Archived News

27th March 2016

New life is arriving here for a new season, although the weather still doesn't feel very spring-like.

Twelve Belted Galloway calves have been born in the last 20 days with another three due. The photos below show Wotton Comet calving on Good friday morning.

Wotton Comet in final stage of calving


The calf raises and shakes her head and Comet's maternal instincts kick in.


The cow licks her calf for a long time and basically until she's dry. This bonding process helps the cow identify her calf.


The continued attention and licking by Comet encourages the heifer calf to get to her feet after a few attempts.


Naturally unsteady at first, the calf spends some time tottering around the dam until she eventually heads towards her first feed.


The heifer calf will be named Wotton Star

The Hampshire Down ewes started lambing this morning with two sets of twins a welcome sight for Easter Sunday.

A group of Friesian x calves arrived on farm last week from a local dairy herd.  They will be reared as beef to the conformation and grading demanded by the abattoir sourcing beef for supermarkets and well known high street restaurants.  There's no way of knowing what price a farmer will be paid for this beef once it's finished in about one and a half years time. 

Some recent arrivals.

The price we are currently receiving from the abattoir is £300 less per head/animal than we were paid 2.5 years ago.