cattle

I know it’s been a while but…

The last couple of months have seen a few changes that have been a bit of a distraction from the blog updates but now it’s time for a fresh start with more regular postings. Hopefully now we’re finished with the Christmas and New Year period things can return to something like normal – whatever that is!

A Quick Catch-Up

The recent events that somehow never made it on to a proper blog update before include a few successes but also a number of “failures” which I prefer to consider as lessons learned.

There was a successful AI attempt for the first Tamworth sow – Sissy – and she is expected to farrow sometime on or after 12 January. After enjoying this success for a month or two, it was time for more AI with the second sow – Esther – but sadly I think my timing was wrong on that occasion and it didn’t take.

Sissy (right) is getting close to farrowing

The second attempt with Esther was almost 3 weeks ago now so I’ll find out in the next few days whether that was successful or not. Immediately after that it’ll be time to move Sissy into the shed nearer the house ready for farrowing partly for her comfort with the weather but also for our convenience as it’s closer to the house. This time we’ll keep sow and piglets in there until the piglets are weaned at about 7-8 weeks old, it’s easier to catch them in a shed rather than chasing them around the woods.

While I’m on the subject of failures, there was an attempt at a TB test for the cows and calves but things didn’t go to plan and a minor escape attempt meant that we had to postpone the test until later this month. In the meantime I have reinforced the defences and, as usual it seems, I’ve learnt a lot more from the problems than the successes.

The cows are doing well with their extra homework when I get a chance to work with them. This mostly involves getting them used to being penned in for a while and being moved one at a time through a cattle crush. I think that they’ll always be able to spot a vet at 50 paces so I need to be sure they’re securely penned in first before they realise what’s happening.

On a brighter note, the third “pet” chicken has started to lay eggs at last. This is the Columbine which lays a different coloured egg so it’s easy to spot when she delivers the goods. Admittedly she’s only laid 2 eggs so far – one on Christmas day and another on New Years Eve – but it’s a start. There are usually 1 or 2 eggs each day now which is as I’d hoped when I bought these 3 chickens a few months back.

When we have enough it’s nice to give some to the guests in the holiday let but the supply is a little unpredictable at times. This will improve with the longer days as spring arrives though so perhaps by then we’ll be back to filling the freezer with quiche…

Glen the bull comes to visit

Last Sunday afternoon the 2 cows (Daisy and Nellie) got a pleasant surprise when the bull (Glen) arrived. He is a fine looking beast but still remarkably placid and easily managed – just make sure you don’t get between him and his chosen girlfriend!

He very soon chose Nellie as his ‘best girl’ and stuck closely to her all the time which understandably meant that Daisy was left out of things for a while. Eventually Glen did make more of an effort to show Daisy some attention so she’s a little bit happier about his being here now.

However it was Oscar (Nellies calf) who suffered the most in the beginning because he wasn’t allowed anywhere near Nellie for a few days and this effectively completed the weaning process. This was probably a little overdue as he is 8 months old now but he is an opportunist and if the milk was on offer then he made sure he got some!

Even after a week here, both the calves will occasionally try to boss Glen around but he’s quite happy to firmly show them who’s the boss while being gentle enough that they don’t get hurt.

At long last, another blog update

It’s a little surprising to me but I’ve found that the last blog update was last posted way back at the start of June and we’re already well on the way into July! There are a number of reasons for the infrequent blog updates of late but mostly it’s been because there has been so many other things happening.

Pigs

At the start of June we were still busy trying to organise the collection or delivery of weaners as we sold all the piglets from our first ever litters this spring. In the end we sold them in 3 lots with the largest being a batch of 6 weaners that went off to Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead.

As might be expected, there were plenty of lessons learned when trying to load up the weaners. Our only previous experience of loading pigs here had been much larger and more tame fully grown pigs that were heading to slaughter and were happy to follow a feed bucket.

It was a lot quieter around here once the piglets had gone but I did miss them a bit if I’m honest. On the bright side, their departure did mean fewer trips to the local feed store now that we only have 2 sows to feed.

The main task at the moment is halter training the two calves which will be essential when it comes to handling them for vet visits or, dare I say it, when they eventually head off to the abattoir at about 30 months old.

Progress with this has been good with the older calf (Oscar) already happy enough to have the halter on and to be tied up for a short period.

