The announcement by Arla (makers of Lurpack butter and Cravendale milk) that they were instructing their dairy farm suppliers to use the feed additive Bovaer to reduce methane emissions caused a great deal of concern nationally, as well as amongst our Oving Cow shed customers. So, to be clear, we do not use it and it is legally banned for use by Organic farms.
I don’t pretend to be sufficiently informed to know whether it is safe or not, but the Bovaer saga has opened up a vigorous debate as to whether trying to reduce methane emissions from cows is even necessary. Methane emissions remain in the atmosphere for a relatively short time before degrading and there are no more ruminants (think bison and buffalo) in the world now than there were before the industrial revolution.
As the trend for ever increasing intensive farming (e.g. with cows never seeing a blade of grass) there is, however, less grassland to act as a carbon sink and thus be part of what should be a closed net zero emission/absorption loop.
It is no surprise that Organic milk boasts a lower carbon footprint than other ‘conventional’ systems given that it is a legal requirement to graze one’s cows through the growing season. The only way you can guarantee that your milk is from cow’s that graze grass is to buy Organic.
Regardless of the above, you will no doubt be aware of our desire to achieve net zero status. It’s a huge challenge; it is expensive and there appears to be no financial benefit to come from government or the marketplace if we achieve it. The announcement by the government that they are going to build a third runway at Heathrow makes me question why we are even bothering.
Thank you to all of you who support the Oving Cow Shed and we would appreciate your help in another way please. Brownies, Organic Herd cheese and butter are popular in our second vending machine, but we have space for other products. What would you like to see? Items don’t necessarily have to be food based and can be seasonal but have to fit on our ‘shelves’. There is now a suggestion box in the Cow Shed or you can share your ideas on our Facebook page. Thank you.
We have just introduced some ‘Squish’ products. These are made from ‘rescued fruit’ – the 30% of fruit that is top quality except it might be of the wrong size or shape for the supermarkets or not required due to sales fluctuations. Based in Chichester, it’s a concept that fits with everything we believe in at Woodhorn and so we felt deserved a place in the Cow Shed!
It feels like we are coming to the end of a more normal winter. We have spring barley to sow (for Organic beer) and maize for the cows. At the time of writing (end of Feb) grass is just showing the earliest signs of growth and if the ground stays reasonably dry, the cows will go back out to grass at the earliest opportunity.
This is something of a transitional process with the cows going out to grass during the daytime only for the first few weeks (and then back indoors at night) in order for their four stomachs to adjust to the change in diet from silage (literally, pickled and fermented grass) to fresh grass which, in the early spring, is very lush and can cause scouring (diarrhoea) unless carefully managed (which is important for the cows but also for the Reeds Farm team at milking time!).
One of the joys of spring is seeing or cows turning out to grass for the first time after the winter and frankly behaving in a very unlady like fashion! The dry spell of weather enabled an unusually early turn out and you can see videos and pictures on our social media or on our new screen in the Oving Cow Shed (and perhaps we will also post clips of them all running back home on the first sign of rain – ladies yes, tough girls? Not so much!)