We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.William and Andrew Cowx: Lambs to market and heifers to calve soon
When I wrote a month ago, I said the weather had improved - how wrong I was.
We have had four weeks with rain almost every day, making the land very wet. However, as we have a fairly dry farm, there must be many people in a worse position than us. Dare I say the outlook is looking better.
We have about 100 Texel cross lambs still to go to market, the ones sold to date having averaged about £85. We took 80 three-quarter Texel ewe lambs to the Euro sale at Carlisle last week, but were disappointed with the price, averaging £75 each - more than they would have made in the fat market but we had spent a little time dipping and dressing them for the sale.
We don’t usually creep feed our lambs, but, with the wet weather and wet grass, we put creeps out to help them along.
We’re awaiting 30 mostly-pedigree heifers to calve in the coming months. Usually they calve after the turn of the year, but we decided to calve them earlier to fit in better with sale times.
They were mostly AI’d, which gives us the opportunity to try different sires, although it can prove costly with the cost of semen and semen royalty fees.
We brought the first 15 inside, and out of the rain, so we could keep an eye on them, but, in spite of this, we lost the first calf for no apparent reason. Fortunately, the heifer was not pedigree and it had lost a quarter with mastitis during summer, so it will go to market later.
Labour can be a problem on farms, with better wages being offered in other industries, but we have been quite fortunate over the years with staff.
We’ve had some good local lads, and also students who have left Newton Rigg - the local agricultural college. They come for experience and have gone on to successfully farm on their own. Adam has just left college this summer and is now working for us, proving to be a willing and able young man.
We have, I think, three good Limousin bulls we hope to take to the October bull sale at Carlisle, and at present are training them. It takes quite a lot of time and patience to get them to walk and show themselves properly, but it is time well spent. I just hope they get through the pre-sale inspection and it is not time wasted.
Having judged the Limousin classes at Westmorland Show, I left for a holiday in France, so hopefully, Andrew will have all the grass safely gathered in on our return.