Mrs Down's Diary - October 28 2009

The only calves left with their mothers in the fields are those who were summer or late born and they will still stay with Mum when the entire herd is brought home for the winter.

Although ghostly Halloween will soon be with us, the thoughts on this farm are more romantically inclined. It's tupping time. We always used to put the tups in with the ewes on November 5th. The Big Bang theory of sheep dating. Now, John has decided we lamb a little earlier to catch the first spring bite of grass for the ewes.

So the tups must leave their paddock near the orchard where they have been gorging themselves on windfalls, and get to work with the girls. That's the farming's way. You are constantly thinking about the next year's outcomes before you've even finished with this year's.

There are still lambs left to sell, but John is keeping some of the gimmers (females) back to stay in the flock. He has chosen lambs which were fathered by the Suffolk tup. What he will do is keep them in a separate field with the Texel tup until he has served all of them.

Doesn't do to keep it too much in the family.

It will be something to consider next year with our Limousin bull. Some of his heifer calves that we kept back for breeding last year are now ready to serve.

He has been a great bull, very quiet and calm, thrown super calves, no problems with the calving. The last consideration is important. I remember several bulls back we had a Simmental bull that caused us problems. The calves were too big for our cows and we lost a few as the cows struggled to give birth. We even lost some cows as well. So we will probably rent a bull for the heifers and keep our own bull another year.

Not all of the bullocks and heifers we have in the yards were born this year. We still have Freddy. Our special needs calf from two years ago.

Freddy would not suckle from his Mum or drink from a bucket and John had to tube feed him for the first couple of months. Gradually Freddy learnt to drink from the bucket but then would not be weaned onto calf rations.

He only drank milk for months. Slowly he grew, but we always had to keep him in his own pen as he could not have stood the rough and tumble of the yards with other bullocks. He spent all this summer inside. Eating grass was beyond him. Now he has made the transition to the bull yard.

There is only one outcome from there and I will be sorry when that happens. But, cattle are not pets; bills have to be paid, a living made. But not yet in Freddy's case.