Our New Project!

A shepherds hut! For everybody out there who loves the freedom of camping , but have got really fed up with our wet summers. Here we have the perfect answer. The shepherds hut will have a double bed a lovely woodburning stove with a small cooker attached, room to sit etc. We are also putting a bathroom and kitchen area in a building closeby. So we hope that the shepherds hut will prove to be a big hit.

Manwee Lucy Locket.

This is Manwee Lucy Locket. A new arrival of the equine variety to Higher Bodley. We've decided to return to Debbie's roots and get involved with the welsh ponies again. Hopefully this won't be as demanding as the race horses, but just as enjoyable.

Lucy is a welsh section A filly, by Forlan Caradoc. She's a very feisty little thing what she lacks in height she definately makes up for in temperament.

Watch this space!!

Hi there ,its been a very difficult, anxious time the last 2 months.Its that time of year when we are getting calves ready for the sales . We sell most of our calves as " busk calves" which means we sell them straight off of their mothers.2 months before the sale we creep feed them , this is a big metal feeder that the calves can get in and the mothers cant. The calves get sugar beet & protein nuts which gives their coats a nice bloom & gets their hindquarters looking large & rounded which the busk calf buyers like.
Thats the easy bit , before we can sell the calves we have to T.B. TEST them,we have never had T.B.before, to our shock we had 2 reactors.Movement restrictions have been placed on the farm & a slaughter man came on farm & put down the 2 calves. Very upsetting to witness what you have worked so hard for.
Since.the whole herd has been tested, 2 cows have tested as reactors(1 has a young calve).
We have to retest in 60 days , we are crossing more than our fingers!

Boris!

Some visitors to the farm saw this Highland calf whilst out on the farm tour up on Longstone. They thought it had a strong likeness to a certain Lord Mayor. Boris Johnson !!

2 DAYS OLD

2

Just another summers day at higher bodley..........ok febuary

McDOUGALL OF ROSELAND

OFF TO MARKET

We took north country mule 2tooths to south molton sheep fair we were last on which isnt good , we averaged £95.00 each not too bad.

Sept 7th

We took the best 50 mule sheep to our local sale at blackmoor gate, i think we topped the market @ £126-00 each, we averaged £111-00 for the 90 we took, last year was£79-00 so we were quite pleased.When sheep are cheap nobody wants them when they are very expensive everybody wants them. Farmers****

PS.the old boy in the photo is my old man he doesnt do much but likes giving orders.

Today whilst checking the highland cattle with some guests we found a gate had been left open between longstone & woodbarrow so letting some young female highlands in with Mcdougall the highland bull as the females are far to young to go to the bull we had to get them back to woodbarrow as soon as possible.

I made a quick phone call back to Debbie at Higher Bodley and within 10 minutes the quad bike and pluto the cattle dog were out to the rescue ,Debbie carried on with the guests farm tour and pluto & me herded back the 3 escaped cattle .What would farmers do without mobile phones!!!!!! [ unwanted young pregnant cows]

The Highland Cattle.

The Longstone Herd is the name given to our herd of Highland cattle. All of the cattle had to come down off the moor recently for the annual TB Test, which thankfully was all ok. They had spent a week or so back nearer the farm so

they all went back up to the common to-day.They all look really well and all the calves look great.

Moving the horses.

The horses, Billy & Doublet have been moved to a new field to-day. The field they've been in has got too wet & the grass has nearly gone. So to keep them in good condition they need to be moved regularly. They both had a great time charging around & making a mess in their new field.

If you're interested in the horses and more of the animals on the farm visit our website http://www.higherbodleyfarm.co.uk/