Welly Walk with the Cows Don’t be stuck for something to do with the family once September comes around. As part of the Soil Association Organic September celebrations we are organising the next Acorn Dairy customer open farm event. Come and meet the ‘Loubies’, the bovine stars of your last newsletter and see how we produce your doorstep […]
This photo has a comedy value if you zoom in…. …but is still a beautiful picture of the relaxed herd. Taken by our herdsman Richard, on his early morning round up, it shows the Acorn Dairy herd silhouetted against the rising sun in Cuckoo field. We don’t think Richard noticed the ‘relieving’ activity centre stage (a regular morning activity […]
Annual Inspection by the Soil Association – Acorn Dairy Ticks all the Boxes This week we have a Soil Association inspector with us. All aspects of what we do from field to bottle is looked at. This includes looking at our comprehensive reports covering land management, silage storage, slurry use, VET and meds, individual animal records, feed and seed bought for and fed […]
What a busy organic dairy farm we are today… The contractors are in with their big tractors again, cutting and clamping our wheat. This will give some excellent home grown protein in our cow’s diet over the coming winter season. The ‘whole crop’ is chopped up (ear and stem.) This will be mixed with our organic grass silage, and a mix of organic cereals […]
Cycling Entertainment for our Organic Bulls & Heifers! ‘Le Tour’ is now just over a week away and we are planning how it is affecting our deliveries in Harrogate. Significantly, being the answer! However, on the flip side, yellow bikes have appeared along the road to Middleham in Wensleyday and the racing will pass within a […]
Inseparable… Twin Sisters in the Acorn Dairy Herd The benefits of being an organic cow at Acorn Dairy are numerous… including not being separated from your beloved twin sister. Our herd of 210 cows is cared for in smaller groups, which are usually arranged around lactation for recording and feeding purposes. Seen here are two 3yr old sisters who enjoy a relationship to rival any human bond. […]
Extending of our Comfy Cow Tracks A cow lives on her feet for most of the time and we take foot care very seriously. They are heavy creatures with a relatively small hoof to take the weight. Barry, Phil, Richard and Raido regularly give the herd a pedicure to keep hooves neat and in good order. There […]
A Happy Event at Acorn Dairy Just as our wholesale milk delivery vans were returning from Newcastle and Harrogate on Thursday afternoon at one end of the farm, at the other, one of our heifers was calving and gave us some beautiful twins. However these two little calves look less related than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny De Vito. Our herdsman Richard […]
To Irrigate, Inject,Tanker or Umbilical…That is the question One activity you may not picture when thinking about how your milk is produced, is slurry handling. This is liquid heaven for soil and is a key nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium source for our grass, as we obviously do not use artificial fertilisers in organic farming. Depending on the weather, the maturity of the […]
Acorn Dairy Welcomes Two New Pairs of Owls We are delighted to welcome a new pair of nesting Barn Owls and Tawny Owls to our farm. Our resident birdlife supporter & recorder Tom Dewdney, who some of you met on our evening farm walks in 2012, was doing his regular rounds last week and found we […]