Farm Update - 31st March 2017
James Florey
Beef Availability
Welcome to our first update of the Spring, the clocks have changed the weather is warming up and things are starting to grow! This is definitely our favourite time of the year! As usual we have our delicious beef available for delivery throughout the UK on Thursday 6th April. As always, it is available to purchase via our online shop here. Have a look at our range of set beef boxes or make up your own Pick 'n Mix selection box. Place your order and await delivery of your fresh, refrigerated beef direct to your door. Don't panic if you're not going to be at home ... just let us know a safe place where we can leave it and our friendly delivery driver will drop it there for you to find on your return. It'll even stay fresh for up to 10 hours post delivery. Or if you can't wait that long then why not collect from the farm on Tuesday 4th April.
Calving
It’s all go down on the farm as we head out of March and in to April. Calving is now in full flow and so far we have welcomed 15 heifers and 8 bulls to the herd, including a gorgeous set of twins! Calving is a busy time of year for James and Robert – much like midwives on a maternity ward, they have to check the cows multiple times a day just in case any of the cows are coming in to difficulty and need assistance with their labours. This includes checks throughout the night at 10pm, 2am and again at 7am … they say there’s no rest for the wicked! Only another 25 to go!
Arable
In between maternity duties, efforts are focused on the arable and grass land. Fertiliser has been spread on the grass that will be made in to silage in May. This is to encourage maximum growth, and produce lush grass that will be cut, baled, wrapped in plastic, and essentially pickled for the cows to enjoy during the winter. The cows really are grass fed, even when they’re living indoors during the winter months. As well as fertiliser spreading, there has been Beans and Barley being planted, and fields sprayed in preparation for further drilling. The Barley is being grown on a specialist contract, and will eventually be turned in to Budweiser beer … so think of us the next time you’re tucking into a nice cold Budweiser! Soil samples have been taken from various plots throughout the farm. These are sent away for analysis, and the results enable optimum application of the correct fertiliser compounds on the different fields. This is one of the contributing factors to getting the best yields possible … let’s hope anyway!
Cattle Sales
Last week Robert took a trip down to Bridgewater for the annual Ruby Red Devon show and sale. This is where Ruby Red farmers from all around the country take cattle to sell to each other, but also to compete in various showing classes, much like the Northmoor village fete dog show! This year there were no Northmoor livestock entered to the show, but 4 heifers (young female cows) were sold for breeding. It’s great to share the fantastic characteristics of the Northmoor herd with other producers. In addition to the heifers we also have 3 two year old bulls for sale who we recently named Poseidon, Popeye and Prince following some great suggestions from our twitter followers. We've got a couple of people coming to see them in the next few weeks and all being well they'll like what they see and look to buy one of them!