consuming task, they can be extremely
stubborn, digging their hooves in and
refusing to budge not matter how you push
or pull. Bribery has worked in the past with
milk in a baby’s bottle or food in a small
bucket, anything is worth a try. Once they
have grasped it you are away but amazingly
all the training can go out the window at the
show; ask Bradley Bennett from Bighton,
having shown my calves for the last two
years at Alresford show he has experience
of this very thing. The calves going for Alton
still need to grasp the walking bit, this should
be fun!
The older animals I find easier to train,
although extremely strong. I begin with
pampering them in the crush while feeding,
progressing to just being tied up and when
they are totally relaxed, start to walk them on
a halter. A nose clip is vital; basically it is the
brakes, without which you have no control.
They also have to get used to a bath and
walking in and out of the trailer, this progress
takes several months.
‘Showboy’ is a 15 month old Charolais X
steer; within a few days of his birth the show
potential was obvious, he was left to grow
naturally with his Belgium Blue mother and
haltered training began at eight months old,
this is his first show.
‘Harper’, an 18 month old Charolais X heifer,
was taken to Alresford Show last year and
was brilliant, so it’s just a matter of getting
her back into practice.
‘Yogi’, a 15 months Charolais X steer has a
way to go with training so unfortunately is
not ready for Alton.
When is a gander not a gander? When he
turns out to be a goose, strange you say,
well, yes it was. A trio of geese have been
living quite happily at the farm for a few
years, never successfully hatching any eggs
but last year, after hubby said ‘That gander
has to be replaced’, the next day two eggs
hatched, a lovely surprise and the gander
was reprieved. The trio were extremely
protective over their goslings, having waited
so long, and reared them very well until they
matured. The gander began attacking one of
the goslings and it became so extreme that
he (so we thought,) was brought home to
live with the ducks and settled in well. MidApril, Harriet came in from feeding the
poultry and said ‘What egg is this from; it
looks too big to be a duck egg?’ Poor duck if
it was! It was a goose egg and ‘he’ turned
out to be a she. She is currently producing
an egg a day and very tasty they are too but
you can only eat so many eggs!
June ended much like it started, with the sixth
calf born during this month which required
three of us to assist. Luckily it was during the
day; it was an extremely difficult calving but
thankfully both cow and calf survived the
ordeal, the superb bull calf was exceptionally
big and heavy and is struggling to stand and
suckle on his own, so yet another job, to milk
out the cow twice daily and bottle feed him.
Thankfully he is happy to suckle from the
bottle and hopefully will be suckling from his
mum in a day or so. Just as well the hot air
balloon landed in the field after, not during
the event, phew.
A new litter of piglets also arrived, overnight
of course! The sparrows, blackbirds and dare
I say pigeon have hatched their eggs filling
the barns with their chatter and constant
feeding of their young. Between all the rainy
days, half the silage is now baled and stored
when the sun allows and with three days to
the show I’m busy, busy, busy. So fingers
crossed for the show and some BBQ
weather!
Sarah Jackson
[email protected]
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