January 2001

So New Year's Day and off we go to Homebase (which is the nearest place I can find on our map). We track down things to overhaul a leaky ball valve and some end stops to seal water pipes, a hack saw and some plumbers tape.

Before we moved in, we had been given the challenge by a farmer on a web group to see if we could operate within a budget of £1000 a year. You can imagine our delight when we "repaired" the ball valve with the £1.50 kit and there was the sound of water flowing into the trough in the cowshed again. Phew! Not a bad way to start a new year.

Well, by comparison, January was a quiet month. Our relationship with the cows was going well. They had got used to us being around and being the source of food.

We were beginning to feel our feet on the ground and, although we experienced some frozen pipes and burst water pipe joints, these all seemed pretty small fry in comparison to the previous month!

So, we started to relax. To spend some time with our horses, to clear some of the boxes from the move in our house and to explore ways to learn more about livestock management.

Mid January Calfy took sick. He didn't get up for "supper" one evening when we brought Bluey into the pen. We figured that perhaps he'd just had enough, sometimes he did miss a meal, but the following morning it was clear that something wasn't right and we called the vet, but he just died before they arrived. We cried - there seems to have been a lot of that for us in farming to date. He had become a real personality and a little treasure in our herd. We were considering getting a pal for him, wondering if we should get a few of them and raise our own little ones. We were talking with "proper" farmers about the risks and the possibilities and the options and pondering it all. Calfy's death made our minds up. We just couldn't bear one more dying experience so we decided to stick with our original twenty-six for the time being.

Our neighbours had been particularly supportive during our initiation, coming along at short notice to lift bales of silage when our cows needed feeding and our tractor wouldn't wake up and offering helpful suggestions and comments as required. We wanted to return the compliment and had offered to help them out if needed, but to be honest, we were a bit concerned about being more of a liability than a help given that it could take more time explaining to us how to do something than just getting on and doing it themselves.

Anyway, the time did come when we had the opportunity to do something in return. We had sold some of our haylage and the guy had come to collect, but our tractor kept getting stuck in the boggy mud (there was lots of that on the farm!) and Mark was relatively slow as a novice in maneuvering the bales, so we called in the task force from next door and Matbro Man arrived and handled the job in a quarter of the time it would have taken us. They took us up on the offer to give them some time to make up for their assistance here and we found ourselves in the middle of a very busy "real" farm! There were cows bigger than we'd ever seen before, plush tractors and gadgets, the biggest slurry lagoon ever, enormous feed bins and a "to do" list as long as your arm - and that's just for today! We were fascinated by the slick process of it all. It's a dairy farm and they have some 300 animals, milking around 150 twice a day. They have grown the herd themselves and they know each animal, it's history, it's number, the amount of milk she produces, when she calved, when she will calve again and more. It's amazing! We got swept along on a wave of interest and found ourselves not only cleaning out pens and feeding animals, but also helping in the milking parlour. When we eventually left, it was dark, we were tired but inspired. Now that's what we call FARMING!

During this month we also began to question how best to feed our cows. Having seen our neighbours animals, and given that the vet had suggested they were rather small, we knew we would be needing some more feed anyway, but what to get, how much, where from... many questions which we set about finding answers to.

We resolved the rat problem. A friend brought his terrier down a couple of times a week. Whilst we don't think she caught many she certainly discouraged them. We moved the bagged barley into the rat-proof refrigeration units in the dairy and had a massive clear out of rubbish and a big bonfire.

We met the auctioneer from the local market, who advised us that "finishing" cattle (that is getting them to a standard of weight and muscle that will suit the market) is quite a skilled job. He thought many of our cows were good and hardy and that they would fetch a good price in the store ring.

It took a couple of weeks after his visit to get ourselves organised. Some of the cows had lost their eartags. They each need a metal tag and a bright yellow plastic one with their number on it so that they can be easily identified. We ordered some new ones and the neighbours again helped us put them in - ear piercing with a difference!

The stores ring deals with bulls, steers and heifers, they were not interested in our "mums", so we kept them and the smaller cows back and sent fourteen off to market one fine sunny day.

One thing we have learned from the cows is that they are very willing to be present with whatever presents itself. It is as if they know they have been born to end up as dinner and are OK with that purpose. They can see the bigger picture and how they fit into that so much better than we can and it is awesome to be around the grace with which they live this part of their path. It seems to us that our role in the proceedings is to provide them with the best care and walk with them in a way that honours the gift they give us.

The lorry arrived and they all clambered on and off they went. We followed up after we had fed the rest of the herd to see how they would get on.

Market is a funny place. There is much secrecy in the bidding and it is as if there is a network where, although each person is supported through it, they are also continually watching their backs. And the cows take it in their stride. "So now I am in this yard, and now I am in this lorry, and now I am on this weighing machine, and now I am in this ring, and now I am in this pen"... and so on. Our girls did well, we are proud of our association with them. When we got home, we did our sums and realised that in our first 2 months of farming, we had made the princely sum of £200 a month! Well, as one farmer friend put it, at least we were in the black - not for long if we carry on like that!

It took us a while to get used to the smaller herd of twelve. We reviewed their feeding again. We were running out of barley and did a deal with our neighbours for feed, which they order in huge quantities at a discount greater than we could negotiate, in exchange for silage, which we have many more bales than we could use. The cows took to the new rations eagerly and we were on to the next stage of our farming career.