farm diary
August 2010
August promises to be another busy month, straw for winter bedding and feed has to be baled as quickly as possible after the barley and wheat has been combined. There are lots of jobs to do around the yard and farm. I still have to finish mucking out the cow's winter quarters ready for when they have to come in again some time in November. That seems a long way away now but it will come around all too quickly as usual!
On Friday 13th and Saturday 14th August the Longhorn Cattle Society Show and Sale at Stoneleigh takes place. We have not got anything entered for this sale but I am hoping to go for the sale on Saturday to keep in touch with how things go and will no doubt meet up with plenty of friends there. Keith Mason has entered Tetford Monarch in the sale as he has his daughters in the herd now so needs a new bull. We do have a couple of 2009 born heifers for sale at the farm, one by Jedi and one by Linton David. Click here to go to our Cattle for Sale page for full details. We also have some very promising young bulls by Jedi and David which I expect to register in the next few weeks.
July 25th 2010
Gill Thomas took delivery of her new young bull Tetford Quartermaster today. He is by Linton David out of Tetford Keepsake and will be a year old on 24th August. He joins Gill's Barlings Herd near Lincoln to become stock bull when he is old enough and big enough. He's been on a halter a couple of times here since viewed on Thursday last week and has had two washes but Paul will have more work to do to him once he has settled in to his new home. He weighed 467kgs today so his 400 day weight should be a little over 530kgs when he is registered.
July 25th 2010 Heckington Show.
Heckington Show, the largest village show in England, took place over the weekend of 24th & 25th July.
We had Tetford Jedi and Tetford Quiescience entered in the Longhorn Classes to be judged by Richard Warner from Markfield, Leicestershire.
An early start was called for and we left home at 7am having washed both the cattle ready for the show. Having unloaded, fed and settled the cattle there was time for a bacon roll and a cuppa before brushing them up and putting on the leather show halters for the classes which started at 10 o'clock.
The first class was for Bulls of any age and Jedi was at the front of the field of 6 bulls as he was the eldest there. Richard Warner called him in 1st ahead of Richard Burton's young bull Riverlands Joskin. We were able to relax for a couple of classes until the class for Junior Heifers, born in 2009, were called out. Quiescience, the youngest in the class of 6, was placed a very satisfactory 3rd.
Jedi won the Male Championship and then took Breed Champion ahead of Riverlands Joskin in Reserve spot. Click here for the full show results.
Heckington Show is a wonderful day out, it could teach a lot of the big county shows a thing or two about providing what the visitors want! It is entirely organised and run by volunteers headed by show Chairman Charles Pinchbeck. They all deserve many congratulations for their efforts, every year is better than the last and I never cease to wonder what they will come up with next time, but I have no doubt that this time next year Heckington 2011 will have surpassed this year's show by some way or other!
13th - 15th July 2010 The Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate.
Tetford Jedi, Tetford Quarryman and Tetford Quiescence relax at the Great Yorkshire
On Sunday 11th July our show team left Tetford in Richard Coulson's wagon on their journey to the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate. We had three stalls booked for our three entries - our senior stock bull 8 year old Tetford Jedi, Tetford Quarryman a yearling son of Jedi and Tetford Quiescence a yearling daughter of Jedi. We spent Monday settling in, cleaning halter brasses and working up a thirst in the swealtering heat! By Monday evening all the other exhibitors had arrived and we were able to establish that 21 Longhorns would be forward for the competitions on Tuesday. Thirsts were suitably quenched in a good pre-show atmosphere during Monday evening!
On Tuesday the Longhorn classes followed another breed in the ring so we did not get started until after midday. Jedi was placed second in the Senior Bull Class whilst Quarryman, who was the youngest bull in his strong class of 4 was third. Quiescence was placed third in another strong class of 7 Junior Heifers which was particularly pleasing as she was second youngest in the class, giving away 3 and 4 months to some of the other entries. We rounded off by coming second with Quarryman and Quiescence in the class for pairs sired by the same sire, a total of 6 pairs were forward in that class. Click here for the full Longhorn show results.
The following day, Wednesday, Jedi was picked for the Longhorn Team of 4 to represent the breed in the Interbreed Competitions and then on Thursday morning he was chosen for the Housewife's Choice competition - a light hearted competition with teams of 3 judged by housewives picked from the crowd which created much good humour and laughter with some teams in fancy dress. We had our own spot of fun in the cattle sheds with a pair of wellies and a boiler suit stuffed with straw as can be seen in the photo below!
With early starts and late nights being quite usual as the cattle must be looked after, washed, fed, watered and bedded it can be a tiring time but as always at the Great Yorkshire we managed to find time to have great fun in great company with plenty of new jokes and stories being shared over good food and drink during the four days at Harrogate. Our wagon left at around 6pm, arriving home at 9.30pm, the cattle were unloaded and settled for the night before turning in ourselves in readiness for returning to a normal routine on Friday.
