Farming in February 2011
The extremely cold weather over Christmas presented a few challenges on the farm. The cattle didn’t seem particularly bothered but neither robots or Roberts work very well below -5°C. Christmas night was spent defrosting robots and cattle troughs every few hours as temperatures dipped to -14°C for the second night in a row. I nearly moved in with the turkeys as they basked in a tropical 20°C. I don’t suppose they would have given you a thank you to be free range that night.
One success of the cold snap was that I finally got round to piping waste water from the milk cooling system into a drinking trough for the cows. In the balmy days of summer this was planned as an eco-measure rather than an emergency one. I would have liked more time to devise my cunning plan but at 3am on Boxing Day this supply was the only running water in the yard and thirsty cattle awaited my efforts. I have to admit the end result does look a bit The Great Egg Race meets Scrap Heap Challenge but it works.
"From farm to fork" is one of Farming Year’s fashionable PR catch phrases and with this idea in mind we have started to sell our beef directly to customers. The aim is for people who live and drive by the farm to have the opportunity to buy the beef we produce. All our beef is produced from cattle born and reared on the farm, maturing naturally over 2 summers at grass and fed on home grown cereals during the winter.
I was a little apprehensive when collecting the beef boxes for the first time as my only previous experience had been several years ago when loading lambs for market. It was a dark and foggy morning and I returned from market to find a fat smug looking lamb hiding under the hedge. Knowing I’d be a laughing stock if I showed my face at market with a single lamb we decided to have it ourselves. I duly loaded the, less smug but still as fat, lamb in the back of the Landrover and took it up to the abattoir. When I went to collect the end result all I came away with was two half full carrier bags! Therefore I was relieved when we loaded nearly a quarter of a tonne of beef in the boot of the car. However, the relief was short lived since the profit from our first boxes went straight to the garage to fix the "not quite as self-levelling as it was before" suspension on the car.
Robert Davies
Hopes Ash Farms