Thursday 1 December 2016

The Ladies have arrived.

Yesterday twenty ladies descended on our farm - twenty rather heavy, hopefully pregnant ladies who have taken up Winter residence in our loose housing.

It was cleaned out a month ago (full of last year's well-rotted manure, which was spread on the fields) and at the beginning of this week the farmer spread a deep layer of straw ready for their arrival.   Two hens immediately commandeered it for their own and promptly laid a couple of eggs each in the straw!

They came up the pasture from our friend and neighbour A and once they saw the straw and the deep layer of silage ready for tea outside they trotted in happily, udders swinging from side to side.

They will stay in there until maybe a month before the due date of giving birth when each one will go home for a special diet for that last month.   For the past few months they have 'enjoyed' a wander in the fields with a friendly Aberdeen Angus bull, so time will tell how many are pregnant.   Hopefully it will be all of them.

So welcome Ladies of the Dale.  I always enjoy your Winter stay.

20 comments:

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, the pregnant cattle here on the reserve won't go to the grazier's stock yards until the end of the month at the earliest and given that the fields remain pretty dry and non-muddy, it could be later. The grazier has around 800-1,000 pregnant cows spread around the whole of Sheppey and so the longer he can leave them out of the stock yards and not have to feed them, he will.

Do you watch the Yorkshire Vet, I only discovered it a few weeks ago, what a terrific programme and two lovely vets.

Alphie Soup said...

Are the Winter Ladies beef or dairy ladies? They look like beef to me.

Alphie

Yorkshire Pudding said...

"Friendly" Aberdeen Angus bull? What exactly do you mean by that Mrs Weaver?

Rachel Phillips said...

In calf, please. Thank you.

Heather said...

A long line-up of lovely ladies. Hope they all have beautiful healthy calves. Well done hens for those eggs!

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Are they Angus heifers? Thought they were all black?

jinxxxygirl said...

Always nice to hear of life on the Farm.... Hubby and i were thinking from your photo that they look like Holsteins ??? sort of... anyway love the photo and your description... You write so well Pat...

Mary said...

Beautiful ladies - that Aberdeen Angus bull must be worn out!!!

Oh to taste a 'just laid' egg - preferably poached, sitting on a slice of wholemeal toast, yum!

donna baker said...

I'm glad to see where they are housed for winter. I imagined an old dark, stone barn from the middle ages perhaps. They do look happy. That is a big barn.

Sue in Suffolk said...

It must be good to have the cows visit for a while and then go home again before the calving with night time checking. A bit like being able to hand back grandchildren when they start crying!!

Librarian said...

Like jinxxxygirl in her comment said, seeing the black and white cows I thought of Holsteins, too. But I know next to nothing about cows, only that I really like them. They are kind animals and much smarter probably than most people think, but I wouldn't mess with them when they think I am dangerous or simply annoying!
Do you go visiting them at their "hotel" regularly?

angryparsnip said...

I love when "The Ladies" come for Tea !
Bravo to the chickens for moving in and taking over.

cheers, parsnip

The Weaver of Grass said...

Librarian - they are indeed Holsteins but for one reason or another they are not needed to breed keeping the pure Holstein line - maybe a bit old, or have some feature which is not good - or often they are getting on in years and this will be their last calf. As for being dangerous - any cow with a calf at foot should be avoided - they are often much more dangerous than bulls.

As to a friendly Aberdeen Angus bull - they are notoriously a quiet breed and this chap is lovely.
And they have all been dairy ladies in the past, but their milking days are coming to an end.

Joanne Noragon said...

They do look pleased.

Fairtrader said...

I always loved cows, these are just like the ones we have most of in Sweden. As a child I had the great chance to attend at births, helping out with little buts getting stuck. The smell of content cows enjoying their hay and melasses is a treat. These ladies must be very welcome indeed, I envy you really!! Next to our village we have a smaller stock of charolais, they are cute!! Please give my most warmhearted greetings to them, if you please Pat!! Once I had a cow named after me...yes, it's true!

GillyK said...

Glad you included a picture as you didn't actually say they were cows! I wondered if the maternity department at the Friarage had moved up the dale.

Gerry Snape said...

I do like that comments are really rather poetic when thinking of the ladies!

The Furry Gnome said...

Nice looking barn!

Anonymous said...

Lovely to see the girls. I miss the cows. So funny about the hens- ours used to lay in our hay barn all the time.

Barbara said...

Nothing quite like a barn full of cows! They look quite content.