Friday 22 April 2011

Are our Cows on Grass - or on Grass?

Last year we made a video of our dairy cows going back out to grass after a winter indoors. It became the most popular of all the videos that we have put on Youtube. When I started telling friends that we were nearing that time of year again, Inga said ‘You must let people come and see this'.

Great idea, but David just scowled at me. Nothing in the farming calendar is totally fixed. What if we advertise it for a specific date and it rains? So we ended up doing it at very short notice. We checked the weather forecasts and decided on Wed 20th at 8.30am but only advertised it 2 days earlier.

When Helen and I met up first thing on Wednesday, she told me the story she’d heard the night before from another farmer - when they had let their cows out last year, one of their cows had died of a heart attack with all the sudden exertion. A moment of panic, what if lots of people turned up and a cow died – not good PR!

Amazingly over 30 people came. Lots of well kent faces at Cream o’ Galloway, as well as one family who had visited for the first time the day before when they had joined us on the Farm Tour. They enjoyed it so much, they decided to get up early to see the cows.


The cows did not disappoint. They bucked and reared. They roared and rolled. The weather was fantastic, in fact Helen and I couldn’t see what we were filming because of the reflection from the sun (how dare it).

I walked further up the field to get a wide shot of them all playing – and then I saw number 38. She was lying on her side, legs in the air - motionless, head flopped to the side. She looked like a Grand National victim. My heart sank, everyone moved up to see what was happening – even the cows. RIP number 38. David went in for a closer look. What a relief, she’d gone down after some over zealous head butting and ended up with her body at the bottom of a hill and her legs facing up the slope and she just couldn’t get herself into a position to get up. Phew. So David pushed her rear end round 180 degrees.  Up she got and frolicked away with the rest of them.  I'm sorry, but we didn't get any of this on camera, Helen and I stopped filming because we really thought she was dead - you can tell we're not professionals.

So David was instantly everyone’s hero (note to self: you’re beginning to sound like a politician's wife). He was even more popular when he announced that an hour earlier a calf had been born and was conveniently in the shed 10 yards away from where we were all standing. So we quietly sneaked in. The calf was gorgeous – still at the stage of trying to find her mother's teat – instinct just tells them to nudge away somewhere in her nether regions until they find a teat.

It was such a treat for us all. Everyone who came got to see the unrehearsed side of farming. And we got so many questions and suggestions, that I’m sure we’ll be coming up with a few new ideas soon.

And in case anyone is wondering, 2 mornings later I invited Inga  for a private viewing. You know what? The cows just stood there; already they are back into lazy cow mode: eat-sleep-milk!

See the highlights on youtube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQadjA7ztrM

Anyone want to join me at 6.00am next weekend to help feed the calves?  No I thought not.

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