Archived News

15th April 2018

This week, Edd will be fertilizing and cultivating once the ground dries up and Amanda will be feeding and bedding up those cattle inside, that are still waiting for the soil to warm up and the grass to grow.

On Tuesday and Friday we'll be TB testing around 90 Belted Galloway cattle in seven groups, at three locations.  Both days will be challenging if only from a logistical point of view; three of the groups have calves at foot which makes handling them more tricky, added to which we only have two cattle crushes (handling system with 'race') so there'll be some juggling around of equipment to get it all in place and on time. If things go smoothly, hopefully with four of us and the vet, we estimate the job will take about 6-7 hours on each day.

A group of students from Farnborough Sixth Form College are visiting the farm tomorrow.  The students are studying A Level Environmental Studies.

We'll be looking at the Belted Galloway suckler herd and the Friesian x cattle, discussing the differences between the breeds and methods of farming; countryside stewardship and conservation grazing; arable farming and diversification.

Conversation may also include food chains and traceability, trade organisations and the role of marketing and trade after leaving the EU.

On Thursday we will welcome Year 10 students from the Harris Academy, studying GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition.  Whilst using the same backdrop of our farm business we will be looking at the working farm to learn about livestock rearing from farm to fork, animal welfare and food provenance, food miles and the Red Tractor assurance scheme.