Couldn’t find Bruno the calf today- obviously I should have checked the chicken house first instead of the cow shed 🙄🐮

That’s the girls home for winter & split into groups - a job that would have been easier if some kind soul hadn’t pinched our sheep gear earlier this week! 🐑 The girls are loving the lush grass! 🌱🌱 Hugely hectic time of year as we prepare everything for winter and start moving stock to their winter quarters!

The girls have all had a final health check this weekend in the run up to meeting their male suitors 🐑 ‘Teddy’ reckons her perm is just about perfect and will have the boys running to her!

This is 7 week old bull calf Tyson, his mother Erica, and his dad Everett. His dads a fine looking chap isn’t he? It’s been fantastic watching how many local people have paused to enjoy our cow family recently 🐮🐮 But unfortunately, Erica and her female friends existence is threatened. Every time a dog uses her home as a toilet it increases the risk that she’ll catch neospora. Neospora is a parasite that is excreted by dogs, then ingested by cattle. If Erica catches neospora, she will abort Tyson’s sibling. She will also be infected for life and be unable to carry any other calf to full term. Erica will carry neospora for life and become an unviable cow, as could her female friends who are equally under threat. Which also results in there being no purpose for Everett here. So, local people who have paused to enjoy our black beauties of Bankhouse - if you see a dog in a field, PLEASE tell the owner of the danger dogs pose to cattle. Dogs using our hay fields as a toilet poses an equal risk to the girls. Enjoy your walks, enjoy the green space & please ‘pick it up’ and share this information - Erica’s family depend on it! 🐮🐶

Hectic couple of days with cheeky little escapee pigs who decided to help themselves to the potato patch then tease and torment Bruno the calf, followed by a day out buying new sheep today 🐷🐮🐑 Nice end to a busy week!

🐝🐝 our bees have been busy and we have 8oz jars of raw honey for sale! 🐝🐝 Please order quickly - we always sell out fast!

Peaceful weekend? Ha! We very, very rarely get the opportunity for an evening out with keeping all the animals. This weekend however, such evening was planned. All animals fed slightly ahead of schedule, and there I am, in the bath trying to scrub away the evidence of pig keeping when my phone begins to ring persistently. The sheep had also clearly decided they felt like a wild Friday night, and had escaped their fields, taken off down the road, and were causing chaos outside the local pub (whether they'd had a drink or not was debatable)! 🐑🍺🍷Said bath was rapidly abandoned to escort the wayward sheep home, in the downpour of rain, ruining my nice freshly washed hair. Cheers sheep! 🙄 Revenge was gained today by naming and shaming them on the scales before a good dose of annual medicine 😝

Frisky Friday in the cow fields today as our ladies met their new (enormous) husband! 🐮🐮 One of our 'seasoned professional' sows also produced a great litter this morning 🐷🐷 Bruno the calf we're hand rearing isn't very well this past couple of days so please send him get well soon vibes!! 🐮🤕

Busy few days buying & selling sheep ahead of the breeding season - hopefully the ewes will approve of our choices of potential male suitors! 🐑🐑 Some of the older sows have also had their babies with good sized healthy litters 🐷🐷

Pigs CAN fly!! 🐖🐷 Or Beryl can anyway.... Calving all successfully finished now- had some cracking calves who are all thriving, & now on the countdown for the next litters of pigs being born. No rest for the wicked! 🐮

Ike the Duroc boar has joined us today after a busy summer in show rings all over the UK as part of an award winning herd, & Bruno the calf who we're hand rearing has been playing in the sunshine showing us his new moves! 🐷🐮

Our oldest cow kindly had a lovely heifer calf during daylight hours - graphic video! 🐮🐮