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11th December 2007

Where have the last eight days gone?

The weather has been dreadful over the last week and quite miserable to work in.   Livestock still need to be fed and cared for but field work has not been possible recently, which frees up David's time for farm and machinery maintenance.  This morning David was repairing the metal ring feeders which you might have seen out in the fields.  These rings allow us to feed the fresian cross cattle with haylage when the grass stops growing.

Haylage is forage (grass) that is baled at a higher moisture content than hay and then stored in a sealed plastic wrap.

I have been rather distracted by boxes, labels and meat for the last three weeks, however I think it has all been worthwhile. 

Our Belted Galloway Beef was been hanging in a chiller for 21 days and was collected by the butcher on Saturday evening ready for cutting the following day.  When I arrived on Sunday, there were rows and rows of neatly bagged meat lined up in the chilled display counter ready for me to put into boxes.

I worked for about four hours, labelling bags and distributing the joints, steak, mince and braising into seventeen boxes and weighing each of them to be sure that they were all over 10 kilos. 

With all the car seats removed, the boxes filled the entire length of my car and went back to the chiller overnight, only to be collected again the next morning.  There seemed to be an awful lot of lifting to do, 200 kilos in total, lifted six times!

Yesterday was collection day.  I had made a couple of coffee cakes and the tea and coffee was flowing as people came and went throughout the day.  It was lovely to meet new people and see good friends.

Laurence was on hand so that everyone could 'meet the farmer'. There was a lot of talk about beef and how the Belted Galloways are reared, how farming has been over the past year and our positive thoughts on farming in the future.  The kitchen was a hive of activity and chatter -it was great.

My thoughts at the end of the day?  I am proud of my acheivements over the past three weeks and absolutely thrilled to have sold all the meat except a couple of fillet steaks for supper!

From planning to sales, it was a steep learning curve, however it should be easier the next time around!

Thanks to all those who purchased a box of Belted Galloway Beef - Enjoy!

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