Silage making. As and when time and weather permit throughout June and July 2010.
June and July are busy months on the farm as silage in wrapped bales has to be made and transported to the yard for stacking ready for the winter months when the cattle come in from the fields. The recent dry spell has reduced yields by between 30 and 50 percent however we are still hopeful that with some carry-over from last year we shall have enough! Now that Jim is so busy in our shop at Louth the mowing, baling and wrapping has to be done by our super efficient contractor, John Benge with his state of the art modern tackle whilst I load, transport, unload and stack in the yard. John takes some keeping up with but so far he hasn't got too far ahead!
Loading wrapped silage bales to the trailer for transport back to Tetford.
Loaded and ready for the trip back to the yard at Tetford.
Placing bale into the silage stack ready for winter feeding.
3rd & 4th July 2010 Longhorn Cattle Society Beef Production Workshop.
On Saturday and Sunday the 3rd and 4th of July we hosted a Beef Production Workshop for the Longhorn Cattle Society. On Saturday Martin Brown the MD of L. Brown & Son (Wholesale Butchers) Ltd. who operate at the City Abbatoir in Lincoln kindly demonstrated on a live animal where all the various cuts were to be found and showed us what they look for when selecting cattle for their business. Members asked Martin lots of questions before we moved on to see the cattle in the yards being finished for our shop in Louth.
Martin Brown answers questions at the Beef Production Workshop with help from Tetford Jedi!
At this stage Charles Sutcliffe showed members how cattle were finished at Tetford and explained that no one system would suit everyone but that the one they were viewing worked well at Tetford. Martin Brown had pre-judged a pen of 5 young bulls and members were able to put their knowledge and skill to the test by placing the animals on the basis of "the best animal for the butcher's needs on the day". Charles then led out Tetford Quarryman, a young bull of just under 400 days in age, for members to estimate his weight. Once everyone had completed their judging cards and had written in their weight estimates the cards were gathered by Debbie Dann, our Breed Secetary, and Quarryman was weighed. 503 kilos was the result.
As the results were to be announced during the evening at the Newmarket Inn in Louth we quickly toured most of the cattle out in the fields around the farm and at nearby Worlaby where a group of spring calving cows with stock bull Linton David are grazing.
Cows and calves at Worlaby.
To be continued...!
Jim begins breaking down the side of Longhorn beef on the Sunday morning.
Boned and rolled brisket of Longhorn ready for the counter.
23rd & 24th June 2010 The Lincolnshire Show
The 126th Lincolnshire Show took place on Wednesday and Thursday the 23rd and 24th June where we had 3 animals competing in the Longhorn classes, judged by Steve Gray from Herefordshire. It was the first show we have attended this season.
Both days were sweltering, temperatures in the mid 20s with bright sunshine. The Breed Classes were judged on Wednesday, followed by the Interbreed Classes on Thursday morning.
The first of our classes was for Bulls born before 1st January 2009 with 3 entries forward. Our entry Tetford Jedi, born in February 2002, was the oldest Longhorn entry forward in the class and in fact the oldest Longhorn at the show. Jedi was placed 1st, ahead of Dunstall Genesis a 2006 born bull from Mrs. E.M. Hallifield in 2nd place and Overdale Iceman born in 2008 from J.A. Warner in 3rd place. In the next class for bulls born in 2009 we had the youngest animal forward at the show, Tetford Quarryman a son of Tetford Felspar by Tetford Jedi, and he was placed 3rd out of 5 animals forward. We were delighted with this as he was only one year and thirteen days old and had only been registered the week before the show! The Male Championship was held after the Junior Bull class, before judging the female classes, and Jedi was chosen as Male Champion. Our third entry was Tetford Quiescence, a daughter of Tetford Fritillary again by Tetford Jedi, in the class for 2009 born heifers. She was placed 4th out of 9 animals forward, again a result we were very pleased with for her first outing.
Wednesday's proceedings were concluded with judging for the Breed and Reserve Breed Champions and judge Steve Gray picked Tetford Jedi as his Breed Champion with Dunstall Harriet, a 2007 born cow, from Mrs. E.M. Hallifield taking the Reserve spot.
Tetford Jedi Longhorn Breed Champion at Lincolnshire Show 2010
Tetford Jedi having taken Breed Champion for the Longhorns was forward for the Supreme Beef Breeds Championship, judged on Thursday morning by all the breed judges on a points system. Having received some very complementary comments from a number of the judges during their deliberations we were elated to come out as Native Breeds Interbreed Champion, ahead of both the Lincoln Reds and Aberdeen Angus champions!
Click here for the full Longhorn show results.
