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Farm Walk
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A Farm Walk with the New Close Herd
Originally the Wilson’s had a pedigree herd of British Friesians and on the dispersal of that herd they retained some of the cross bred blue females to form a commercial herd. Into these females they put selected embryos and the resulting calves were soon joined with modest purchases of stock from both private and herd reduction sales of well established and renowned pedigree ‘Blue’ herds and from these the New Close Herd was founded. We were greeted on arrival by Ian, Margaret, Andrew and Susie Wilson with a welcome coffee and light refreshments and a sunny day which many of us had not seen for too long. When all the guests had gathered we were treated to a delicious buffet lunch followed by a walk around the herd. The young bulls had been brought out into the yard and tethered and not only was it a joy to see but also so that a competition could be held and five of the bulls judged. Danny Wyllie judged the bulls prior to the guests arriving and we were invited to place them in our own order. On checking the voting slips Linda Morgan won the senior prize agreeing with Danny and placing them in the correct order. Molly Wilson has to be a judge in the making for at her tender age she also agreed with Danny to win the junior prize.
The brood cows were also tethered in the yard to enable us to have a close up look and these included their prolific brood cow New Close Cilla Blak the dam of many show-winning females including New Close Fizzy and Fantasia who were also in the line up. Alongside her was New Close Delilah another show winning cow. At the other end of the line were some of the up and coming youngsters including New Close Hope fresh from being awarded the Supreme Champion Calf at the North West Club Calf Show the previous weekend.
Andrew led the way around the fields with quality calves on show. The cows have been flushed to many high quality bulls and progeny from Colos Van Daisel, Dartagnan Du Castillon, Bringlee Blackstar, Sauveur De Monin Chapelle, Graphite De Dessous La Ville and Imperial De L’Ecluse to name but a few were in abundance and suckling very happily on their mothers. In fact there were both male and female calves to suit all of the types, in all of the colours and all of the sizes, that fellow breeders would be pleased to add to their herds.
On return to the farmyard we were treated to another round of refreshments and a chance to socialise and meet up with friends and discuss the cattle that we had viewed. Having earlier purchased raffle tickets it was time for the prize draw. So many generous prizes had been donated that the tickets were being pulled fast and furious, the result reaching a total of £320 that was to be donated to the Air Ambulance Charity.
So pleasant had been the day that many lingered on to enjoy the last of the warm sunshine and reminisce about the days when we remembered summer being like this.
Very many thanks from all of us for a wonderful day out. |
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