Hello February

Calving has begun on time with our heifers starting in early February so that we can give them extra attention – The first time calving heifers are more prone to difficulties during calving, so by concentrating on them early, we hope to give the calves the best possible start.

With the extended, unusually mild and dare I say dry, winter so far, the opportunity to keep cattle outside and make great progress with fencing and water pipe installation has meant we are ahead of target. However, we have been distracted on a number of occasions by the high winds from the north causing further damage to trees and some buildings.

 

A “deceit” of Lapwings spotted over the farm recently is an unusual sight and sadly the phone camera is not quite up to capturing it properly. A deceit, as they were once held with suspicion due to the flight imitating an injured bird to distract predators away from their nests. Now they are a Red List Species which mean the population is in severe decline, so seeing a flock is a real treat.

This month’s walk and talk on the estate was hosted by Jeremy, where he managed to engineer a hedge planting session. Everyone being involved in a race to plant, guard and stake the hedge plants was a wise move as with the full team on site, progress was rapid. The seasons planting is now complete and attention has turned to where we will plant next season.

We are please to be sending another consignment of pigs, lambs and mutton to The Ethical Butcher in London, via MacDuff in Wishaw. Supplying pasture fed and native breed meats to wholesale and retail customers in the capital, the Ethical Butcher is promoting the principles of regeneratively produced meats.