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 …
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 …
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 …
Just a week or so ago we moved our small herd of Dexter cattle from their more sheltered winter home in our back fields. For the next month or so they will be enjoying the lush green grass in the very front field and they very quickly settled into their new home. The plan for …
The miserable weather seems to have gone away (for the moment) so I could start on some of the pending jobs that have been put off due to the wet ground. First up was a move for the cattle into an adjacent field which, although not perfect by any means, is definitely better for them …
Continue reading ‘A sunny day means lots of moving around’ »
Living up a hill in the North Pennines at 1000ft above sea level, I had assumed that water wouldn’t be too much of a problem for us. Why should we worry about that when we are all taught in school that gravity means water will naturally flow downhill. We are another 200ft above the main …
We’re now plunging headlong into autumn and the bull has been to visit recently so I thought I’d post a quick cattle-based update with some great pictures I’ve managed to take. Before long they’ll be starting on the winter feed – hay and silage – so it’s nice to have some pictures of them while …
Nellie, our second Dexter calved successfully overnight last week and was also 2 days after my prediction based on the bulls interest last year. Any illusion of accuracy with this on my part is more by luck than judgement if I’m completely honest. The result was another bull calf (our second this year) that we …
Continue reading ‘Another Dexter bull calf – the mighty Quinn’ »
Having reached the 5th anniversary of our move from suburbia to a North Pennines smallholding, it’s clearly a good time to review the current situation and take stock of our progress so far. Not least of which is where did all those years go! The first task for me was to look back at my …
Continue reading ‘Looking back over our first 5 years as smallholders’ »
In the end my rough calculations weren’t too far off and Daisy eventually calved at about 4pm last Saturday afternoon. We had kept a close eye on her and quite by chance went down to their field just to have a check during the afternoon. When we got there we could just see the tips …
Continue reading ‘Another successful calving for the Dexters’ »