Hi Chris here.
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy farmer complaining about the weather, I have had enough of the continued rain. It’s made grazing incredibly difficult. Getting fresh grass into the cows diet is really important at the start of there lactation; as this sets them up for the year ahead. The cows have been grazing for a few hours after milking in the morning. This is so they don’t poach/damage the ground if they are out for too long.
As I write this hopefully the weather has started to turn with a few back-to-back dry days. This means it’s started to get a bit drier in the fields which means the cows have been staying out for longer which is better for the cows and reduces our work load at a busy time.
There’s plenty of grass on the farm with it being such a mild wet winter, as it dries up hopefully the cows will be out of the sheds full time soon and we can put the winter routine behind us for another year.Â
It’s been a pretty successful calving with just 20 left to calve in the next few weeks. I'll also be drying off the summer calvers soon so they can have there 2 month break. These cows provide milk for the vending machine over winter when the rest of the herd are dry.
The bees have also suffered with the wet spring. They have either started trying to forage for feed too early or have stayed in their hives and starved themselves waiting for better weather. Also, the bee keeper has struggled to get to the bees with the fields being too wet. We have had to relocate them to a better spot that is more accessible spot. Hopefully they’ve gone through the worst of it now with the tree blossom being out and some sunnier days.
In vending machine news, we have recently stocked some new products from Padfield porkies which include some huge scotch eggs. These have had some excellent reviews.
We also have a new product from Andy Rummings beef, Pure Beef Tallow. If you have any questions please email moosonthames@gmail.com