FARM DIARY
Goscombe Farm, Gundleton 2013
Early May, the boys had a day out to
Somerset to collect a replacement livestock
trailer; for 15 years the old trailer had served
me well but really did need replacing. The
boys also made time to pop into the largest
livestock market in England, sited at
Bridgewater, which sells a million pounds’
worth of cattle every Saturday, an amazing
place apparently. I only wish I had been able
to go but I was having an MRI scan on my
back, a story for another day.
I did manage half a day out with the boys to
West Sussex to collect the three pedigree
Charolais Heifers I had previously viewed in
early April. ‘Farleycopse Gwendoline’,
‘Farleycopse Gloria’ and ‘Valentino Heidi’
travelled home well and have now joined the
herd. The two G’s have gone to BBF to be
served by George the polled Charolais bull,
Heidi being slightly younger will go to
George in the autumn. Although the G’s are
from the same Farleycopse herd as two of
my bulls ‘Dickie’ and ‘Fitzy’ there is no bloodline connection. I am really excited starting
my pedigree Charolais herd and with the
right breed plan, a few years and a bit of
luck, my aim is to establish a recognized
herd and maybe a Champion? This is a
major investment in the herd, several
holidays’ worth… that’s if I had them of
course!
Finally, mid-May, the cattle starting to go out
to their respective grazing sites, the
workload still heavy, preparing the cattle for
summer pastures. Firstly, all the outlying
fields’ fencing required inspection, lovely
12
walks for the dogs. The calves needed to
have been castrated and debudded
(removal of horns), a very physical job,
surprising how strong the little devils can be!.
All other stock wormed; I use a pour-on
wormer along the back between the
shoulder blades, the simplest method.
All the cattle have been inspected as fit,
ear-tagged and batches/numbers organized
for each site plus additional help employed
to help load and transport the cattle. The
daily checks start, the physical work has
decreased but the working day is no shorter
as the sites are situated between Alton and
Easton, nr Winchester and depending where
the cattle hide themselves in the various
fields the job can take several hours. I had
forgotten how much fuel I use during the
summer months but on the other hand I am
not using straw, silage and the concentrated
food has been reduced to feeding only the
finishing and show cattle.
Talking of the show cattle, ‘Showboy’ my
Champion crossbreed steer, booked in for
the Fat Stock Show last December after
which he would have been sold for meat, still
remains on the farm partly because I was so
busy and secondly he has become the
family pet…Oh I know I should not be
sentimental and look at his commercial
value but it’s not all about pounds, shillings
and pence!
Having received the schedule for Alton
Show, rather excited to see the Best
Crossbred Beef steer class was up to 36