Christmas goose

Hello Everyone Its 1st December and Christmas is nearly upon us. Have you sorted out your "bird" for the festive season? I have still two geese available. If you like duck you will like goose and you cook it in the same way. It is a treat but not as expensive as the supermarkets or butchers at £4.25 per lb. It comes ready to go - not a DIY job with the feathers still on.

Other news;- Primrose came back today with Major the bull, plus one or two othe cows from Pendeen for Majors attention. Primrose left here shortly after the dog attack so it was lovely that she remembered me and where I kept the treats. She will stay here now and hopefull have a calf of her own in 2013.

More news;- My milk and butter sales are going well. Now that I have a " kite mark" it means I can sell anywhere in the world but I will stick with being local for the moment!The outlets are Village Crafts in Perranuthnoe, The Stores in Goldsithney and Delicious in Marazion. The Cornisman photographer came and took a few pictures on Thursday with me and the three outlet proprierors. Not sur if it will make the paper or not

latest news and dairy update

Hello everyone, its a while since we last spoke. However I havnt been idle. The first bit of news is that thanks to the Bettens family, all the little fields that I was renting are now mine. The last bit af paperwork was done last Friday.

I have now completed a level 3 HACCP course and been given my "kite" mark from Cornwall Council Environmental Health Dept to sell pasteurised milk. Over the summer I have had the interior of the barn revamped to meet those requirements.The pic below is my pasteurising room. The panel on the wall looks something off a flight deck, it controlls temperature, time, agitator, tachograph

and various other bits but actually I have got the hang of it! The silver thing on the right with two arms is my cream seperator. Next door is where I milk the cows. I can take two at a time but for the moment I do the "girls" one at a time. This is Buttercup being milked

While this was happening, Daisy, who always goes first, was waiting outside for her. All that is stopping me is the printing of food standard fridge proof labels to go on the milk bottles and butter packets. Many thanks to Pippa for helping me with the design. Enid Kirk my Dairy Maid Assistant has been helping me, and took some butter home lastweek. (Enid and me both have to wear white and have hats on in the pasteurising room. )

 

A new birth

Hello everyone, its a while since we spoke and its now definately autumn.

Happily Daisy is now pregnant since Major paid a visit. with a new calf for her expected early May 2013.

However, the news of the day is that Buttercup gave birth to a bull calf at dawn this morning Cow and calf doing well. Also, I now have a new part time dairy maid,-  Edith Kirk from the village, so she was soon on the scene to view the new arrival. (Enid will be doing some relief milking at week ends in  a few years time ). The calf will only be here for a few days befor he goes to Pendeen to be hand reared by Gerald Babcock. There just isnt a way to keep mother and calf together and produce milk. He will be very well looked after and soon mix in with other young calves over there.

The dairy is rapidly changing in order to produce pasteurised semi skimmed milk. I will add some more pictures when the work has been completed in a few days time .

Daisy has a friend over for the weekend

Well its now early July and unfortunatly Daisy didnt hold to AI. She was pregnant for a few weeks but it wasnt to be. Last year Daisy didnt take to AI either- she had to have the real deal. Answer to the problem, have the bull Major over for the weekend. ( Daisy cant go to his place as there is nowhere for her to go to be milked) So, over Major came and.....................! Ask me in three weeks time, but I am cautiously optomistic.

The other bit of news on "Karen's farm" is that I am going commercial with my milk. I have ordered a batch pasteuriser and work will be carried out over the next couple of weeks to the bring the dairy upto DEFRA and Food Standards Agency requirements. stainless steel and white catering walls all round.

Daisy's night out

Do you recall last time I spoke, that Daisy would have to be AI'd when she next came into season. The  vet has examined Daisy and said she was not "cycling" ( hormone wise) and would give her a bit of a boost to get her started. I wondered if the dog incident has put her off. Anyway the boost consists of a progesterone tampon which I was to take out on Sunday 27th May.  It was expected that she may come into season 4 days later on 31st May but more likely 21 days after that on 21st June. And that's when I get the AI man in.

