Cows out to Grass, Nightie & Wellies; Not a Good Look, Beasts to Slaughter

This morning the dairy cows went out to grass for the first time and they were so happy! They are early going out this year, normally they do not get to graze fresh grass until about 10th April but with the extremely early spring that we have been having it seemed the right thing to do.
While the cows were out in the fields early this morning & the Farmer & Elder Son were finishing off milking, I was abruptly woken from my slumbers by the telephone ringing. On answering it I heard that Younger Son who was on his way to work had encountered a cow on the lane. I had to let the Farmer know immediately...so in my long white nightie & wellies (!) I dashed outside to pass on the information but there was no sign of either the Farmer or Elder Son. After much calling and ringing of our wonderful bell (which probably woke the entire valley!) I had no alternative but to leap into the 4x4, still in my nightie and tear off down the drive in the hope that I would find the errant bovine and possibly dissuade her from going off on a ramble this fine spring morning. However, I came across the Farmer & Elder Son down at our neighbours fields having just successfully coralled the wandering cow. They were hugely amused at the sight of me in my night attire & gumboots driving to the rescue! At least the neighbours didn't see me !

Yesterday we did our duty & filled in the Census questionnnaire...how dull & boring was that! Can't think of anything else to say about it really, though I suppose it is a good thing that we don't all have to travel back to the place of our birth!

A much more interesting thing yesterday was when the Famer & I took two of our beef animals to a small village on the A40 to to be loaded onto a large cattle lorry to be taken to Shrewsbury for slaughter. We both hate loading the poor beasts into lorries for their final journey and today a lorry is coming to take another batch and again we will do it with unease. However, we are farmers & food producers and the cattle are kept to become beef and we have to be realistic. We are not sentimental about our livestock but do hate the fact that they have to endure long journeys in lorries to slaughterhouses so far away. Due to the closure of so many small local abattoirs we have very little choice when it come to the commercial side of farming.