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The warehouses were delivered today

The new warehouses just passed final inspection and we signed off on the buildings.  Proper distribution of activities has not been finalized, but one thing is for sure, it is more than likely that meat processing will move to the New Farm because the high tunnels are too close to the older warehouses.  The team installing the high tunnels has been hard at work since they have 12 in all to set up.  It is a 4-5 day process per high tunnel our contractor is well equipped, and now has a good process rhythm.

We expect the milking parlour to be completed in two weeks, and the best news, David, our lead mechanic will be fully back on board as of tomorrow. Today, he was off getting his cast removed.  Then celebrations in town to buy new boots, the old ones had to be cut off.  

Our contractor is being harassed with all the jobs he had to suspend because of the horrible weather we had in January.  Planting in the high tunnels continues so that our new tomato plants are ready by early March.  The farm is operating well. Together with the stockman, we have been doing a genetic study of our meat herd and both he and Jennifer think we've started having too much genetic drift.

The big news for UK cattle farmers is the re-emergence of a virulent strain of bovine tuberculosis.  Although all cases are on the other side of the country, as our American cousins were fond of reminding me, the UK is a tiny country.  Jennifer spoke to our vets and the government is tracking the spread of the virus.  Although we do not intend to buy cattle instead we will grow our herd organically via artificial insemination. Still, we did house our neighbour's cattle in early January, granted they were physically separated from ours, and the TB could jump via handlers.  It's really something we need to watch, the only option when TB is found is to destroy the animal.

All bad!



 

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