The focus now is to get the other, younger calf (Elvis) comfortable with the halter because in the next week or two we will need to get the vet in to castrate him. This could not be done when he was younger because he was a little under-developed but on the bright side he was born polled (without horns) so we didn’t need to do any disbudding at all.

Obviously we need to make sure that we can restrain all the cattle properly for everyone’s safety but particularly Elvis during the impending “procedure”. The purchase of a few proper cattle hurdles (10ft wide by 5ft high) has helped this work greatly and luckily the calves can’t normally shift these… unless the mood takes them and they can get a run-up!

Barn Conversion

After a final burst of energy (and finances) the self-catering holiday let in our barn conversion opened to the first paying guests in the middle of June. Since that point the bookings have flooded in and at this point the barn is almost fully booked right through into September which is encouraging.

Our guests have come from a range of countries including Australia, America and Belgium as well as the UK and each group is different so it’s turning into a fascinating way to experience the outside world.

It remains to be seen how much interest there will be through the winter months but with some glowing reviews from all guests so far I have high hopes for more bookings to come in the future.

Click here for more information on self-catering stays in our barn conversion

3 years and counting

Even now I occasionally find myself thinking of our smallholding as the “new” place but it’s been 3 years since we moved here so it’s time for the third anniversary blog update.

The various blog updates certainly make for some interesting reading and it’s at times like this when this blog really proves its worth. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the highs and lows, the lessons learned and above all else the enjoyment gained along the way.

The major projects undertaken over the last 3 years have included the addition of solar PV panels, switching from oil to a biomass boiler and converting a barn into a self-catering holiday let.

Looking back now that seems quite a list to cover in such a short space of time, particularly while also running the smallholding and working full-time so I’m understandably happy to have them out of the way!

Hopefully we can start to enjoy the fruits of all this hard work just a little although I’ve already learnt that there’s no time for a quiet, restful day on a smallholding. There are always more jobs to be done and plenty of future plans to be made.

Cattle

Just a year ago was one of the lowest points in our time here when the cows arrived and promptly jumped 2 stone walls before disappearing into our neighbours field. It was around 2 weeks before they finally decided to come home and settle down.

One year on from the relative disaster of their arrival, our efforts are really paying off and the cows actually seem to like us. Their calves are completely calm with us and sometimes even happy to get a scratch or to give us a friendly lick. More recently the sight of a hose filling up their water is enough to bring them over to “help” as we fill their bucket.

We have to remember that getting beef is a longer term plan because Dexters are a slow-growing native breed which develops over about 30 months. That’s quite a wait for a steak or a beef burger but I’m hoping that they’ll be the best I’ve ever tasted.

Pigs

Over the course of our 3 years here we’ve gone from novice pig keepers raising our first ever weaners to produce pork for our own consumption through to becoming fully fledged pedigree Tamworth breeders raising our first 2 litters.

After a few false starts it looks like the majority of the piglets from our first 2 litters will now be sold and should leave in the next week or two. I’ll be sorry to see them go but happy to cut the number of trips to buy pig feed.

Currently the plan is to rest the sows (and the land) a little through this year before the process starts again in autumn ready for weaners to be available early next year.

Chickens

Despite our best efforts, the white chickens that we inherited on moving here continue to thrive while laying just enough eggs to convince us to keep them on. Over the course of recent months our last remaining “pet” chicken – Adele – and the 3 rescue hens that we took on a couple of years ago have gone to meet their maker but I like to think that they all enjoyed their free-ranging outdoor life with us.

Eventually we’ll have to restock and at that point we can consider getting some Cream Legbars or similar so we have different coloured eggs just for some variety.

Has it been worth it?

The journey thus far has been everything I’d hoped for but at the same time it has involved a lot more expense than originally expected. The plan was always to spend the early years setting things up for the longer term so it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

There have been a constant stream of new experiences – some better than others – and much there was a lot to learn along the way. Of course, that was the whole point of taking this on in the first place and I’m not really interested in a quiet life.

The initial work inevitably means that there would be a steady stream of sizable bills while we get everything just how we want it but there’s a good reason why you never see a wealthy smallholder!

Spring Update 2016

Now that the weather seems to have settled down a little I can safely think about doing a “Spring” update here. We’ve had a bit of everything from the weather over the last week or so – snow, hail, rain, sun, cloud – but the forecast for the week ahead seems to show a more appropriate rise in temperatures coming.

