Hi, Chris here.
As I write this in February we are currently in the quite period before we start calving in March. Most of the cows are dry, this means there not being milked and have been given a mineral bolus (tablet) and wormed if needed to set them up for calving. We also insert a sealant in their teats to prevent any infection getting into the udder over the dry period so they don’t get mastitis when they calve. This is simply stripped out of the teats when they calve.
We are milking 25 summer calvers to provide milk for the vending machine. So, it almost takes longer to wash the parlour than it does to do the milking. This time of year, is spent catching up on maintenance, fencing and hedge cutting jobs. Also getting everything ready for the calving season. The majority of the cows are due to calve in march with the rest in April.
So far, the winter has been a bit of a wash out with the Thames being flooded for most of the winter. Hopefully the law of averages applies and we have a dry March to help ground conditions for the start of the grazing season. We have good silage stocks this year so getting the cows out grazing isn’t as critical but i think both us and the cows are ready for the winter routine to be over. We passed our routine tb test this month, this happens every 6 months.
In vending machine news, the chickens have started to lay more eggs with the day light hours increasing. So, you should see more eggs in the vending machine. The chickens live in mobile huts that are moved twice a week to fresh grass. They essentially follow behind the cows grazing. This benefits the cows and chickens. The chickens prefer to forage in the shorter grass that the cows have grazed. And also eat the insects and parasites around the cow pats. This in turn reduces any potential worm burden on the cows next time they come to graze that field. I think this produces great eggs with bright yellow yolks from managing the chickens in this way.
We continue to have awesome beef from our neighbour Andy Rumming. And a great selection of pork products from Padfield porkies.
Thank you for supporting us and these other local producers, it really makes a great difference supporting local family farms.
If you have any questions, please email moosonthames@gmail.com
Chris Freeth