Just Visiting ..........?

Whether you have just stumbled upon this site or have searched for it, PLEASE stop by again or better still go to the bottom of the page and click SUBSCIBE.
Either way , I would welcome ANY comments.

Scrubs - The Polyphonic Spree - Light and Day.

This combines 2 of my fav things .....scrubs and the Polyphonic Spree. So why not !!!

Colin Hay - Down Under

I saw Colin play this in Edinburgh in October 2007. If EVER you can get a chance to see the " man at work " do so !!!!!!

Thoughts for the New Year !

With New Year only a couple of days away it is that time of year to reflect on the past and more importantly look to the year ahead and what lies before me.
In the Chloanne herd it was a reasonable year, with the highlight being the addition of the Ethel family. Hopefully in years to come she will go on to do great things for Chloanne. Milk yields have been great and even Chloanne Magna Gracious had a better lactation this time round.
Looking ahead, the projected calvings for 2008 at Chloanne are ;

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 5/2/08
Chloanne Magna Gracious 5/2/08
Chloanne Spooky Gracious 20/2/08
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel 10/6/08
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 17/6/08
Chloanne Hershel Gracious 11/8/08

Other animals to get in calve to hopefully calve down in 2008 are

Chloanne Webster Gracious
Chloanne Addison Gracious
Chloanne Hanno Gracious
Chloanne Tulip Gracious
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3

So as you can see , there is great potential for this coming year to be the busiest yet. A nice run of heifer calves would be nice and that is top of my New Year wish list.
Happy New Year to all !!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Merry Christmas to everyone and anyone who ever takes the time to read this blog.I promise to try to update it on a more regular basis.
Today is pretty much like most other days on the farm as the cows still need to be milked and fed etc.
The cows don't know any different and their day certainly doesn't change.
The herd are doing well and the Chloanne cows are all performing on track.
Sadly though, I don't think that Moet Formation Gracious will ever get in calf and so she will have to go in the new year. It will be the end of an era as she has been an amazing animal, not just for me, but in the main herd as well. However, looking ahead, there are many Gracious decendants on the groung now and genetically , they should out perform the grand old lady.
Chloanne Hershel Gracious was confirmed in calf the other day so that is good news.
Chloanne Magna Gracious, Chloanne Spooky Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious are all due to calve around the beginning of Feb so that should start to fill the tank with Chloanne milk.
I hope everyone has a great time today and have a Happy New Year !!!!

Busy week, Stressfull weekend.......

Well last week was pretty much the wek from hell. Problems and calamitys just kept lining up to challenge me .
Chloanne Addison Gracious decided to calve on Thursday morning . Not only was she rude enough to give me a bull calf , but then she decided to lie down and get bloat. By the time I was there she was massive and I had to call for help just to get her up and have a bloody large burp ! Then on Friday it was the herd competition. This went fairly okay except I don't think the judge liked the cow family, the progeny group or the herd in general.
However he did like the cow I put forward, Chloanne Webster Gracious, who I must say was looking like perfection.
So this weekend I have been off .So why does it NEVER feel like that.
This time I get a phone call at 7.45 to tell me of a cow that is lying flat out having just had a dead calf.When I go to investigate , I find ANOTHER cow down with milk fever and she has not calved. In the process of all this happening , I just happen to ask is Chloanne Addison Gracious is okay, to be told that she is absoulutely fine .
Since the vet is now coming to the other cows later that day, I arrange for the vet to see Gracious. Wrll to cut a long story short, she had a temperature of 106 and was not really a happy bunny.
She is now on antibiotics and is looking much brighter already.
Ah, the joys of the weekend off.!!!!!!!!

BBC NEWS | Business | Supermarkets admit milk price fix

BBC NEWS | Business | Supermarkets admit milk price fix

A Watched Cow Never Calves !

The more I watch Chloanne Addison Gracious, the more she is hell bent on hanging on as long as possible. I am enduring many broken nights of sleep just to keep an eye on her. Chloanne Tulip Gracious has settled into the herd and is really starting to perform rather well.
Sadly I had to "say goodbye" to Frankham Romper Lizzie on Tuesday.I bought her at a sale back in April and I was hopefull of big things from her.
However there must have been a problem with her as she has never managed to get in calf and worse than that , the vet said she never would, so after stiking a deal with the auctioneers and the seller, hopefully I shouldn't be out of pocket when the final cheque arrives.

