Author Archives: wobbly
Visiting a Salers farm in the Centre
If there’s one thing rural France has an abundant supply of, it is beautiful churches. I was up on le Cher in the Centre to visit a Salers farm, one that has 200 mother cows on 320 hectares. This was … Continue reading
Moving the cows with the carrot, not the stick
About a year ago I visited a friend who has a big cow farm and helped him do his morning rounds feeding the various herds. The photos from this visit just surfaced and reminded me how slack I was in … Continue reading
A frosty morning’s hay bale rollout
Cold morning. Patient cows. Fresh lucerne hay. Well-rested grass. Watching the rollout. Nom nom nom.
Checking out some more Salers heifers and cows
I visited the Aveyron again to check out some cows for sale. I’m in the market for some mother cows or first time heifers to be giving birth this spring and some younger animals for meat or motherhood. Here is … Continue reading
Moss grows on the roof
Between the ceramic canal tiles, the cement mortar and the concrete roof tiles there is plenty of scope for some interesting mosses and lichens to grow. You don’t notice this when standing on the ground, but once you climb around … Continue reading
More barn roofing work
The old stone barn sits inside the less old cinder block barn. There are only two walls left of it, but they are interesting. Moss growing on top of the old stone wall where the roof had blown off a … Continue reading
Once were vineyards
What do you do with twelve hectares of former vineyard? There are a number of special properties about these old vineyards that you have to take into account. Firstly, you are left with rows and rows of long gashes where … Continue reading
Fixing a hole where the rain gets in
This is Jan from the neighboring village who fixes pretty much everything. We’ve been working on the various broken barn roofs over the last few days. There’s still a bit to do but the big windstorm has halted work for … Continue reading
Reworking the cowshed – demolition time
We’re building some new pens inside the old cow courtyard. The first phase is to get rid of the old parts we no longer need. This is going to be the alley with a bud box at the far end. … Continue reading
The sun also rises late
The farm is at zero-point-something degrees of longitude, which makes us just a little east of Greenwich. But we’re in France, so that puts us on Continental time despite us being under Britain. What this means is that the sun … Continue reading