Cattle

After the novel experience of calving over the winter, the routine for the cattle has settled back into something more normal. We still need to book a visit from the vet in due course to deal with the castration of the second calf. It just wasn’t possible to do this as we had planned at about 1 month old but on the plus side this calf was born without horn buds so there was no disbudding needed!

They are now getting a little fed up with the feed we give them and are eager for any scraps of fresh grass they can get at. A couple of bags of lawn grass cuttings were happily munched last week but I’m told by others that this is not a good idea because the cows will start noisily demanding more even when we aren’t cutting the lawn!

Chickens

Yet again we’re already well into the “egg hunting” season with one or more of the white chickens deciding to sneak off and find a quiet spot to lay in the woods. It can be frustrating to search high and low but find nothing and then suddenly find a clutch of 8-10 eggs under a well hidden hen.

As for chicken numbers, we have 10 white ones (including a cockerel) that were mostly hatched in our first year here. We also have just remaining one brown chicken – an ex-battery hen – who seems unphased by being the odd one out and is usually happiest wandering around with a single white chicken for company.

Pigs

The pigs seem to be really enjoying their time in the woods and our two sows have done an excellent job of raising their respective litters. It’s been quite an eye-opening experience to have this many mouths to feed and to see how quickly they can get through the pig feed.

A definite plan for the future is to look into other alternative sources of feed for the pigs. We can get occasional waste fruit and vegetables from a local shop but this number of pigs get through a lot of feed and we need to keep up a good balanced diet to sustain decent growth rates and to maintain their general good health.

Elvis is alive and well

After what seemed like many weeks of waiting with far too much time spent examining the back-end of a cow, our second Dexter calf arrived on Thursday morning (18 Feb). On reflection we were a little over zealous in trying spot signs of the imminent arrival especially as the first calf arrived with relatively little fuss.

It’s a second bull calf that we have named ELVIS and after just 48 hours he seems to be settling in very well. The tense moments over the first 24 hours are all in the past now, he has suckled well and is getting much steadier on his legs every day.

Mother and calf on a frosty first morning

At the start there was a little rather rough play from Oscar, who is 9 weeks old already, and it’s not easy to learn to walk while an energetic calf is jumping all over you! However the new mother (Daisy) was very quick to see this and soon put a stop to that sort of behaviour.

After a few head butts from Daisy I think that Oscar has finally got the message because he went looking for fun elsewhere. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for the two calves to cause havoc around the place but for now peace has been restored.

Everything with the cows can return to normal now – the next day it was time for another silage delivery from the neighbouring farmer. This has proved to be one of the most successful aspects because they take around 3 or 4 weeks to get through each bale and when we need a new one I just need to prepare the space ready for the tractor delivery!

Looking forward to the next calf

Having had a remarkably problem-free first calving for the first of the Dexters, we are now nearing the time for the next calf to arrive. Both cows were checked by a vet just before arriving with us in May 2015 and the prediction at that time was about 7 weeks between the two calving dates.

I’m not sure how accurate a vet can be when estimating that a cow is only 5 weeks in-calf but that’s the only information we have to go on for now. The first calf – Oscar – made an appearance on Dec 15 which was a few days early based on the predictions but adding the 7 weeks to that date would mean the next calf should arrive by Tuesday of next week (Feb 2).

From what I’ve heard and read in recent months it’s not an exact science anyway but I’m hoping that I can spot some signs ahead of time based on what I can remember from the arrival of the first calf

Over the last week I thought that calving was slowly getting nearer as I could see a little sign of udder development but perhaps I’ve imagined that. The photos below were taken almost a week apart and when I took the second one I thought the difference was clear. However when I look at the pictures again now I’m not so sure so I’ll be looking out for more changes in the next few days!

Daisy - 22 Jan 2016 — Daisy – 22 Jan 2016

Daisy - 28 Jan 2016 — Daisy – 28 Jan 2016

First calving for the Dexters

Last Tuesday and a little ahead of schedule, the first Dexter (Nellie) started showing what looked to be signs of impending calving – she kept herself separate in a far corner of the field and was walking a bit like John Wayne or Gary Cooper in those old westerns.

There was little change or progress by the time it got dark but after our evening meal it was decided that a final check was definitely in order. This time I was greeted by a welcome sight through the dark and rainy night when I saw an extra pair of eyes reflecting in the torch-light from the back of the field – this new pair were considerably nearer the ground than the two larger pair of eyes.

