Archived News

15th July 2009

Since March and during about 33 hours, over 305 children (aged 4 – 10) and teachers have passed through the farm!  They have learned many things about livestock and arable farming, where their food comes from, how you need a cockerel as well as a hen to make a chick!  and that our combine harvester has a cutter bar the width of three and a half cars.  They have been able to collect eggs, touch the calves and learned much about the countryside and rural skills during their nature walk. 

I hope the children have had an enjoyable and informative visit, taking memories into their future which they can draw upon. I would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the Head Teachers who have agreed to their children visiting a working farm and to the teachers who come out on the day!

Tuesday saw the launch of the Mid Surrey Downs Higher Level Stewardship Scheme which is a major collaborative project covering 930 hectares, funded by Natural England.  It includes large areas of the North Downs scarp between Dorking and Guildford and we are providing the cattle to graze the chalk downland.

Catherine Graham-Harrison, Natural England Board Member visited Manor Farm during the morning whilst we hosted a visit from St.Peter’s C.Of E. School, London.  This was the last of four visits from St. Peter’s and has been a marvellous opportunity to help educate about 100 children from one community about British farming.

It was a pleasure to meet Catherine Graham-Harrison and explain why we are providing educational farm visits and how visits by schools or other groups cover an extra-ordinary variety and quantity of information at a level appropriate for each group. We incorporate, commercial farming, our own food production from free range hens and our breeding pigs and local food production via our Belted Galloway Beef Box Scheme.

Our Belted Galloway herd began with just 7 cows and one bull and this number has swelled to 57 with the purchase of a pedigree herd in 2008 and of course the new born calves each year. Originating in the highlands, Belted Galloways are well adapted to rough grazing and will be a useful management tool for conservation grazing on the chalk downland within the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme.

Two heifer calves were born in February and three bull calves and two heifer calves have been born so far, in July.

This evening 54 Friesian cross calves have arrived from Powys, Devon and Avon.  They will be noisy tonight for a few hours until they settle down in their big barn on a clean bed of straw.  As they came off the lorry, each calf was given a collar to activate the automatic milk machine and an antibiotic to guard them against infections which can be circulated between calves during the journey from the dairy farm of their birth or as they mingle in the days after arriving.

This calf has already discovered the delights of the automatic milk dispenser!