With all the Christmas festivities over, January hit us hard, with temperatures falling to an all time low. With some parts of the country experiencing temperatures as low as -21.6 c, this made getting out and about a dangerous occupation, and we had one market cancelled in Gloucester and the ones that we did attend were very quiet. We did however manage to fulfil all of our deliveries to restaurants, pubs, nurseries and shops.
The sheep managed to survive through the snow and cold weather, and actually tend to thrive in such conditions although they eat twice as much. It also makes life easier to take food to them when the ground is hard through frost. Cattle also seem to stay much healthier during colder weather and the fattening animals are doing unbelievably well and with no concentrates being fed they are thriving purely on our excellent silage.
January also sees the start of our calving season and the first chance to get a glimpse of the calves produced by our new stock bull – Grove Wellington 49. The results are staggering and the calves are big and strong and healthy, and seem to just arrive with no assistance from us. There are always jobs to be done where calves are concerned and each one needs to be registered online with DEFRA so that they receive a passport which stays with them and identifies them for life. All time consuming work, but it ties in quite nicely with the whole traceability aspect of our meat – giving you absolute confidence in our produce.
We also had our annual bovine Tuberculosis test in Jan and we were all clear, and that job is now out of the way for another year.
John, our senior partner was proved right about the harsh winter weather, I guess you get to know these things when you are so close to nature. Let’s hope that the snow and cold have gone and warmer drier weather is on its
Showing posts with label cullimores organics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cullimores organics. Show all posts
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
November at Cullimores Organic Farm
November started off unusually dry, this could only mean one thing, the rain was on its way. The second half of the month saw record rainfall for the time of year, with parts of the country experiencing the highest rainfall levels since records began. With wide spread flooding throughout Cumbria, with Cockermouth being the worst hit, you couldn’t help but feel for the plight of the livestock farmers in particular.
We began the month feeding all cattle outside in the fields with hay in ring feeders, at this stage the ground was lovely and dry. It quickly changed as it often does at this time of year. The rain never stopped falling and the cattle had to come up to the farm and be shut in the buildings.
This means more winter duties need to be done such as bedding down and feeding, but at least the cattle are clean and dry and reasonably happy.
The sheep have also been moved onto drier ground, but will remain outside until the middle of January if conditions allow. They will be fed hay outside in racks when the grass is not edible because of frost. Sheep are much healthier outside than indoors, and should only come indoors for lambing time.
As December approaches our attentions turn to Christmas, and fulfilling all of the orders for our Salt marsh produce and keeping up with extra markets, in many ways this is our busiest time of year.
REMEMBER PLACE YOUR ORDERS BY 14TH DECEMBER TO AVOID disappointment .
We began the month feeding all cattle outside in the fields with hay in ring feeders, at this stage the ground was lovely and dry. It quickly changed as it often does at this time of year. The rain never stopped falling and the cattle had to come up to the farm and be shut in the buildings.
This means more winter duties need to be done such as bedding down and feeding, but at least the cattle are clean and dry and reasonably happy.
The sheep have also been moved onto drier ground, but will remain outside until the middle of January if conditions allow. They will be fed hay outside in racks when the grass is not edible because of frost. Sheep are much healthier outside than indoors, and should only come indoors for lambing time.
As December approaches our attentions turn to Christmas, and fulfilling all of the orders for our Salt marsh produce and keeping up with extra markets, in many ways this is our busiest time of year.
REMEMBER PLACE YOUR ORDERS BY 14TH DECEMBER TO AVOID disappointment .
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
June Organic Farm News
June has brought some very fine and dry weather and this makes life a lot easier on the farm. The sheep were shorn at the end of May - this is very important to get this done as the lambs will do better when the ewes have been shorn.
All the silage has now been made and stored ready for the cattle to eat in the winter when they are indoors - we couldn’t have had a better start to the summer as far as grass growth is concerned.
June also saw the start of the new season lamb - they are selling extremely fast with some very positive feedback. So if you wish to order any make sure you get in fast.
Next job on the farm is haymaking which we need a very hot and dry spell for so fingers crossed the weather wont be like the last two years in July.
All the silage has now been made and stored ready for the cattle to eat in the winter when they are indoors - we couldn’t have had a better start to the summer as far as grass growth is concerned.
June also saw the start of the new season lamb - they are selling extremely fast with some very positive feedback. So if you wish to order any make sure you get in fast.
Next job on the farm is haymaking which we need a very hot and dry spell for so fingers crossed the weather wont be like the last two years in July.
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