However, on Sunday morning I notice that the bit of string that should be dangling out isn't there. Call Gerald ( Pendeen Whitebred Shorhorns ) for advice ;- apparently the string does drop off sometimes so have a ferret around and pull it out. If I don't have any luck then he (Gerald) will roll his sleeve up on Monday morning.

Daisy strongly objected to my ferreting around, on Sunday afternoon, though I was very gentle, even though I say so myself. Over to Gerald. However at 3 O'clock on Monday morning Daisy starts mooing. By 4 O'clock Daisy is bellowing and climbing the hedge between the field and the garden, taking Buttercup with her, and she is off. I got dressed as quickly as I could and went to the spot were they were last seen - to no avail. Then it dawned on me, the string hadn't fallen off, the thing had come out altogether- she was BOOOOSTED!!!!!! A supercharged, four wheel drive, bovine nymphomaniac on a mission. I looked in every field , path and lane between Marazion cemetery and Trebarvah looking for clues ( cow pats). Nothing. Then at 6.30 I had a call from Matt Skewes at Chiverton Farm to ask if I was missing two cows? They had been with his herd of dairy cows since 5am and by the way one of them was"bulling " that strongly she had been ridden by every one of his herd!

By 8.30 I had both cows home, with Daisy locked in until the AI man arrived. She was not amused by his antics and wouldn't let me milk her. On Tuesday morning the AI man arrived again - just to make certain ( I hope). More disgusted in indignant looks. I had to milk Daisy in the crush. She let me have a pint to relieve the pressure, and then stopped. I took the clusters off and we had a talk. The  clusters went back on and with lots of soothing noises and stroking she reluctantly let me have the rest of the milk.. Both cows spent the rest of the day eating and sleeping. Buttercup glad to be home and Daisy with a "I haven't been quite my self" look.

Daisy and I are now on speaking terms. This afternoon Daisy volunteered to be milked so normal service has resumed. I will put Chiverton Farm on standby for 21st June, but I hope she is in calf.

Milk testing

All UK milk producers have unannounced milk testing where a raw milk sample is taken away and analysed to meet the Food Standards Agency criteria  .Mine happened a couple of weeks ago and I have just had the results back. They test for "colliforms" ( introduced bugs - may or may not be nice ones) and they have a "total viable count" ( all bugs, including colliforms, as milk isn't a sterile product).     My results were bril - colliforms = 1 and the highest tolerance level is 99
TVC = 99, or 98 + 1 from above and the highest tolerance level is 20,000
Apparently I am in the top 5% in the UK for clean milk.
If you exceed the above levels you get closed down and cant sell until you have improved.

On other things going on on "Karen's farm"- all the little piglets have gone to new farms and the two black sows Cilla and Betty will go to new homes this week.

Daisy- the milking cow hasn't come into season yet after calving in February- which is unusual. The vet has had a look at her and given her a progesterone boost so she may come into season at the end of the month. She will then be AI'd- I cant take her over to the bull at Pendeen for the real deal as there are no milking facilities there.  Sorry Daisy. ( I did wonder if the nasty business with the dogs had put her out of stride but the vet doesn't think so )

And at long last I have arranged  for someone to tackle the field where the bee hives are to make it fox proof. Then I can have the chickens back in there. The job, I have decided, is too big for me and I am not sure of the best way of going about it.

Buttercup is home

From L to R Guinevere, Primrose, Buttercup and Daisy

This week Buttercup returned home after spending the last year over at Pendeen running with Gerald Babcocks Whitebred Shorthorn bull, Spoutbank Major. And yes she is pregnant!  She is expecting her first calf  at the end of September or early October. You may all remember that Buttercup and Daisy were my first two Whitebred Shorthorns, ( Daisy had her calf Snowdrop this February), so spent their early days together. So for the next week or two there will be four cows in the field above Trenow Cove. After that time Guinevere, ( the heifer who took the brunt of the recent dog attack )and Primrose will go to Pendeen for summer grazing and an interactive holiday with Major!