One down, One to go!

Well at last 303 (Chloanne Tulip Gracious) has calved. She has had a little red Hereford heifer. She is looking amazing and hopefully she will go on to produce the goods in the milking parlour as well.
Chloanne Addison Gracious has been looking on with interest and she won't be far away from calving her self.
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel was diagnosed as being pregnant again so she will calve round about July next year.
So all in all it's a busy old time and hopefully all the calvings to come will be successful ones.
Next year it is our pleasure to be hosting the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual barbeque as well as the final stock judging of the season. This will take place on the 11th May.
Also I am about to take up the role of vice-chairman for the next 2 years so I am really looking forward to that, and then chairman after that !!!!
It is going to be our annual herd competition in 2 weeks time . This will be a scaled down version of the one that was cancelled due to foot and mouth in the summer.
Hopefully I will be able to find something worthy of showing.Fingers crossed !!!!

Busy week @ Chloanne

Once again I am in a waiting game for the arrival of the next Chloanne calf. This time it is Chloanne Addison Gracious who is due to calve tomorrow.She is shaping up well so fingers crossed it will be a nice little heifer calf.
Also due tomorrow is Chloanne Tulip Gracious (whose mother is Chloanne Addison Gracious).
She is carrying a Hereford pregnancy as she was running with the bull.
This week I also found out that Chloanne Spooky Gracious is about 7 months pregnant.
This is fantastic news as she was just about to be entered for gouing away fat as we all thought that she had never managed to get in calf.So hopefully she will calve down just about the same time as Chloanne Magna Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious.
However, all is not well with the original cow @ chloanne.
I have struggled for months to get her in calve and have failed every time .
I AI'd her again today just for old times sake , but deep down I know that she will never really get in calve again so she will probably have to go in the spring.

Ooooops !!!! Sorry for the delay . . .

Apologies for it being over a month since the last posting. I have no excuses what so ever . Work has been very hectic and when i have been logged onto the computer lately , I have been busy doing other stuff.
The cows are now inside for the winter so that in it's self makes my job slightly easier although it does bring with it , different problems.
Of course, they all need to be fed every day and their pens have to be kept clean too. This is all time consuming and it will be like this until they go out in early May.
the young stock are all still out and hopefully if the weather is kind, they can stay out another 2 weeks.
It is fair to say that the cows have milked better and we are really at a loss as to what else we can do for them to get the high yields that we know we can get.
What we really need is some fresh calved cows into the herd....that should do the trick !!!
All the media has been focusing lately on the increased milk price to be paid the the UK farmers for their milk, with stories of 26p - 30p being quoted.
Well, sadly these do seem to be just wishful thinking as , so far, even 25p hasn't been forthcoming yet.
Unfortunately, also, the media are neglecting to mention the small matters of increased production costs due to higher fuel costs, fertiliser now around £175/tonne, feed prices nearly doubling and labour costs soaring. So , in reality, whilst the milk price increase is a welcome one,the bulk of the benefit is eaten up on the increased production costs.

Twins

Well, at 4pm this afternoon, Chloanne Webster Gracious had a set of twins. They are both bulls, but they are perfectly healthy and she is as bright as ever. I called the vet as when i went to investigate her, there was 2 heads and 3 feet all trying to get out at once. Anyway, she will now join the main herd again and at least she will be providing an income again.
The herd are still out through the day and the weather has just been great. The milk is holding steady.
We are still awash with little calves due to movement restrictions still being in place. We are just having to make the best of it and at least it's not the middle of winter as we just would not have the space.Hopefully the matter will be resolved fairly soon and we will get animals moving again.

