New Tup

After many years using Suffolk Tups this year a Texel is being tried!
One of the older Suffolks died suddenly at Spring and there are usually two needed.
It was a little worrying they might fight but have been reasonably friendly monitored in the yard so far.

First lambs

Always nice to see the first set doing well outside. Weather looks reasonably fine if chilly for the first week or so, and there is ample grass after the warmish spell in late February

New camera to play with

Having been consistently disappointed with the GoPro Hero4 results, I wondered about updating to the much improved Hero7 - but instead went for a Sony X3000 which is a similar price as a grey import. This has optical stabilisation and a mic input. Results are much better but audio is still a struggle, onboard microphones are actually quite good but noisy environments don't suit it.

Hay Bales near Riddings

These fields haven't been grazed partly due to no water available, but the best bits - unusually - were made into quite decent hay late July. Most of the area is too risky to cut due to numerous large boulders and steep bumpy ground.

Cows in cleared hay fields

Making hay was as easy as can be this year but number of bales was down - perhaps not so bad as feared though. However regrowth was very poor until thundery showers arrived in the second half of July.~

Spring rolling

Late turn out

They usually go out at the end of April but start of May is not that unusual.
In 2012 it was about the 10th due to being very wet.
This year still not much grass but it has suddenly turned much warmer so that will soon change.

Malton Cattle sale

This is a suckler calf sale combined with normal store cattle on Friday - lots in there so outdoor pens in use.
They are still hoping to move to a new out of town site near Eden Camp.
But that has been "about to happen" since 2013 when the lease ran out for present site.
The problem is that with likely closure in a matter of months no significant repair and maintenance is being done unless essential.

More lambs to Ruswarp

Hedgecutting with Zetor

The last 2 or 3 years the hedgecutter has been put on the loader tractor - which is not ideal but the main tractor needs to be on the bedding machine every other day, and fitting the hedgecutter takes most of an hour, so need to stay on until job is done. It has been altogether too wet for some fields, and one section never did get done. It's supposed to be finished by 1st March but this rule ought to have some flexibility as n birds were nesting here on 1st March as it was a blizzard at -5 with gale force easterly.

MF135 mudguards

These have been about dropping off for a couple of years, the footplates were dangerously rusty too so finally got them done last Month.

First 2018 lamb run

These were gathered Sunday and the ones not selected were wormed.
They were a bit damp and didn't dry as well as expected inside overnight, but another 14 away so less to feed.
This winter for first time ever there is no barley so they are getting finisher pellets and sugar beet pellets about 50-50

Did consider buying 10t of barley but do wonder how important it is and they seem to be doing OK without though they are getting 2x the amount of pellets I would have been mixing in (with barley) anyway.

At home weaned calves miss it more but they are getting silage bales rather than hay and seem to be doing OK

Malton to the moors

A sort of vlog returning from Malton last week with pickup and trailer

Tree stump removal

This Ash tree was planted about 1980 and has been coppiced at least three times - and needed doing again- but the adjacent makeshift barrier of sleepers and heavy tin sheets was put up in the early 1970s and way past its best.
So unfortunately the tree needed o go to allow proper foundations for a new block wall..
This needs to be substantial, as it forms part of cattle yard boundary and is on the way to the handling race area so cattle can be inclined to try anything to avoid going down there if so minded.

My own mini-digger cut through a lot of the roots but could not move it so this JCB was borrowed for a couple of hours.

Wool collection day

This is the annual central pick up point - it goes of to Bradford I think. Usually some time in October, it was a stormy day but we were lucky it was dry for a couple of hours.

Dumper rebuilding project

This seemed to come about in a very haphazard way with an attempt to stop fuel and oil leaks accidentally immobilising it - then leading to a full engine rebuild which took several weeks with various parts sent away for refurbishment!
The result is a machine almost good as new and it has started immediately with very little smoke since this first firing up.

It was registered in 1986/87 and will have had quite a hard life.
Basically a simple robust machine which should be good for another 30 years with care.

Loading muck after second cut

This pile was built up through last winter, but it's largely silage waste from ring feeders now well rotted down.

Quad follows quad

Or: How to confuse your dog.

Miliking Parlour roof update

Progress has been quite slow with slating as it's not a job for frosty damp or windy days and roof is more or less weatherproof so no rush.
LED 'fluorescent' lights were installed yesterday and they are quite impressive - brighter than comparable size old type and come on instantly.
Not qute sure how reliability will be long term at this stage.
It sounds like some people have had about 10% fail in the first few weeks then remaining units seem OK.




(new) Mavic Pro aerial shots.

Slightly snowy ruswarp run

It was Ruswarp Market's second suckler sale and three bullocks were booked in.
It was quite concerning to see things pretty white at dawn but it tended to thaw even by 9am roads were mainly clear - though it continued to settle higher up.

Once before one of their sales was badly affected and a lot of cattle could not get there.