Orphaned calf has lot more bottle

OUR orphaned heifer calf is doing well and we’ve named her Joy.

She is being bottle fed little and often and is gaining strength all the time. The children argue as to who is going to feed her and have a rota to make sure that everyone gets a turn.

We have a barn full of hay made last year and we need to move before putting the heifers inside for the winter.

We weren’t sure how palatable it would be so took it up to the cows and calves at the moor to see if they were interested.

They demolished it quickly. The horses saw the cows and decided that they also fancied a bite of hay. They too will HAY THERE be coming down into the stables soon but, for the moment, we are busy preparing for the autumn breeding sales.

The fields are full of sheep, all eating the best of the grass to give them that extra bloom that should hopefully make them stand out in the sale ring.

Trying to keep everything separate can be a headache. To spend an afternoon sorting your gimmer (female) lambs into keepers and ones to sell, only for someone to leave a gate open and them all muddle up again, is frustrating. It is worse still if the tups escape.

The sap is rising, they are thinking about mating and, where there’s a will, there’s usually a way.

An old tup on the rampage amongst the young gimmers and you could have a few surprises in the spring.