Feeding The Girls

As I am writing this , the rain is lashing down and the cows are pacing up and down the fields for the last few pieces of grass. Their ration in the shed has increased greatly and they are now eating in excess of 3.2 tonnes of silage inbetween milkings. In with this they are getting barley, soya, straw and minerals. Before too long the cows will be in at nights and just out for a couple of hours through the day. It is always nice to see them are snug and warm in their cubicles which will be home for the next 180 days.
The youngstock will stay out as late as possible and they will get to graze any of the cow fields that still have a bit of grass on.
On the animal front, we still have a large backlog of calves to sell. this is due to the movement ban still being in force but this is supposed to be eased tomorrow. However, any buyer will be subject to a 20 movement ban at their own steading if they take any animals on, so I don't think many calves will be going away very fast.

A Stomach and 9 Holes To Fill

With the Dairy Event cancelled, I thought I would still take my 2 days off that I was going to have anyway.I was determined to not think about work too much. My "holiday" started on the Tuesday night with a Chinese buffet. All you can eat for £8.95.
Well this was a challenge waiting to be done , and I think I got WAY MORE than my £8.95's worth. Eating that much food in one sitting is not big and it's not clever.
And just to confirm that fact, the very next day I sat down in Pizza Hut in Newcastle and had an "all you can eat" buffet for £5.95. Well , the pain lasted for days and my meals for the next few days were pretty small.
This has been my weekend off , and I played my first proper 9 holes of golf today.
It's safe to say that my eating skills were far better than my golfing skills.
However , I have learned from today and I now know what to practice when I am next at the range.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A Week of Work, Work, Work.

Since the last post with it's promise of a more regular update I have now left it well over a week. It's been the usual mega busy time with more calves being born. The re-emergence of Foot and Mouth has brought it's own problems as we are now seriously over stocked in the calf unit , with no sign of us getting any sold.
The grass is running out fast in the fields and the 111 cows being milked are now getting 2500kg of silage to supplement their ration.
With all the hectic running about of the last few weeks , a couple of days away would be just the tonic.
Sadly, my proposed trip to the Dairy Event is going to be a non starter as the event has been cancelled due to the FMD.
Chloanne Webster Gracious is now only 2 weeks off calving so she will be the topic of the next few posts.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel has been weaned and her mother, Frankham Sept Storm Ethel has been served already with the bull Heather Holme Velvet.

A Whole Weeks Gone By !!!

I have just noticed that it's been a whole week since I updated this Blog. I have been just so busy at work and when not, I have been updating the old MySpace site !!!!!
We started to feed the cows on some silage last week as the grass in the fields is starting to run out. They are responding fairly well to that and we shall need to be thinking of feeding them some form of concentrate food with it fairly soon.
Calving has been fairly busy.
Last night I had 2 sets of twins and a single. It was starting to look more like a nights lambing rather than a calving. All are well though, even if I am now exhausted.
The next couple of days are to be taken up with leading in wheat straw bales (approx 700 of them !) I think I won't be getting my whole weekend off this time round.
Tomorrow ( 7th) , the foot trimmer is coming in to do some cows feet for us. this is just routine and he comes in twice a year. It is good to keep on top of this job as if their feet are not sound then they won't walk correct, go lame and then not milk !
So it's off to bed early and I'll make a note to myself not to leave this for a week again.

Ginno and Nicky Should Have Known Better

I thought I would just post this video of Ginno Conti (ex Radio Borders presenter) with his new "side-kick". As you can see he has settled into his new job doing the breakfast show on Moray Firth Radio. Well worth a listen.

More East Links Photo's

Reminder !

Remember to check out ;
www.myspace.com/chloanne
www.youtube.com/chloanne

and remember to subscibe to this blog.

Back to Work Tomorrow !!!!!

Well it's now the end of my holidays and the weather has been fairly good. A couple of mornings at the driving range and plenty time with the kids. The "highlight" this week has been a visit today to East Links Country Park , near Dunbar. It really was well worth the visit , as the photo's show.

The main job on the farm for the coming week will be bringing in the barley straw bales that have just been baled today and they will be used for feeding some of the youngstock throughout the winter.

As of the 1st of October we are to be paid 25p per litre for our milk which is LONG over due.

With wheat prices having rocketed to £125-130 / tonne, dairy cake for feeding is due to go up by £35 / tonne on the 1st of September so it is very welcome news.

So it's early to bed as it will be one heck of a shock getting up at 3.30am instead of my lie-in's that I have had for the last few days.

I should mention that I am in the second photo down .

Other photo's will follow !!!

