Calving & Hatching Begin, Spring is Here!

Two new events happened this year.

April 15, 2014 marks the date when Blackview calved out their first Wagyu/Angus Calf.

Wagyu / Angus Calf, Bred by Grazing Meadows Wagyu

We purchased the cow from Grazing Meadows Wagyu last fall and we are happy with what we bought.

Tim Prior is the owner of Grazing Meadows. Wagyu cattle and grazing are his passions and he has been gracious enough to spend time educating me with what he knows. Young Farmers need more guys like Tim.

Wagyu calves are born real quick and they get up onto their feet within a half an hour. On a beef farm, it is important to be able to calve without pregnancy troubles and without assisting the calf with basic actions like nursing. As in nature, the mom and calf should be self-sufficient and able to do perfectly well on their own. The farmer just needs to provide the basic needs; such as food, water and an appropriate time to calve (no winter calving here, we calf when the wildlife have their young).

Toulouse Geese at Donnyweir Farm, Caledon.

The second new event this year happened as a result of purchasing an egg incubator from Donnyweir Farm near Caledon. Gerald is the owner of Donnyweir and is an amazingly pleasant man to be around. He has a long history of Poultry Stardom – meaning that he owns a lot of trophies and awards. Naturally, I purchase my poultry from him. He is a wealth of information and wisdom and has become a good friend. Once our ducks and geese began hatching, we put the egg incubator to work. So far, we have a nice roster of ducklings and goslings -much to the delight of our young neighbour kids. Lately the ducks seem broody, so we’ll let them hatch out the remainder of the eggs. But what fun it has been!

Ducks and geese are very pleasant and amusing animals to have on a farm. They are rather quiet and easy to gather up into their pens after a day’s grazing, unlike chickens – herding chickens is like herding cats! You can actually watch muscovy’s bite into the air grabbing bugs and flies. They love to bathe in puddles and they wonder around the yard protecting their young. Come out and see them sometime!

Eggs mid-hatch

Until next time,

Cheers!
Bill & Michelle Parke