A Day in March
We often get asked what is happening around the farm, so Farmer Richard has provided an insight into his working routines. Here's what March 16th 2011 looked like at Low Sizergh Farm.
The cows are still under cover so morning milking at 4.30 a.m. does not involve any excursions round the fields to bring in the herd. If the weather stays dry the cows will go out to grass at the beginning of April.
It was dry this morning, and I thought about the breezeblock wall that I have to get on with building. Otherwise, in the excitement of turn out, the cows will be racing through the machinery shed en route to the fields.
Paul, who works on the farm, is away on holiday, so I have enlisted the help of my oldest daughter to do some of the milking. She is usually willing if she is in need of extra cash. This is a good time of year for Paul to be away since the hectic Spring field work - harrowing, rolling, reseeding, fencing - will start as soon as the land is dry enough.
The agricultural contractor has been ploughing two bigger fields on the other side of Sizergh Castle where we’ll be planting maize for winter feed. He seems to have ploughed through a phone cable because the farmhouse where my parents live is without a phone or broadband connection.
I rely on broadband for so many things now. Today I registered the birth of a calf and the movement of a cow with the British Cattle Movement Service. This legal requirement came in after foot and mouth 2001 so that any disease outbreak can be contained because cattle have passports tracking their movements.
I paid a bill by BACS online too, after taking one of those gentle reminder calls on my mobile. Being accessible on the phone is not always welcome.
A group from the cross breeders association is coming to look round next week. I’ve been breeding across Holsteins, Swedish Reds and Montbeliards for a few years now and have been pleased that the best characteristics of all the breeds shows up in the health and productivity of the herd.
When I have a group coming I try and do a bit of cleaning up and tidying. Last week I was filmed drinking from the cow trough to show how clean the water is. Whilst the inside of the trough gets scrubbed twice a week, I’ve neglected the outside and it’s only when other people visit that I tend to notice such things!
After breakfast (and I don’t eat bacon and eggs) I took a cow to the auction at Kendal. Livestock has been sold in town for hundreds of years but the Mart is set to re-locate near the motorway so that will be quite a change.
My wife Judith fed the calves and sheep this morning. She spotted a soon-to-lamb ewe with twin lamb disease. It was unable to stand – the result of a shortage of calcium and an energy deficiency. A bottle of dextrose and calcium is a quick remedy and the ewe was soon back on her feet.
Afternoon milking is between 3.30pm and 6.00pm. The 147 cows that go through the parlour today will then resume eating the silage and meal blend I put out for them with the mixer wagon this morning.
After milking I will check round the animals, looking for cows that look as though they are nearing calving, separating them from the other dry cows. I will push up the feed in the feed passage so the cows can reach it, and I always check that the yard gates are shut, that the right lights are on and that the housing doors are firmly shut. I don’t want to wake up in the night picturing cows heading off down the dual carriageway.
Lambing should start 25th March
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