My Farming Week – Calves Go AWOL

cow

There’s a section in my book Would You Marry A Farmer? where I advise farm wives on the necessities they require when helping out on a livestock farm. They include a belt on your trousers, wellies and a sports bra. But what happens when you don’t have time to put them on?

7am and I was flitting in and out of sleep, the radio alarm had gone off but I didn’t really hear it. Brian was up a while [...]

My Farming Week: Hereford Calves, Baking Cakes and an Ideal Farm Wife

I used to be a reasonable baker.

I quite like baking as you can put everything into the mixture, put in the oven and just presume it will turn out alright. If it doesn’t, there’s nothing you can do about it at that stage. That’s what I liked about it – there was no expectation that this seasoning or that herb could be added during the cooking to improve the taste. Mix, put in oven, eat. Simple.

Before children, I hardly ever [...]

My Farming Week: Flighty Calves, Paper-Eating Heifers, Red Spray and The End of an Era

Between the bank holiday for St Patrick’s Day, the children being off school for two days and the fact that I wasn’t doing any training or mentoring, I’ve had a pretty full on farming week. I’m doing 2.5 days of training next week and I know I’ll probably end up with a croaky voice as a result. Teaching requires a lot more talking than the occasional chat with calves and cattle!

Telepathy Alternatives

16 cattle went to the factory on Wednesday morning [...]

My Farming Week: 9 Commandments for Calf Rearing

101 calves born, two deaths but a very good calving season so far. We still have to work out our sexed semen success and our heifer : bull ratio – at last count we were about 56 dairy heifers, 5 beef heifers and the rest in bulls so the ratio is pretty good. Here’s my nine commandments for successful calf rearing – well, it’s keeping me going and the calves thriving!

9 Commandments for Calf Rearing

#1. Thou Must Be Patient

Patience is [...]