British White Cattle
The Sinfield Nature Conservation Trust
White House Farm
Rare breed British White are one of Britain's oldest breeds of cattle. They are believed to have links with the ancient wild white cattle of Britain. They have attractive markings (black points on ears, eyes, nose and feet) and a docile nature. British White have been used for parkland grazing for centuries and are ideally suited for the conservation grazing at White House Farm.
Our Hasketon herd came second in the 2008 British White cattle medium herd competition. The herd also won joint second place for the new herd competition. The judges visited our cattle in May 2008 having travelled across the UK for the competition.
The herd will also compete in the 2009 competition.
2009
April saw dry conditions at White House Farm, and as a consequence, turnout took place on 11th April, considerably earlier than in the past two years. Calving started on 13th April and was completed on 26th June. Of the eleven calves born, six were heifers (including twin heifer calves) and five were bull calves. The naming process for this second year's batch of calves is based on the letter B.
2008
Spring 2008, turnout to grass took place on Wednesday 23rd April, just two days later than in 2007. The main difference this year is the lack of vigour in the growth of the grass, compared to the same time last year, following a prolonged period of cool weather, with frequent overnight frosts.
2007
During the autum period of 2007, in an effort to avoid the Bluetongue virus, we housed the cattle over-night. This resulted in extra work, but as it was the only recommended way of avoiding the cattle being attacked by the virus-carrying midge when they were biting at night, we did all we could to protect the herd. A vaccine will be available from 2008.
One of the heifers, Solent, produced a small heifer calf on Burgh Meadow on 7th July. The calf has been named Severn. When Solent arrived in January we were unaware that she was in-calf, so Severn's arrival is something of a bonus!
Severn's Progress
Severn has grown well since her birth. This photo shows her aged seven weeks, taken on 25th August 2007
Angela Hamilton of the British White Cattle Society provided helpful advice for the successful establishment of the pedigree herd of British White catte at White House Farm. In 2007, Angela organised the loan to the Trust of Bowland Alpha, who was with us from mid July to the end of October, and we will see our first batch of calves before the end of April 2008.
Bowland Alpha returned to Hasketon again in July 2008, and we expect the first of his next batch of calves to be born in April 2009.
The summer of 2007 turned out to be one of the wettest on record in the region. Therefore, making silage and hay proved to be very difficult, with only a few small windows of opportunity available when the weather stayed dry for sufficient time to cut and bale the grass. This was especially true for hay. Fortunately, we held back until early August for the main hay cut, and got our timing spot on with a few very hot, sunny and breezy days, just right to make good hay.
Follow link to see hay and silage photos