The clocks have changed and with it our daily timetable.

There is no less work to do but with less daylight hours the pressure to get tasks done gets a little more intense and the recent wet weather leaving mud baths just makes everything a little more challenging. 

Recently we have had a shift of emphasis in the calves that we have been sourcing. We have an informal arrangement with a local farmer to produce approximately 20 Aberdeen Angus calves a month which he takes on himself to finish for the beef trade.

Previously we had been producing a mixture of ‘beef type’ breeds and sexes for this purpose but our buyer was finding that the cattle were all finishing at different stages causing housing problems for him. Aberdeen Angus are a premium breed so we are anxious that there not too many price rises in the market. 

The turkeys continue to grow as we approach Christmas. We have a mixture of Norfolk Black and Bronze (the name refers to the Bronze like sheen on their plumage) turkeys - which are two of the traditional breeds.

Turkeys are known to be a bird incredibly efficient for converting their food to breast meat, and we are firmly of the belief that the Blacks and Bronze birds taste much better than the more modern white breed.

This is because they take twice as long to reach their slaughter weight resulting in them having a more intense flavour and coupled with them being housed in spacious airy barns we are sure a happy turkey is a tastier turkey. One question we are often asked is how big a turkey should be- our guidance would be to allow 1/2lb per person plus a little extra if you like leftovers for Boxing Day!

Please do contact us if you have not yet organised your Christmas dinner.

Log trade continues to be very busy and taking up every spare minute with both the processing on farm and delivering across the county. I find myself continuously looking for that elusive ‘down time’ and so perhaps being out on the road in the truck can be considered to be that at the moment as it certainly feels that we are continuously changing from one job to another at the farm!

Finally Hog Roasts are always quite seasonal and it’s reasonably quiet at the moment relative to the summer, but looking ahead we are booked in to Christmas Yuletide festivities at Blandford, Castle Cary and Trowbridge in December so I think I’d best get my Christmas shopping organised soon before I get lost in the Christmas cheer!