Good morning,
With 2023 being almost done, we thought we’d send a round up of how it went at Trenchmore this year. Notes from the field by Andrew.
We started the year with 300 cattle in the barns and by April we had another 58 healthy calves from 62 cows. A little shy of our target of 95%, but given the ripe old age of some of our foundation cows, a good result.
With calving complete, everything settled down until two of the strongest calves dropped dead at around 3 months old. Post-mortems revealed nothing untoward, so tissue and blood samples were sent to the lab. They drew a blank for all the major diseases, with selenium deficiency offered as the prime suspect.
Nev wasn't convinced, as cows generally can’t get in calf if essential minerals are unavailable but he administered a quick action drench, followed by a slow release trace element bolus a few weeks later.
I don't want to jinx things but we haven't lost any since.
As you may recall, after a very mild, dry February we saw little but rain in March. April remained too wet to turn out the cows and unusually cool, so grass growth was delayed. Eventually, the jet stream shifted North, clear skies returned and some welcome warm winds soon dried out the ground and the grass absolutely took off.
We finally turned out the herd a month later than usual - in the middle of May - and 10 days later we were pleasantly surprised to harvest 750 bales of silage.
Our arable enterprise didn't fare so well. We planned to sow 30 acres of spring barley in early April, but failed to get the crop into the ground until early May. By the time the seed had germinated and the leaves were fully covering the ground we had under a fortnight before the longest day. You can't beat the laws of physics so despite a sunny June, the late start couldn't be made up for. Instead of our expected yield of around 2 tons of grain to the acre, we harvested less than half that amount off our best field. The crop was so thin elsewhere that we cut and baled it for winter forage - straw and all.
After a hot, dry June, the weather challenges returned in July with spells of wet weather making hay making particularly stressful. With some anxious late nights carting barely dry enough hay before rain arrived, we managed to make 260 bales of our target of 500, wrapping the remainder as silage rather than lose the crop.
Our orchard, on the other hand, enjoyed a bumper season. With no late frosts the fruit set was very good and the strong June light quickly produced a full leaf cover. Despite some fairly ferocious pruning by Rosie's sheep, (they were supposed to be eating the grass beneath the trees), almost all 19 varieties produced a heavy crop.
September is my favourite month and was particularly warm and sunny this year, helping our 60 Autumn cows to birth 57 healthy calves in the fields (the magic 95%) and prolonging the ripening of the apples, raising the sugars to a high level. Harvest started in earnest in mid October, with welcome help from locals, the scouts and a professional picking gang we cleared the orchard in early November, our fermentation tanks brimful.
We've also been busy with construction this year. With an expanding herd we have put up a big new barn extension for hay and straw, and subsequently converted our old straw barn into an airy calving pen. We have also begun laying pipes for a rainwater harvesting set-up to water the cows from the roof.
With an expanding shop and more regular events you may have experienced our cosy new ablutions block and up-cycled garden shed, aka the Cyder Shack. It’s available for private hire, so bear us in mind should you be looking for a rustic space for an event next year. Building cost inflation has been quite sobering but we have managed to re-use a lot of old timber and materials, and are delighted to see the new facilities being enjoyed whatever the weather.
The hamster wheel spun ferociously this year - here's wishing all of us a kinder and calmer 2024.
Yard shop & burger hours
23.12.23 11-4pm
30.12.23 11-4pm
January - closed
03.02.24 11-4pm
10.02.24 11-4pm
17.02.24 11-4pm
24.02.24 11-4pm
