Farm Update - January 2022

The cattle have enjoyed a warm and restful December – fresh straw, grass silage, and the warmth of the barns, while the grass is left to rest and rejuvenate ready for spring. Sadly we had another failed TB test in December – just one cow reacted to the skin test, meaning the farm remains under movement restrictions. The cow in question was due to calve at the time of the test, and as such was allowed to remain on the farm, in isolation, until the calf was born. A healthy calf arrived, and the mother has now been taken away to be culled. Usually in this instance this would be the start of a challenging time for us and the calf … attempts of tube feeding, bottle feeding, milk powder and many feeding challenges (yes they are JUST like babies and don’t always take kindly to a bottle of formula!). This little one is different though, she hasn’t batted an eyelid and instead has been incredibly resourceful stealing milk from other mothers! This is great news for us and the calf … less intervention, less stress for the calf, less time and money, and hopefully a calf that is fit, healthy and thriving.

The sheep keep us on our toes as always, disrespecting the electric fencing in their usual fashion. We did however survive Christmas day without any calls about escapee sheep, which was quite a miracle and a lovely Christmas gift for us! We have now doubled the size of our flock with 100 ewes on the farm. The ewes will hopefully all be pregnant now, having spent time with the rams over the last couple of months. We’ve moved the sheep off grass and on to cover crops which provide a higher energy diet for the expectant mothers. We will be having them scanned at the end of January to find out how many lambs each ewe is expecting - the ideal scenario is twins (sheep have 2 teats so this is perfect for 2 lambs).  Last year (our first year of lambing) was a total baptism of fire … we had a very high number of triplets. As with other species, those expecting multiples (or in the case of sheep, anything more than twins) are at a higher risk of issues in pregnancy, labour, and the early days of parenting. Usually you would aim to remove one of the triplets and foster it on to a mother with only 1 lamb, but we only had 4 single births! On the whole the ewes managed well with their triplets, but we hope for a smoother ride this year.

We have been working with our agronomist over the past week to finalise our arable cropping plan. We plant all of our crops in the spring (rather than the autumn like the majority of arable farmers) as the wet, heavy land is easily flooded over winter, meaning fledging crops can be destroyed easily in wet weather. We will be planting Barley, Oats and Beans, and will now order the seed, along with any fertiliser the crops may need to thrive. We try to minimise the amount of manmade fertiliser we use, making the most of spreading farmyard manure on crops to improve the nutritional value and structure of the soil. You may remember that last year we bought a new direct drill (seed planting machine), which we will be getting to grips with this year.

At the end of the last school term we welcomed a class of year 2 children from Windale School in Blackbird Leys to the farm. We had an absolutely fantastic day exploring, meeting the animals, stomping in mud, doing nature crafts, building animal shelters and of course going on a tractor and trailer ride – all linking to their curriculum topic of ‘what animals need’. The children were so engaged in all that was going on and loved asking us many well thought through (and some hilarious) questions. If you know a school class who might like to visit us, do get in touch!