Til the cows come home

Well seasons greetings to you all, Ruby the red Hereford here. Where's Boris I hear you ask, well he has now got three sows in season and is, shall we say, slightly distracted, so he asked me to help out. And we cattle have had a busy old week...

The last school of the term had been caring for us very nicely, but they were finding it a bit of a struggle getting our breakfast out to us across the muddy fields, so the decision was made, time to come home for Christmas. Now I was slightly worried when I heard the plan, I've always been happy out here with the other Herefords and the Aberdeen Angus. Every morning and evening 8 children with 8 buckets of feed shared into 2 troughs, even I can do the maths. However every mealtime 8 calves at one trough and me, Ruby, pretending to hold back then getting a whole trough to myself. I've been doing it for months and they never twigged... Suddenly I find we're all in with the Gloucesters, some of whom are at least a year older than me, 3 troughs, 13 hungry animals...... and yet the same trick still paid off.

The roaming piglets have been weaned and re-housed in a more secure unit, once they learn to dig up the grass then there's really no option, so it's a warm dry sty and plenty of straw to play in and keep the bed warm.







Of course as soon as the piglets were shut in, the puppies get more adventurous by the hour, so you can never quite relax.











We had special guests this week, children from a local prep school who brought a lovely big cheque full of money they'd raised by making and selling chutney. They were delightful and not only did they bring the cheque, they spent the whole morning here helping with the farm jobs - and took some of our mud back to school with them.





Our staff managed to get out into the orchard to keep going with the restoration work. I can see it all looks very tidy and I'm sure it helps the trees grow, but from a bovine viewpoint those fences around each tree are very annoying, we love to help with the pruning..... Mind you I guess you have to keep the sheep off, they just don't know when to stop.












The orchards should be looking good ready for the big Wassail in January and I've heard a rumour that there are new trees going in after Christmas, eaters, a firm favourite with us cattle, those endless cider varieties play havoc with your digestion. Let's just hope they forget the tree guards.








After a very very wet week, the resident children had glorious weather to end their week with the "Long Walk". The river looked lovely in the sun and even the maize fields were looking stunning.

















However, the children managed to find the mud.....










and finished with the traditional hill roll!










Back at the farm Silver popped out to the orchard to help with the fencing









meanwhile two very friendly cats have moved into the house





Anyway, the good news is that we cattle have settled our differences and we have all moved in together in the newly-restored barn with fresh straw and plenty of hay, and just as I write that it has started to snow so perhaps it'll be a white Christmas after all. So from Wick Court we would like to wish you all a

very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

love

Ruby

pp Boris

Boris comes Home

It's true what they say, when you revisit a place it all looks smaller. It could be because I've grown, I have to say I was royally entertained over at the egg farm, two lovely Tamworth sows and eggs for breakfast every morning - always scrambled for some reason. In fact when I got back home the sty seemed very cosy with two of us in it. Apparently due to a slip of the trotter I had been down as a Middle White but in fact I'm a Large White, so perhaps that explains it.





So is it good to be home? Of course, there's no place like it. The teenage litter are all weaned so I moved back in with Doris, their mother, ready to think about thaving some more. In fact they're all leaving home this week, four moved to Tetbury today and the other three leave on Sunday. It'll be sad to see them go but there's also a feeling of pride as you watch them make their way into the world.



The other two litters are all thriving and as the piglets get more confident I see more of them, I love to see them out and about calling on all their friends and relations. This morning they were very confused when they got up and found the world had been turned white by the first frost of the winter.
















And at the end of the week, the Georges and JohnandEdward are off too, once they'd reached that magical target weight then they were "voted out". Apparently though this is good news for the rest of us, while there are vacant pig sties some of our accommodation is being refurbished. Well I was brought up not to complain, but the furnishings are a little dated shall we say. To be honest it's only fair, the calves are in their lean-to after a complete makeover and the stables have just had a lot of work on the structure and the interior decor. According to the horses they were in a terrible state, but then they would say that, they can be rather highly-strung and demanding.



And of course at this time of year the poultry starts to get a bit edgy, who'll it be this year? I can now reveal that....



cockerels.....it's not you










ducks.......it's not you











geese........it could be you




but no

turkeys....it's definitely YOU!!










Anyway, as the only boar on the farm I'm definitely staying, so here's to the next time.

Stay warm

Boris