It's been looking very Alpine here for the last week, with a few inches of snow sticking around for over seven days. We have been supplying the sheep with additional feed out in the fields, to see them through the snowy spell. When the temperatures didn't get above zero for a week, there were additional jobs like de-frosting frozen pipes in the shed, to keep water flowing to the dozen or so cattle that remain inside and freeing up water troughs.
We now have around 30 Blue Grey cattle and 40 Belted Galloways grazing the farmland. Blue Greys are a crossbreed of two other native breeds - a Black Galloway cow and a White Shorthorn bull. They are typically hardy and slow-growing, producing high-quality beef, and can cope with the cold snaps of weather.
The sheep should hopefully all be in lamb. We now keep them well-fed and in good health in the build-up to lambing time. In mid-February the sheep will be pregnancy scanned and then sorted into groups based on how many lambs they're going to have and the condition they're in. The twins and triplets (hopefully not too many triplets due) will be topped up with organic sheep feed, made from cereals, every day for six weeks, right up until lambing.
Work is underway on our new wood-pasture agri-environment scheme. 4,000 trees will be planted throughout the scheme, which is a huge project and an exciting moment in Matson Ground's journey. Tree guards and fencings are being built on School Knott and Grandsire, in advance of the tree planting. You can read more about this project here.
We have a new member of the farm team joining us next month so there'll be lots to update you on in the Spring blog.
Pete
