Diary

Where does the time go?RSS feed

Posted: Monday 2 November, 2015

by Rosemary at 4:09pm in Cattle Comments closed

Heaven’s, where does time go?  Can’t believe the last entry was in JUNE. So quick catch up then I promise to do better.

The milking progressed quite well until the end of July, when we had a week’s holiday then a week later, the bull went in. By the end, we could just bring the calves in to the barn at night and the cows stayed out. That was much earlier and what we’ll be aiming for next year.

Mak went in with the cows from 19th August until the beginning of October. Although I never actually saw him working, he does “court” each cow in turn, grazing exclusively with her for two or three days. I think Rosie and Annie were served quite early on, but think Blizzard may have come back for a second service. We’ll have the vet out in a few weeks to PD them and jag Vicky to prevent any unwanted pregnancies – the main thing is that they are safely in calf.

Rosedean Valiant (Clyde) departed for Wales on 22nd October. He went with a haulier but would have been quicker walking :-)

Hopefully he’s arrived safely now and is settling in. He was a canny wee bull and hopefully he’ll do a good job for his new owner.

Our single steer for slaughter went off today. I always feel worst about the cattle - and I feel especially bad about Charlie, because he’s gone on his own. Last year, Storm and George both went together. I know the outcome’s no different, but still. Next year, we’ll be putting away Mak and Hamish but we only have one steer calf born here this year, so we’ve bought another pure Shetland steer of a similar age so that we’ll have two away in 2017. I will do my best not to have a single beast away again.

I’m thinking about housing the cows this month (normally I wait until mid – end December) but if I’ve got them in for the vet to PD and to wean the steer calf, I might just keep them in. That’ll leave the grass, such as it is, for the sheep.

And that’s a quick update on the cattle.

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