One Girl and Her Pup

One girl and her pup bringing in the cows

We bought a new pup a couple of months ago. Sam, our hardworking collie, will soon be ten years old and apart from thinking that he probably needs a rest, we’re very conscious that we would be lost without a good dog. Put it this way, I’d need to improve on my fitness! Indeed, when we see him next to an exuberant pup, it really brings home that he’s worked hard his whole life and is starting to slow up [...]

What To Expect When Transferring Farm To A Company & Dealing With Mental Burnout

Cow_poo

I’m stressed – I’m usually a very matter of fact and relaxed person.We tend to put minor disasters behind us. As long as the four of us are healthy and happy, most stresses rolls off me like water off a duck’s back.

I’m mentally burnt out – I’ve just discovered that’s what it is called when you’re overworked and stressed to the extent that these symptoms are showing.  I’m sleeping more than usual, I went for a nap on Sunday instead [...]

Explaining the Science behind Choosing Sires for Dairy Farms

Yearling Pedigree Friesian Bulls for Sale

Although the weather would make you think it is the middle of winter, many dairy farms will be starting their breeding season in just a couple of weeks. We start it here around 4th May so it’s a while now since we chose the sires for our 2017 calving season. A lot of work and science goes into presenting the results, facts and figures for each bull and then by the farmer in digesting all of that and making decisions. [...]

Farm Wife Days of the Week

Circa 1935 - one of my aunts in a turnip basket.

When feeding calves on Easter Sunday morning and wondering what could I wear to church that was clean and ironed, while also debating why the hourwas going forward on a weekend when church was earlier than normal and sleep was in short supply due to calving, I thought of something my dad had said recently – how his sisters and mother and indeed, probably all his female relations and other female parishioners often got new clothes for Easter Sunday and [...]

Where Does Winter Milk Come From and Other Answers

Black and white calves

Where Does Milk Come From In Winter?

A friend recently asked me “Where does our milk come from in winter if most of the cows in the country are dry?” so I thought I’d use it as a starting point to explain a few things about dairy farming. Cows supply milk for ten months of the year, with their supply being greatest in the months after calving. The majority of dairy farmers have a ‘dry’ period where they don’t milk for [...]