Over the next 2-3 days much time was spent getting used to the new arrival and dealing with all the necessary government officialdom which comes with owning cattle. Finally I got myself organised and grabbed the calf into our small trailer so that I could check it over and apply the required ear tags.

On closer inspection while he was in the trailer (even to my untrained eye) it was clear that this is a bull calf and he seems to be really healthy. For the record, his name is OSCAR and even over this short period he has become much more mobile and active as well as very inquisitive.

One major task for the coming months is to make sure that, like his mother, he gets used to people being around so that the routine work can be handled safely and easily. Unfortunately the next big event on his calendar will be castration and disbudding but these are essential for the safety of both us and all the cattle.

These are full pedigree Dexter cattle so I still have to complete the registration with the breed society but that is just a matter of some online form filling and sending in some paperwork. Although the Dexter is no longer officially a rare breed, I like the fact that as with our pedigree Tamworth pigs, they are properly registered and in addition we can always get the support of the breed society.

In the meantime I mustn’t forget that the second cow (Daisy) is still to calf, currently expected to be around the end of January. She’s already showing some good signs for motherhood by helping to protect the new youngster when any strangers turn up. However when it’s just me around then she’s a proper softy with a real fondness for licking the pig feed residue off my gloves!

Luckily the winter feeding for the cattle shouldn’t be a problem as a neighbouring farmer takes the contents of our meadows each year and was quite happy to bring over a bale on request. Dexters are a small, hardy native breed so they don’t eat as much as the larger continental breeds of cattle but even better they certainly don’t need extra veterinary care, medicines or growth hormones. All they need is a good supply of grass (in any form) with water freely available and they seem really happy.

The first bale of silage took them almost 4 weeks to get through and the second bale has only just been delivered so the cupboard is now stocked through into January – not much of a Christmas meal in my opinion but they seem to like it a lot!

Developing a soft spot for Dexters

Despite the major catastrophe on their arrival, the 2 Dexter cows have settled in very nicely now.

They’ve made good progress with eating all the grass in the three paddocks they’ve been moved through and are better behaved now. They are still a little flighty if more than one person approaches but at least it looks like they know this is home now.

For the last few weeks it’s been possible to hand feed them a little straw from time to time which helps both us and them to get better acquainted. This regular contact has also meant that I’m getting more attached to them than I had expected.

We still need to get them a little more docile and manageable because they are due to calve in December and January. Although they’ve both calved before and there shouldn’t be any problems, it would be nice to know that we (or in an emergency a vet) can get close enough to help if needed.

The next stage more recently has been working up to touching them and, while she might not like it all the time, it looks like Daisy is happy enough to be stroked if there is some sort of treat involved. Unfortunately Nellie is more cautious and just not interested in physical contact yet but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time.

After the calving our next big concern will be how the paddocks hold up over winter with so many feet trampling over them. Although Dexter’s are fine to stay out all winter, depending how the winter weather develops if the fields are getting too much damage we don’t have a lot of options to house them. However if the situation ever gets really bad then there’s no choice and they’ll have to go into our old tin barn.

Summer stock take 2015

Despite the occasional unseasonal weather just lately, I wanted to post a summer stock take for the current livestock. As luck would have it we had a fairly decent day of sunshine last weekend so I was able to get some quick snapshots as well.

Cattle

The two Dexter’s are quite calm now and happy enough in their slightly overgrown fields. They were moved after about a month in the first one and have been make good progress on the grass in the current field.

They’re still not too happy to have any humans too close but I can get close enough to check for any obvious problems and they looking very healthy to my untrained eye.

Chickens

The two flocks of chickens seem to think they own the place and can cover a surprisingly wide area at times. The white flock consists of 1 cockerel plus 9 hens (Leghorns?) and there are 4 brown hybrids (1 remaining pet and 3 rescue hens) –

However both flocks are under performing with egg laying and I suspect a problem with worms or other parasites so we’ll be doing a round of treatment very soon.

Pigs

All 4 pigs are doing really well and the 2 “eaters” will be heading off in about 3 weeks time. So far I’m feeling ready for the change in approach with them when I no longer worry about weights, growth rates and abattoir deadlines.

The 2 “keepers” are just reaching maturity as they are around 7 months old but I’ll be watching closely and waiting until they’re around 10 months old (in October) before tackling artificial insemination.