Store cattle ready for sale
Most of the cows are in day and night now and I’m sure they prefer looking out at the weather rather than being out in it.
Prior to the cows coming in we cleaned their drinking troughs, except for the one with my two goldfish in.
By the evening, however, this trough had been unknowingly drunk completely dry and the fish were taking their last gasps while the cows queued for the seemingly special water. Fortunately, despite a little bruising, the fish survived the ordeal.
Sadly, the cabbage is experiencing a challenging time due to difficult growing conditions. One field of cabbages on some recently acquired rented land is unexpectedly suffering from severe club root. On the other hand, one field at home is growing better in one half than the other.
These two halves appear to follow an old line of a hedge that was taken away 40 years ago. Despite trace element samples being taken, no explanation can be found as to why these fields are showing up now. Of course, the weeds grew just the same and the novelty of hand-pulling charlock has quickly worn off.
Things are a little easier at the moment on the livestock front as the store cattle have recently passed a pre-movement test and will be sold fairly soon.
A trip to the dairy show combined with a couple of days on Dartmoor was a welcome break and a good first holiday for Olivia.
Julian Ellis milks 150 Guernsey cows on 158ha at Land’s End, Cornwall. The farm rears followers and store cattle and grows spring barley, spring cabbage, fodder beet and kale
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