Fun on the Farm!
Friday, August 12th 2011
It had been decided to move the four Belted Galloways from the wetland to the moorland. However, on arrival at the moor, Keith thought that Sophie had moved them already and Sophie assumed that Keith had moved them earlier as they were already on the new pasture looking very content! We are often asked about these cattle as they are new to the reserve (loaned by our local farmer Keith). They will graze on the moorland for the next few weeks to help improve this habitat. They are only around fifteen months old and extremeley curious but quite placid. There are three heifers and one bullock. You can tell the male apart from the females at a glance as he is much stockier in build and has a wider white belt (this just happens to be the way his markings turned out and not all males are like this)! You can see this in the photo below where the male is on the left. It might be useful to remember this for the Christmas quiz!
To ensure that the cattle are kept safely on our land Keith advised that a top strand of barbed wire would be useful. Unravelling 600m of barbed wire on a wet moor was not what volunteer Tony had imagined he would be doing when he arrived at the Field Centre this morning but he took up the challenge without complaining!
Even when the fence went through thick Gorse!
Keith very kindly offered to stay and help and explained the 'ins and outs' of straining wire.
Thanks to Keith and Tony for grafting away in the rain to help benefit the reserve and thank you to Keith for letting us borrow his beautiful cattle. If you visit the reserve over the next few weeks please be sure to close all gates on the moor (including all of the ones on the bridges as the timber isn't strong enough to take our furry friends). If anyone is feeling left out the other half of the fence will be to finish off next week, don't all rush at once!
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Tony Cooper responded on 12th Aug 2011 with...
The belted galloways were very interested in what we were doing. Unfortunately there will be a lot of path clearing required as they seemed to favour those areas for depositing their unwanted packages!
Keith was very helpful and keen to show us the techniques involved. Whether we’ll be able to replicate them without his expertise is another matter.
The hot shower I took when I got home was very welcome and soothing!