Articles From January 2016

Bucket calves

Baby calves

Posted in Farm on Tuesday 19th January 2016 at 11:58am

To keep our herd productive and invigorated we have to replace some of our “old girls” from time to time. We have found that the best way is to buy baby calves and bucket rear them ourselves. This enables us to buy the right cross breed, for us that is Hereford Friesian cross, who turn into great mothers and cope well with our wet, windy and cold climate at 1000ft. This autumn we bought 3 and the corresponding number of old cows will be fattened and sold during the summer months. Rearing the calves on our farm also gives them the chance to develop immunity to the bugs and bacteria on our farm. They adjust to the mineral and trace element levels present in our soils, and therefore grass, before they become mothers themselves for the first time at about two and a half years old.