Gwion & Louise Llwyd Byrdir, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd. LL44 2EA Web. http://www.byrdir.co.uk Email. louise@byrdir.co.uk Tel. 01341 247 200 Fax. 07092 20 30 20
August It was time to separate the lambs from their mothers at the beginning of the month. Fully weaned and big enough to look after themselves this years lambs we split from the sheep. We try and put them in fields some distance from the house as their bleating is pretty loud for the first day or so. At the end of the month we then took the lambs to market. We achieved a price of £23.50 per lamb for the bigger ones and £18.40 for the smaller ones. A little disappointing when you compare it to the £20 you pay for a leg of lamb in the supermarket. We also took some young heifers to market. Since the emergence of BSE (mad cow decease), British beef farming is now one of the most tightly controlled industries in Europe. The sale of beef cows is subject to stringent controls. No cow older than 10 yrs old is allowed to enter the food chain in any form and has to be incinerated when they die. Bullocks older than 2 years old have to have their spines removed at the time of slaughter. Controls are reduced for younger calves. There is also system of cow passports, making the registration of births and deaths compulsory. The life of the bovine genealogist has become a lot easier. We spent a bit of time maintaining the dry-stone walls on the farm during August. Rebuilding and constructing a dry-stone wall is an arduous job and quite an art to do well. It makes you appreciate the huge effort put into building the thousands of miles of granite walls that cover the mountains. Another story which highlights the ineptitude of man is the proposed culling of some of the beautiful wild mountain goats that populate Meirionnydd. Because of a lack of food, the goats are moving to lower populated areas to look for food and causing a genuine nuisance. It could be argued however, that new directives which discourage the burning of hawthorn and mountain scrub and government incentives such as ‘set aside land’ has reduced the amount of fresh grazing on the mountains and caused the problem in the first place. Now that I’m off my soap box I’ll mention the Meirionnydd County show. A fantastic event with record numbers attending. It was also held during what seemed to be one of the few dry days we had in August. “A good time was had by all!”		<click here if you cant see pictures below>
To cancel this monthly Newsletter please send an email, subject: cancel newsletter, to unsubscribe@byrdir.co.uk