THE Farmer’s daybook

A farmer’s daybook is where they note everything going on with their herd; milk yields, health, behaviours, emotional states. Our online daybook is where you can keep up to date with the latest goings-on on the farm.

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Posts in Pigs

Full Moon piglets 🌝🌚🌝

GingerElla, our Oxford Sandy and Black (OSB) sow, farrowed a week earlier than her due date this month on the full moon.

March, Pigs, FarmKitty M8 March 2023Plaw Hatch FarmComment

Combining 2022

is probably one of the most dusty, itchy, and sweaty jobs we do, as oats are an incredibly dusty grain. Yet the satisfaction of seeing a full trailer of homegrown oats to feed our pigs and chickens and give milking parlour snacks to our cows throughout the next year makes it totally worth it and we have a lot of fun doing it too!

Farm, Arable, Chickens, Cows, Pigs, AugustKitty M23 August 2022Plaw Hatch FarmComment

The good life for pigs

The heat of summer means the Plaw Hatch pigs are spending time rooting and wallowing in mud and shade. Rosie and Vinny are in the garden, which means plenty of fresh greens too.

Farm, July, Pigs, Meat, SustainabilityKitty M17 July 2022Plaw Hatch FarmComment

A year as a Garden Apprentice

Our garden apprentice, Mandie, gives an insight into what life is like living, working, and learning on the farm.

Garden, Sustainability, Volunteers, Training, PigsKitty M18 September 2021Plaw Hatch FarmComment

Pork and chicken

Pork and chicken are expensive meats for a farm to produce as they need to buy in feed. Perhaps we should focus on what grows best on grass, beef and lamb.

Pigs, Sustainability, Farm, MeatKitty M14 June 2021Plaw Hatch FarmComment

Pigs and plastic

Our farm apprentice, Louisa, gives an insight into the management of the pigs this year, which are predominantly under her care.

Pigs, Spring, SustainabilityKitty M27 May 2021Plaw Hatch FarmComment

9 Jan 2024

Why cows have horns

It has long been a policy of Biodynamic husbandry to keep cattle with horns. As well as the aesthetic value, the horns have an important function in the life of the cow.

23 Nov 2023

A year as a farm Apprentice

Approaching the halfway mark in my 2-year placement here at Old Plaw Hatch Farm, the coming of the shorter days has allowed me to reflect on what has been one hell of a ride this past year.

27 Oct 2023

The realities of a garden

Growing vegetables in a political climate that has very little understanding of how food actually gets from the producer to anyone’s kitchen table (let alone the unpredictability of that same climate) means we are very grateful to the crops that have been successes, and we move on quickly from those that were or are, to put it bluntly, failures. Let me briefly talk you through our growing year so far…

24 Oct 2023

Supply and demand

Recently we’ve seen a real surge in new customers and have also noticed that existing customers are coming much more frequently and seem to be doing the majority of their food shopping with us. These changes are rarely down to one thing, and I believe at the moment there are several reasons.

24 Aug 2023

Why should I go to the AGM?

Firstly, because we would really love you to. Of course, at an AGM there is the dry procedural stuff, it’s a legal requirement, but there is so much more. It’s an opportunity to hear directly from the people who grow your food.

15 Aug 2023

The garden this summer

The summer is flying by and we have already started to get the first harvests off the fields like onions, potatoes and squash. The Spring was very late this year, however, Summer is not over yet.