odd experience. We’ve done this so often when selling pigs as weaners so perhaps …

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| Tagged cattle | Comment

A hard decision that had to be made

Posted by Richard on 9 July 2019, 6:26 pm

Now that calving has finished for 2019, our small herd of Dexter cattle has reached a total of 9 which, I’m only too well aware, is too many for the available grazing land. It’s a heart-warming sight to see them wandering around their summer grazing now but that won’t last long later in the year. …

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| Tagged calving, cattle | Comment

Properly easy (and quick) calving

Posted by Richard on 7 June 2019, 5:57 pm

We’ve barely got used to getting our first calf for 2019 last Tuesday but now all 3 calves have turned up. Compared to last year when the calving was spread out over a few weeks, this time around the whole business has been completed in just 4 days! We’ve got 3 lovely heifer calves with …

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| Tagged calving, cattle | Comment

Calving has finally started for 2019

Posted by Richard on 4 June 2019, 8:25 pm

After spending the past weekend incorrectly trying to guess the imminent arrival of our first calf for this year, I should at least have predicted that it would happen while I’m away for work this week. Some time in the early hours of this morning it turns out that Daisy produced a lovely black calf …

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| Tagged calving, cattle | 1 Comment

Frank’s little adventure…

Posted by Richard on 17 May 2019, 9:07 pm

In the past we have cut our lawn and given the cuttings to our Dexter cattle. We also make sure that the pigs get some too and particularly at the moment since I’m trying to get Sissy into tip-top show condition for the Northumberland County Show at the end of the month. This tactic has …

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| Tagged cattle, dry stone walling | Comment

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Reference

  • Allotment Vegetable Growing
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  • National Vegetable Society UK
  • RHS forums
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  • Smallholding UK – buy/sell UK smallholdings
  • The Accidental Smallholder
  • UK Veg Gardeners

Blogroll

  • A Smallholding
  • First Time Vegetable Growing
  • LowImpact.org
  • My Tiny Plot
  • Permaculture House in Totnes
  • The Accidental Smallholder
  • The Smallest Smallholing
  • Thirteen Vegetables
  • Top Veg
  • Veg Plotting
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