It's Holiday Time !

This week I am officially on holiday. These moments don't come along that often so I fully intend to do as little as possible . My two children will be with me for the week so it will not all be lounging around etc.
Weather has been decidedly dodgey lately and that has held up the spring barley harvest. That is due to start any time now, and the wheat should just follow on.
Cow wise, we have recently had two new familys join the main herd, due to calves that have been born as a result of embryo work.
The two new members are Ellenneff Mascol Belle and Ellenneff Zenith Cadet. Another birth from the embryo programme has resulted in a bull calf being born and this calf has been ear marked to join ABS Genus in their bull selection programme.
So hopefully I can now start to enjoy my holiday !!!!!

Herd Updates

We are now permitted to move cattle around the farm, over roads etc, so we have been sorting out some dry cows to come closer to the steading. Also Chloanne Webster Gracious has been dried off now. Chloanne Hershel Gracious has been comfirmed in calf .
Confirmed pregnancies to date are;
Chloanne Webster Gracious - due 28/9/07
Chloanne Tulip Gracious - due 10/11/07
Chloanne Addison Gracious - due 28/11/07
Chloanne Magna Gracious - due 30/01/08
Chloanne Hershel Gracious - due 04/04/08

CHLOANNE

golf

This was me relaxing at the weekend doing s spot of practice at the driving range!!!!

Quieter Week

With all the country been at a standstill untill today, it has been a fairly quiet week here. We have not been able to move any stock anywhere and the jobs to do are slowly mounting up. I have 3 cows to dry off and no where to put them. Chloanne webster Gracious is among them. She has done extremely well this year.
There are also some dry cows to come up to the steading to calve, but again, they are stuck down in another field unable to be moved. Hopefully by the weekend full movements will be allowed.

MySpace.com - www.myspace.com/chloanne

MySpace.com - www.myspace.com/chloanne
To be re-directed to my MySpace site just click on the link above. Well worth a visit !!!!!!

Herd Competition Update

Due to the foot and mouth outbreak down south, we have decided to postpone the herd competition until everything is back to normal. The fate of the club's annual calf show will be determined nearer the time and if any movement restrictions are lifted

Meet The Gang ..........

Here are a few photo's of the milking portion of the Chloanne herd.

Frankham Sept Storm Ethel

Chloanne Magna Gracious

Chloanne Webster Gracious

Moet Formation Gracious B

Chloanne Addison Gracious

FOOT AND MOUTH OUTBREAK

Defra - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs


Click on the link for up to date information

Busy week so far .......

As you can see from my lack of postings , I have been mega busy at work and even at night I have been busy with paperwork etc. ( And been trolling through videos on YouTube).
We have lead in all the little bales of straw (1100 of them) and also there is some silage bales just been made an hour ago so they will need to come in tomorrow.
On the cow front, they are all in better spirits thanks to the weather and dry ground. Ethel has decided to take a touch of mastitis but she is on the mend.
Next week is the annual herd competition for Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club so this weekend will be hectic getting some cows ready to be judged. I am aiming to enter all classes as usual even although I am somewhat struggling to find a really cracking heifer for the inspection class. The Gracious family will be entered again after coming 1st last year and 3rd the year before that.
Fingers crossed that they can be placed again this year!!!!

A Well Earned Day Out !

After all the sleepless nights awaiting for the calf etc, I thought I would take a well earned walk around Kelso show. Having not been for many years, it was the perfect end to a busy week. Calving in the main herd has carried on with another one just born 10 minutes ago.

Ethel's calf has been registered as Chloanne Dolman Ethel , and I will post his pedigree details when I get them. Here is a photo of my children, Chloe and Jamie, at the show !!!!

And Here's The Proud Mum.

This is Ethel with calf taken just 5 minutes after it was born.

At Long Last ..............!!!!

Well, what a difference 12 hours can make. Ethel has finally calved tonight at 8.45 and it's a little girl. Subject to confirmation, her name will be Chloanne Dolman Ethel.

Busy Week of New Arrivals !