The piglets and the sows

Its soon time for the piglets to move on to new homes as they are comming upto 8 weeks of age. So I have placed an ad. in the local paper. The youngest sow Betty will also need to find a new home, perhaps she will go with one or two of the piglets. The alternatives are to keep her and breed from her, this is not ideal as I dont have the space. Or sausages, which would be a shame when relatively young. Cilla on the other hand is well past breeding age and she will make wonderful sausages. So once all the littleuns have gone, then she's off to Olds at St Just. So for any of you who have not tried Perran Pork why not go for some sausages? There will be plenty to go round, the last time I  converted a whole pig into sausages it was the volume of 2 dustbins. Orders from a couple of pounds to a carrier bag full equally excepted, just let me know.

Cow Attack update

The cows are making steady improvements, the last veterinary check coincided with the annual TB test ( thankfully that was all clear). Guinevere has lost a bit of her face after the stitches were taken out, but can still eat well. The lacerations on Daisy and Primrose have now healed, and Daisy's milk yield is back to normal. There does seem to be a rumour going round locally that the wrong dog was shot. Nonsense! the black dog attacked first and there are credible witnesses to this The second dog was attacking when I came upon the sorry scene, with the black dog going in for a second time. Penzance CID have the matter in hand and it will be going to court

Blog

Hello everyone. I have started a blog so that everyone will know what is happening on Karen's Farm. (That in itself is a "tongue in cheek" Perranuthnoe version to Adams Farm as per BBC Countryfile.)

The pigs in Apple Tree Field are doing well and are now all sold. They will remain there, (unless they escape) until about August when they become food, having had a good life doing what pigs like to do. I am fine with people giving them fruit & veg scraps.

Going down the lane on the other side is Garden Field. This used to have chickens in it but has now been reseeded for the Christmas geese to eat. For 28 days in the summer holidays I will also use this field for camping.

Next field down I call the Bees Field. This had 4 working hives and 2 empty ones. Its the time of year when the hives get opened up to check what the queen is upto. If i had a chrystal ball I would have done it in March when we had the hot weather. April has proved a bit too cold for me to do it at the moment.. If i can find a way to do it I want to make this field fox proof so I can have chickens in there.

The next field is Little Barn Field. This is where the two sows are with their piglets. These were taken on after someone was banned from keeping animals for 10 years. The sows are Lage Blacks a rare breed mostly found in Cornwall. Cilla ( Black) is 8yrs old with 4 piglets and (Black ) Betty is 4yrs with 7 piglets. When the pigs are a bit older they will go to new homes.

Lastly I come to three bigger fields that I will use for the cows. Two fields have the Churchway Footpath in them Higher Carn and Lower Carn. The third is where the cows currently reside- Swallows Barn Field. The cows - Whitebred Shorthorns, have received a lot of publicity recently because of the savage attack on them by 2 pit bull type dogs. One dog was shot and the second has been seized by the police as it is reported to be a Rhodesian Ridgeback crossed with a Pitbull. I CID have gathered all but one statement and it will be going to court.The good news is that they are on the mend. Guinevere, despite having many stitches lost part of her upper lip, but she can eat and will now look like she has a hair lip. In the next few weeks she and Primrose will go back to Pendeen for summer grazing on the moors and in time run with the bull over there. In return I will get Buttercup back and she is due to calve in September or early October. I just need to find some more finances to kit out my dairy and get a pasteuriser and then I can do butter and other dairy products.

Lastly in the garden I have 2 more bee hives and a pen where I am bringing on 12 goslings. The goslings will be 2 weeks old this weekend. Once they have their white feathers I will be walking them up the lane to graze and back home again in the evening.

More info when I have more news. Karen