Diary
On the Farm
Playtime! It's always fun and games for the babies on the farm!
November 2010
January has been a busy month to kickstart the year - with the start of the lambing season, a slightly unexpected guest and having to TB test all the cattle.
The ongoing day-to-day demands of caring for the cattle and the sheep in winter continues to be a busy task. The majority of the day is taken up with feeding, bedding down and taking out silage.
As well as the everyday running of the farm, we have had to test all the cattle for the presence of TB this month. This is a new compulsory yearly test, introduced to try and deal with Britain's bovine tuberculosis. The hope is that with more regular testing the disease can be eliminated in Britain with the next 10 years. Thankfully, all the cattle were given the all-clear - our herd are TB-free! Even though this is a good initiative, the added pressure of completing this testing at a demanding time of the year made for a slightly stressful time. Overall, the process takes 4 working days out of the calendar - over 1% of the entire year. I'm glad it is over with until next year...
Towards the end of January, my father's sheep started lambing. At the time of writing, we have 78 Black Welsh Mountain Lambs and 20 Suffolk X (Suffolk Cross) Lambs. I hope you like the very cute pictures below! My own sheep should be starting to lamb towards the end of next month. This is because they are yearling sheep (only one-year-old) and I was reluctant to lamb them too early, due to the possible adverse weather conditions we can experience in January.
As mentioned above, we also had a surprise visitor this month! One of our Welsh Black Cows unexpectedly calved early. They are not generally due until March or April, but this cow obviously had different ideas!
~Carwyn
The ongoing day-to-day demands of caring for the cattle and the sheep in winter continues to be a busy task. The majority of the day is taken up with feeding, bedding down and taking out silage.
As well as the everyday running of the farm, we have had to test all the cattle for the presence of TB this month. This is a new compulsory yearly test, introduced to try and deal with Britain's bovine tuberculosis. The hope is that with more regular testing the disease can be eliminated in Britain with the next 10 years. Thankfully, all the cattle were given the all-clear - our herd are TB-free! Even though this is a good initiative, the added pressure of completing this testing at a demanding time of the year made for a slightly stressful time. Overall, the process takes 4 working days out of the calendar - over 1% of the entire year. I'm glad it is over with until next year...
Towards the end of January, my father's sheep started lambing. At the time of writing, we have 78 Black Welsh Mountain Lambs and 20 Suffolk X (Suffolk Cross) Lambs. I hope you like the very cute pictures below! My own sheep should be starting to lamb towards the end of next month. This is because they are yearling sheep (only one-year-old) and I was reluctant to lamb them too early, due to the possible adverse weather conditions we can experience in January.
As mentioned above, we also had a surprise visitor this month! One of our Welsh Black Cows unexpectedly calved early. They are not generally due until March or April, but this cow obviously had different ideas!
~Carwyn
Playtime! It's always fun and games for the babies on the farm!
Snuggles!
Sometimes a helping hand is required
December 2010 Out and about in the sunshine!
Hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Our long-awaited new shop opened December 2nd! Getting ready for our Yuletide opening was quite a challenge, but it was certainly worth the wait and the hard work to finally open the doors of Moo Baa Oinc in Beaumaris. You can look forward to pictures next time, and the many exciting new developments in store for 2011!
This month, the farm has been no less of a challenge than the shop. December saw 10 inches of snow fall within two days. Even though the beautiful, scenic pictures of the snow look quite majestic I can attest (as I was the one who took the photos!) that it was nothing short of a logistical nightmare.
The winter challenges included: all the stock requiring nearly twice as much fodder, as well as dealing with the treacherous road conditions, sub-zero temperatures, frozen water pipes (Christmas Eve was spent thawing these with a gas heater, in order for the cattle indoors to be able to drink) and power cuts. However, we survived, and with a bit of effort made it through to Christmas.
I hope you enjoy these pictures, and are looking forward to the update next month!
~Carwyn
The cattle consider which is the best hill to sledge down
Four foot icicles, very impressive... the animals couldn't care less!
