Winter 2022

The Autumn started off relatively kind then caught us out with a wet spell and then severe cold. The team as always rose to the challenge of managing winter grazing and ensuring that all animals had access to forage and water when the mercury dropped.

We grew fodder beet again this year and despite the dry spell we had a good crop that the cows are now ploughing though with gusto.

Some cows are milked all through December and into January because they are not due to calve until late March and while the drop in temperatures doesn’t impact on the yield, they will be at the end of their lactation in the run-up to calving so don’t produce as much milk as they usually do.

December is always something of a preparation month – making sure we do dry-runs of calving, getting the sheds prepared and sorting out rotas. It’s also a chance to send staff on courses, so three of our dairy team completed an advanced calving course.

Shelly hat work.