We have had rain every day this week, in varying amounts. Its been a busy old week with about 5 calves born , all doing well. Ethel , however, has STILL not calved although the vet has checked her out and there is no problem with her, so it looks very much like the farmer that I bought her from has got his service dates in a bit of a muddle. So all being well , I shoud be expecting a calf from her on about Sunday. We were milk recording this week and ,as expected, yields were well down on usual. This has been purely down to the weather and the wet conditions. Hopefully things will dry up soon. Moet Formation Gracious is still not in calve yet and I have AI'd her this morning with a bull called Huntsdale Bravo, so fingers crossed that she holds to that service. Chloanne Webster Gracious has only got 2 weeks left of her lactation before she gets dried off. She has milked extremely well again this year and has produced over 1000kg of fat/protien in her lactation which is amazing. I will try to post a photo of her soon.

Wet Weekend !!!!!!!

Not the best of weekends to be milking cows. The exceptionally bad weather is continuing and the "black and white ladies" are more than a little miserable. The best way they know to tell me of their woes is to basically give less milk the following day. So far their little protest is taking effect with yields dropping . This is not good as we are recording this week and this has a knock on effect on their records.Vet visit and a young student too. All a recipe for a disaster ,I'm sure. You will note their has been NO news on Ethel. She will be first in the queue to see the vet as I am now seriously doubting the insemination dates given to me when I bought her.

On-Line Pedigree

On-Line Pedigree

Please click on above link to see full pedigree of Ethel !

Rain,rain and more rain.

Today has just seemed like another of the same. It has either been dull or it's been wet and this has been par for the course for the past few weeks. It can make even the simplest of jobs on the farm a real chore.
We got the silage in last week so at least the cows won't exactly starve through the winter.
Needless to say, Ethel STILL hasn't produced the goods. She is now seriously overdue and that is probably a sign that she is carrying a bull calf. Lets hope I'm wrong !!!
As can be seen from my posts over the last few days, I am mastering the YouTube site and I will try to post items that reflect my relevent tastes in music and humour etc.

Kung Moo Fighting

As you can see, it's not always easy getting milk from cows!

Fit To Burst . . . . . . .!!!

Well, another day and STILL no action. she is looking positively amazing but in all honesty she really should be getting in with the job in hand. I had a rep in this morning and he said she was an awesome heifer that could even be classified VG later on as a heifer. Time will tell on that front. In the mean time , it's really tiresome getting up through the night to check her.

The rest of the gang are milking away in full swing as they are now grazing some of the best grass they will have had all season. We are recording next Mon/Tues so hopefully they can keep the momentum going till then.

Scrubs and Colin Hay

Focus - Sylvia, New Skin Tour

Still Waiting . . . . . . !

Well so much for my last post with the " 24 hours to go" thing. Still no sign of the calf and Ethel is still eating all day.

The rest of the herd are obviously oblivious to the goings on (or not) of Ethel.
The others are;
MOET FORMATION GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE ADDISON GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE WEBSTER GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE HERSHEL GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE MAGNA GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE SPOOKY GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE TULIP GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 2
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 3
CHLOANNE HANNO GRACIOUS
FRANKHAM ROMPER LIZZIE

Photo's of the above animals will appear in later posts.

Formation Gracious is used to all the excitement of having calves as she has now had 7. Hopefully she will go on to have an 8th or even a 9th. More importantly, hopefully she will go on to produce over 100 tonnes of milk in her lifetime which would be a tremendous achievement.

Rear of The Year ,or what?????

Ethel showing her working end to everyone !

This is Ethel ! She is now 8 days over due but as you can see , she is more content on eating than getting on and having her calf.

I would think she will only be another 24 hours before something starts to happen.

Ethels sire is called Pursuit September Storm and her dam is Bricknell Lee Ethel 6.

I bought her this year at a farm sale near Hexham, Northumberland.

The "Leading Ladies" !

With this Blog I will try to put down in words and pictures all the happenings within my little herd of pedigree holstein cattle. I say little as there is only 13 animals in the herd, but all of this has started with one young cow bought way back in 1999. Each cow has it's own "personality" and hopefully through this Blog, everyone can follow all the cows throughout their lives.
At the moment I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new calf. The dam , called Ethel, is now over due. This will be her first calf . About half the rest are pregnant to some degree and they will calve in the next few months. Feel free to post comments / questions !!!