Happy and warm inside
Our long-awaited new shop opened December 2nd! Getting ready for our Yuletide opening was quite a challenge, but it was certainly worth the wait and the hard work to finally open the doors of Moo Baa Oinc in Beaumaris. You can look forward to pictures next time, and the many exciting new developments in store for 2011!
This month, the farm has been no less of a challenge than the shop. December saw 10 inches of snow fall within two days. Even though the beautiful, scenic pictures of the snow look quite majestic I can attest (as I was the one who took the photos!) that it was nothing short of a logistical nightmare.
The winter challenges included: all the stock requiring nearly twice as much fodder, as well as dealing with the treacherous road conditions, sub-zero temperatures, frozen water pipes (Christmas Eve was spent thawing these with a gas heater, in order for the cattle indoors to be able to drink) and power cuts. However, we survived, and with a bit of effort made it through to Christmas.
I hope you enjoy these pictures, and are looking forward to the update next month!
~Carwyn
The cattle consider which is the best hill to sledge down
Four foot icicles, very impressive... the animals couldn't care less!
The face of misery
Happy and warm inside
Relief that the snow is finally over... time for a haircut!
November 2010
In the last twelve months I have settled down to real work, having now joined the family farm enterprise. Although I have been brought up on a farm, it has been a steep learning curve.
The summer saw us busy with the silage and barley crops, and my working day started at seven in the morning, trying to get the harvest in. Thankfully the shorter winter days mean that now I get a bit more of a lie in!
September and October saw us busy attending cattle sales, attempting to find the best Pedigree Welsh Black steers available in order to supplement our established herd. These cattle will be kept by us for around twelve months and then slaughtered for our meat business, Beef Direct, and soon for our shop too - opening in Beaumaris in December.
I attend the sales with my 89-year-old Grandfather, Mr O. G. Thomas. He has had a Pedigree Welsh Black herd all his life, and is hoping to pass on his wealth of knowledge to me.
Over the last few weeks it has turned very wet and therefore we have had to bring all the cattle indoors, so that they don't get covered in muck and enjoy the comfort of the warm, dry shed and fresh straw bedding every day. This means that most of my time is now taken up moving between our farms, putting out silage and tending to the herds.
We have decided to keep two of our best male calves as bulls, even though this will mean two less steers for the meat business. We are hoping that with time and effort they will have the potential to grow into outstanding quality bulls.
I have also ventured into the sheep business, and have bought a flock of Lleyn and Welsh Halfbred ewes. I introduced two Pedigree Suffolk rams to the ewes at the start of October, and therefore it is going to be a very busy St David's day for me, as this is when my ewes are due to start lambing. These will be a welcome addition to the lambs my father will have from his own sheep, and will be just in time for the Easter rush at our new shop.
~Carwyn
The summer saw us busy with the silage and barley crops, and my working day started at seven in the morning, trying to get the harvest in. Thankfully the shorter winter days mean that now I get a bit more of a lie in!
September and October saw us busy attending cattle sales, attempting to find the best Pedigree Welsh Black steers available in order to supplement our established herd. These cattle will be kept by us for around twelve months and then slaughtered for our meat business, Beef Direct, and soon for our shop too - opening in Beaumaris in December.
I attend the sales with my 89-year-old Grandfather, Mr O. G. Thomas. He has had a Pedigree Welsh Black herd all his life, and is hoping to pass on his wealth of knowledge to me.
Over the last few weeks it has turned very wet and therefore we have had to bring all the cattle indoors, so that they don't get covered in muck and enjoy the comfort of the warm, dry shed and fresh straw bedding every day. This means that most of my time is now taken up moving between our farms, putting out silage and tending to the herds.
We have decided to keep two of our best male calves as bulls, even though this will mean two less steers for the meat business. We are hoping that with time and effort they will have the potential to grow into outstanding quality bulls.
I have also ventured into the sheep business, and have bought a flock of Lleyn and Welsh Halfbred ewes. I introduced two Pedigree Suffolk rams to the ewes at the start of October, and therefore it is going to be a very busy St David's day for me, as this is when my ewes are due to start lambing. These will be a welcome addition to the lambs my father will have from his own sheep, and will be just in time for the Easter rush at our new shop.
~Carwyn
