We brought the cows back to the main holding yesterday. This usually means an early start to avoid there being too many vehicles on the road. Traffic obviously wasn’t so much of an issue this time around and we had them home by lunchtime rather than before breakfast. We have never yet had any serious mishaps, but with herding livestock on a public highway this is always a very real possibility. We always breathe a sigh of a relief when they are back ‘home’ again.
Although the fields are greening up nicely, the cattle are back to bale grazing. We have a few more to use up and it is good to return the fertility to the soil.
We also have some new arrivals to the holding – a pair of Middle White weaners, on temporary loan. The pigs have moved into the cow shed, where the cows spent the winter, and are they are busy turning the deep litter bed. They enjoy rooting and digging, and as they do so they speed up the decomposition of the muck. This means that it will be more easily incorporated back into the soil once it is spread after haymaking. Using piggy power rather than our rather elderly, diesel guzzling, John Deere is much better for the environment and much more entertaining to watch.
