Vegas Nini

Despite probably being a strange name for a calf, “Vegas Nini” it is. The “Nini” is short for Janine and comes from my friend Janine Pierce who came up with the name. As it happens, it was one of my favourite names, so I am quite chuffed about it...it was the clear favourite by a long way. The final scores were as follows:

Vegas  - 22 votes

Vivian – 7 votes

Vivaldi – 4 votes

Vulcan – 1 vote

Valhala – 1 vote

Valutus – 0 votes

Other news...well, there isn’t much. We continue to spread the odd bit of muck around and take the heads of thistles and weeds with the topper (mower) before they start seeding. Beyond that, its all about having a good “trim” in general and making sure the hedgerows aren’t encroaching on the fields too much. (My innuendo alarm is ringing at this point – I’m sure there’s something I could say here!?!). Repairs are also key, and I am setting about maintaining all of the feeding racks in the yards in time for winter.

Apart from making sure we spread every conceivable piece of cowsh*t over the fields, the next major project will be that of re-seeding our largest silage field, “Peans”. This is a total of about 17 acres, which is quite big and scary when you consider the cost of a protein-rich rye grass seed mix plus the time and effort. We’ll do this the old fashioned way and churn up the ground a bit with the chain harrow and then spread the seed with an old fertiliser spreader - then give it a light roll afterwards. Frankly, we just don’t have the means to do it any other way in terms of equipment or cash!

Whilst I am reluctant to change things too much on the farm there are a few tweaks I have made. The old man had, in general, done things very efficiently over the years, however with the focus on generating a reputation for excellent beef I have decided to neuter all of our male calves in order to naturally produce a larger carcass almost wholly on grass, over a longer period of time. This approach should produce more flavour and reduce input costs in terms of supplementing feed with a cereal mix, (bloody expensive right now!). In addition, it is more ethical and essentially allows the animals to feed on their natural diet. Leaving them until they are at least 20 months means our cashflow will be under pressure, but once we catch our tail up it means all animals will be sold for beef at an older age with the improved eating traits that go along with this.

Finally, because I know how much of you like photos, here’s some photos of the chicks in their new des-res, oh, and of course my cock!

Name That Calf...

I woke up in a hotel room, confused and in Wiltshire on Saturday morning. I’d booked a hotel for Katie and I in the historic little village of Lacock. We arrived late afternoon on Friday after spending most of the day on the M25 and went for a stroll around the local pubs and had dinner and too much vino before tripping up the creaking 700 year old stairs to bed...thus waking up a bit hungover and not quite sure of where I was.

Lacock is a beautiful spot not far from Stonehenge and quite near the Somerset border. Its sometimes difficult to see evidence of being in the 21st Century when your in one of the old streets; stone walls and roofs and beams everywhere. I highly recommend staying in The Sign of The Angel http://www.lacock.co.uk/ where the rooms, welcome and food are all excellent. I’m not saying this for any commercial reasons and they don’t even know I’m giving them a mention here, it just happened to be a faultless stay and the food was fantastic - just a good tip for anybody wanting a romantic getaway. The beer around there is good too as Wadsworth Brewery in Devizes is only 9 miles away.

Anyway, I thought I’d phone my mother and check on the farm on Saturday morning and lo and behold our final calf (male) had just been born. The mother, Louise, was aware I was going away and clearly chose to give birth while I wasn’t around as a form of revenge for me telling her to bloody hurry up the week before and calling her a fat old knacker! Clever things cows.

So, we have a calf to name. Or YOU do, as I am inviting suggestions for names which must begin with the letter “V”. We go through the alphabet by year, like car number plates used to be in the days before Chavs and ASBOS and when kids were taught to spell and string a sentence together in schools which weren’t afraid to exercise a modicum of discipline and before corruption, left-wing idealism and bureaucracy hadn’t destroyed everything that was once good about Britain. (By the way, I refuse to accept accusations that this blog is anything other than a farming blog – I just digress occasionally).

This year all calves therefore need to be V reg as such. We have already had 8 bull calves this year and so the following names have already been taken, so don’t suggest any of these:

Vincent, Vladimir, Vesuvius, Vaughn, Vernon, Viognier, Velasquez and Valkyrie

Other than the above, feel free to attach your names to the blog. All serious suggestions will be considered (no Va-Va-Vooms or Viagras please) and I’ll choose the winner on or about the 15^th of August. The winner will also get their own name as the second name as in “Verbose Jeremy” for example.

Here’s a picture of the little chap!