Spring News

The snow is melting and spring is just around the corner! The trees are just starting to bud and we can hear a little more birdsong every day. We’ve already sown veg seeds in the polytunnel to get a head start before the soil warms up in our walled garden.Calves & LambsCalving should begin early March. This year we will have both autumn and spring calving to provide us with a year round supply of beef. Most of the calves will be to a Hereford bull, apart from some of the British Whites that have been bred to a British White bull named Kerfuffle. We hope to have some nice heifer calves to bring into the herd.Although we normally start lambing at the beginning of April, we have delayed until the end of the month due to Jo being off with a foot operation. Hopefully she’ll be back on 2 feet by then, the sun will be shining and there will be plenty of spring grass!The ewes have been scanned and we have brought those due to have triplets inside for extra feed. Last year we had one set of quadruplets and one quintuplet! Ideally, all sheep would have twins so that the ewes would have enough milk, eliminating the need for bottle feeding. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens this year!Fencing should be completed(on St Aidans’) in the next few weeks, and then we’ll move around 30 cows to graze the ridge and furrow area again. We reduce the number of cattle in the spring so they don’t trample on the ground nesting birds. Once the nesting season has passed, more cattle and sheep will be added to control the grass and rush growth. It’s such a joy to work with the seasons and manage our land in a way that supports our surrounding ecosystem.New in the Farm ShopThis year we will be stocking organic seeds in the shop so you can plant your own garden at home! We’ve chosen several wonderful varieties from The Seed Co-operative, which we’ll update with the seasons to keep your garden growing.While you’re picking up your seeds, stock up on the perfect organic compost from West Riding Organics to get the most out of your garden. We use their peat-based organic compost for all our sowing to grow strong, healthy plants. As it is filtered from River water it avoids the environmental damage of mining peat. We’ll have bags available in the farm shop.