November '08

The law of averages suggests that sooner or later we’ll have a break from the wet weather that started in July. It hasn’t happened yet!

A helpful neighbouring organic farmer engaged a contractor to clear one field of silage bales; he bought about 30 of them. This was our quota to sell, as organic standards set a limit on the proportion of conserved forage, and hence fertility, which can be exported from the farm.

Cows at Ty'n Coed
Cows at Ty'n Coed
Feeding the cows
Feeding the cows

We took Gwen and the 3 young calves – Lili, Lois and Ogwen – down to the bottom field at Ty’n Coed. There they can find shelter and graze down some of the overgrown vegetation. We visit them every day and take them half a bale of home-grown hay.

 

This move coincided with the arrival of Luke at Tyddyn Adda. He is a huge Welsh Black bull who is having a third winter vacation here with the cows.

The other event of the month was foot-trimming for cattle. It’s an occasional, but necessary ordeal for the cows. This time the job was made so much easier by a wonderful crate that rolled them onto their sides so that their feet were presented at easy-to-clip height.

Our small flock of sheep has bonded well with Bingo, the new ram. We brought them in to trim their feet, and gave them a change of field, but otherwise this has been a quiet month for them.

So things are all ship-shape for December!