And we're off!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Senior's Farewell to the University of Minnesota

Image
Completing the Shires, Shorthorns, and Sheep: Exploring Livestock Production Systems in England marked the end of my undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota. Leaving for England two short days after my college graduation seemed to be a little daunting, but there's no doubt in my mind that it was worth it and a GREAT way to end my collegiate career! The highlights of my trip to England included visiting farms, such as Wimpole and Native Beef, to see how they are working to preserve the genetics of England's heritage breeds, seeing the racing industry in Newmarket, and experiencing several markets in London. Growing up in production agriculture has given me personal experiences with raising beef, sheep and crops, such as corn, soybeans, and alfalfa. I enjoyed observing the similarities and differences between agriculture in the United States and the United Kingdom. Heritage breed preservation seemed to be important to several of the farms we visited, and I di...
Read more

Life Is Better At The Races!

Image
On day 4 of our trip (May 17th)  in Cambridge, we visited National Stud and had a night at the race track to bet on the beautiful thoroughbreds in Newmarket. Our day started at the Warren Hill or the heath, this is where we got to see the grooms/exercise riders galloping their horses in front of the trainers. They do this at 6 am to get the exercising done early rather than later to stay out of the afternoon heat. All horses must be off the heath by 1 pm and then it is open to the public.  National stud was our next stop and we first visited the foaling unit. Here the "heavy", which means pregnant, mares are put in a paddock and checked as often as possible. Once the mare shows signs of foaling they are moved into their individual stables to wait for the arrival of their baby. Mare and foal are then moved to their designated paddocks where they are accompanied by several other mare and foal pairs until they are at an even number or u...
Read more

Organic Dairy Farming at Woodhorn Group

Image
Today we toured The Woodhorn Group, which is an organic dairy farm with a composting site called Earth Cycle on the farm as well. They began farming in 1882 as a family run farm, and the current owner, John Pitts, is the fourth generation to run the farm. John diversified the farm in 1998 by adding a compost site that today recycles over 80,000 tons of garbage waste a year. The Woodhorn Group milks on average 250 cows twice a day in a sixteen cow parlor. This makes them a large farm in comparison to most organic dairy farms in England. However, they are currently only milking around 150 head as they are in their drying off period. They are different than a lot of farms in the United States that calve year round, as they calve in the fall. Cameron, one of the workers at Woodhorn Group, explained that this is because in England, milk prices are highest in the winter, so they try and increase their production starting in the fall to maximize their yearly income. The dairy indu...
Read more