Bella and Calf #14 are free!

After witnessing the new young fella suckle madly to the point of giving himself a milk-frothy moustache, we established that he’s thriving and Bella’s udders are working OK. So off into the wild green yonder for the pair of them! Fingers crossed.

Amelia on the mend - but now Bella!?!

Amelia is responding well to the prescribed treatment - antibiotics and iodine/fly cream. But now we have Bella penned up with her - her udder abscess has re-appeared (dormant from last summer) and we need to work hard to get it under control before it potentially affects other teats as she has a calf due any moment.

Still - every setback like this gives us a chance to learn and refine; we’ve already realised we need to gradually move calving to earlier in the year when the flies that spread (cause?) the mastitis are around, and we’ve learned the hard way with Calf #13 to have colostrum ready to go no matter what the apparent condition of cow and new-born. Colostrum is the mammal mum’s first milk which in the case of a calf, it must have within its first 6 hours; it is absorbed through the stomach lining rather than digested and gives the calf essential antibodies and nutrients that protect it from its first contact with the world ex-utero. Miss that 6 hour window, or have it suckle sub-par colostrum, and it is very likely not to make it and succumb to the basic bacteria that otherwise go unnoticed. A life lesson - literally.

Feedback always welcome!

Especially when it’s as follows: “Mmmhh. Them burgers. Bloody lovely. Thank you.”

Hoggets available this weekend

The 9 hoggets (lambs from last year) will be back from the butcher tonight. They are available to buy direct from us (individual cuts or half-packs) or from the Little Gaddesden Village Shop (individual cuts). Perfect for barbecues, as the weather is turning for the better from tonight!

Next steps for Amelia

Meanwhile Amelia’s days as a mum are definitely over and the next days involve a course of antibiotics and a daily attempt at milking to clear the pus. Hardly the best of fun for her or us, but if we don’t she will succumb.

....Gone....

Calf #13 died overnight - sad but fact of life in this business. As the “knacker man” said to Fergus when we lost a calf a couple of year’s ago - “where there’s livestock, there’s dead stock”. Hard but true.

Touch and go...

The calf born on Friday to Amelia is just about hanging in there, suffering from severe “scour” (the runs) and the lack of decent colostrum from his mum. Lots of TLC from Fergus and a visit from the vet - here’s hoping he hangs in there.

Tough decision

Amelia, the face of Hoo’s Herd and former matriarch of the herd, has lost her complete udder to infection. So it’s a case of bottle-feeding the new calf, in the short-term, but we will need to decide what to do with a now redundant Amelia - put her out to pasture literally or figuratively….?

Hoggets - weighing in at....

17.11 kg on average, post-abattoir, pre-butchery. Very pleased with that!

Hoggets - back from the butcher

The hoggets (lambs from last year) are on their way as of this morning, and will be back with us from the butcher at the latest next weekend (29th), maybe before.

​For those of you who pre-ordered a half-pack or certain cuts, Becca or I will make contact once we have the delivery.

Like with the recent beef delivery, we will be supplying the Little Gaddesden Village Shop with a selection of hogget cuts, plus hogget burgers, so if you are local, please support the shop and add lamb/hogget (and beef: they still have stocks in the freezer) to the list of things to buy locally.

​And of course, we at Hoo’s Herd will have stocks of these hoggets (as well as certain cuts of beef in the freezer) for anyone who makes contact directly

Hoggets!

We’ll have a stock of last year’s lambs (known as mature lambs or hoggets once they have passes 12 months of age, not yet mutton until aged 24 months) ready from the butcher at the end of the month; some for the village shop, some for any of you who fancy a half pack (butterflied legs, whole shoulders, burgers, chops) for summer cooking. A friend is even having one or two for a big party - done whole over a charcoal pit, yum!

Anyone interested?

Matthew, Becca and Fergus

Is there grass in that milk (or meat)?

hoos-news:

I read the following article with interest earlier today - certainly thought-provoking!

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1938283/is_there_grass_in_that_milk.html

Radio 2 appearance (well - almost!)

Nigel Barden featured our meat (onglet and fillet) on his Simon Mayo Drivetime slot the other week. See the details etc here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sd15n

It was great to be name-checked but even better was the recipe he used - I was lucky enough to taste the leftovers from the programme, bizarrely whilst on a London Midland train home from London with Nigel himself. Definitely worth doing, very tasty!

Sustainable farming

This is an interesting article, in my humble opinion: http://bit.ly/12V5cFh

It’s a direction I think Hoo’s Herd is heading in. At least worth a try - if we can’t, given the relative freedom to experiment and decent resources at our disposal, then why should anyone else bother?

More on this theme to come.

Fresh Beef (update)

A big thanks to all who bought some of our latest meat, whether through the village shop or direct from us. The burgers were a particular hit! We have plenty of cuts still available - more details to follow.