Buttercup is home

From L to R Guinevere, Primrose, Buttercup and Daisy

This week Buttercup returned home after spending the last year over at Pendeen running with Gerald Babcocks Whitebred Shorthorn bull, Spoutbank Major. And yes she is pregnant!  She is expecting her first calf  at the end of September or early October. You may all remember that Buttercup and Daisy were my first two Whitebred Shorthorns, ( Daisy had her calf Snowdrop this February), so spent their early days together. So for the next week or two there will be four cows in the field above Trenow Cove. After that time Guinevere, ( the heifer who took the brunt of the recent dog attack )and Primrose will go to Pendeen for summer grazing and an interactive holiday with Major!

The piglets and the sows

Its soon time for the piglets to move on to new homes as they are comming upto 8 weeks of age. So I have placed an ad. in the local paper. The youngest sow Betty will also need to find a new home, perhaps she will go with one or two of the piglets. The alternatives are to keep her and breed from her, this is not ideal as I dont have the space. Or sausages, which would be a shame when relatively young. Cilla on the other hand is well past breeding age and she will make wonderful sausages. So once all the littleuns have gone, then she's off to Olds at St Just. So for any of you who have not tried Perran Pork why not go for some sausages? There will be plenty to go round, the last time I  converted a whole pig into sausages it was the volume of 2 dustbins. Orders from a couple of pounds to a carrier bag full equally excepted, just let me know.

Cow Attack update

The cows are making steady improvements, the last veterinary check coincided with the annual TB test ( thankfully that was all clear). Guinevere has lost a bit of her face after the stitches were taken out, but can still eat well. The lacerations on Daisy and Primrose have now healed, and Daisy's milk yield is back to normal. There does seem to be a rumour going round locally that the wrong dog was shot. Nonsense! the black dog attacked first and there are credible witnesses to this The second dog was attacking when I came upon the sorry scene, with the black dog going in for a second time. Penzance CID have the matter in hand and it will be going to court

Blog

Hello everyone. I have started a blog so that everyone will know what is happening on Karen's Farm. (That in itself is a "tongue in cheek" Perranuthnoe version to Adams Farm as per BBC Countryfile.)

The pigs in Apple Tree Field are doing well and are now all sold. They will remain there, (unless they escape) until about August when they become food, having had a good life doing what pigs like to do. I am fine with people giving them fruit & veg scraps.

Going down the lane on the other side is Garden Field. This used to have chickens in it but has now been reseeded for the Christmas geese to eat. For 28 days in the summer holidays I will also use this field for camping.

Next field down I call the Bees Field. This had 4 working hives and 2 empty ones. Its the time of year when the hives get opened up to check what the queen is upto. If i had a chrystal ball I would have done it in March when we had the hot weather. April has proved a bit too cold for me to do it at the moment.. If i can find a way to do it I want to make this field fox proof so I can have chickens in there.

The next field is Little Barn Field. This is where the two sows are with their piglets. These were taken on after someone was banned from keeping animals for 10 years. The sows are Lage Blacks a rare breed mostly found in Cornwall. Cilla ( Black) is 8yrs old with 4 piglets and (Black ) Betty is 4yrs with 7 piglets. When the pigs are a bit older they will go to new homes.

Lastly I come to three bigger fields that I will use for the cows. Two fields have the Churchway Footpath in them Higher Carn and Lower Carn. The third is where the cows currently reside- Swallows Barn Field. The cows - Whitebred Shorthorns, have received a lot of publicity recently because of the savage attack on them by 2 pit bull type dogs. One dog was shot and the second has been seized by the police as it is reported to be a Rhodesian Ridgeback crossed with a Pitbull. I CID have gathered all but one statement and it will be going to court.The good news is that they are on the mend. Guinevere, despite having many stitches lost part of her upper lip, but she can eat and will now look like she has a hair lip. In the next few weeks she and Primrose will go back to Pendeen for summer grazing on the moors and in time run with the bull over there. In return I will get Buttercup back and she is due to calve in September or early October. I just need to find some more finances to kit out my dairy and get a pasteuriser and then I can do butter and other dairy products.

Lastly in the garden I have 2 more bee hives and a pen where I am bringing on 12 goslings. The goslings will be 2 weeks old this weekend. Once they have their white feathers I will be walking them up the lane to graze and back home again in the evening.

More info when I have more news. Karen