Autumn Newsletter
Looking back on previous newsletters we always seem to dwell on the weather. The start of this newsletter is not going to be any different!
Harvest normally gets underway near the end of July – harvest 2008 didn’t start until we were in August and seemed to be an ‘on-off affair’ until eventually the combine finished cutting wheat near the end of September which is two to three weeks later than normal.
Combining is only part of the harvest - only half our acreage of oilseed rape was sown, we didn’t manage to get any winter barley sown at all, and we have just finished sowing the last field of winter wheat this week, which is about three weeks later than we would like to have had it sown by.
Trying to make silage as a winter feed for the cows seemed to be a fraught affair too but again we got there in the end.
The calves that were born in the spring are all inside having been weaned from their mothers and some of the cows are back outside again on their winter rations of kale and straw. The cows have been scanned to identify whether they were in calf or not.
The rams have been with all our ewes for about two weeks now –we will lamb about 350 sheep in the spring, which is slightly more than 2008. To be able to provide new season lamb earlier than the beginning of June, we put 50 sheep to the ram three weeks earlier than normal. These sheep should lamb at the end of February – these lambs will be available in the middle of May hopefully. We started to supply our ‘tasty Texel lamb’ through Blacketyside Farm Shop at Leven in June which is a different outlet for us.
Some of you may be Radio 4 listeners and perhaps tuned into the Food Programme one Sunday and Monday in October. Dalachy Beef became involved in the Fife Food Diet, the brainchild of Mike Small, as a local producer supplying beef and lamb. We were surprised how many of our customers were Radio 4 listener’s after speaking to them at Kirkcaldy Farmers Market!!!
As mentioned in the summer newsletter, Colin took Lerica to the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston at the end of June. She was shown in a class of about 16 and got a Highly Commended prize ticket which we were all delighted about.
You may have noticed that we are now Dalachy Beef and Lamb - so we have now included some winter-warmer lamb recipes in our seasonal recipe page!
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