Sun 30 Mar

 All 14x cows up, moving around, grazing and seem fine. Trough full. Electric fence working. Perimeter fence checked and fine.

Friday 28th

 14 cows in the sunshine. 

The hammer for the trough has fallen in, and I can’t quite bring myself to stick my hand in the water to pull it out. 

Reminder can't do Tuesday 25th March

 Apologies Sam- up in London tomorrow for my birthday.

Anne and Tim

Sun 23 Mar

 All 14x cattle seem fine. Trough and electric fence working. 

Five bar gate to south of western enclosure still looking flimsy.

Saturday 22nd March

Apologies, but I haven’t been able to go to check the cows today as I have twisted my knee and walking is too painful at the moment. 

Wednesday 19th March

 Lovely sunny day. All 14 cows laying down or grazing just above the electric fence, no problems seen.

Fence working, gates between the fields secured and troughs fine.

Tuesday 18th March

 A beautiful morning with all 14 cows at the southern end of the western meadow - 12 grazing and 2 sitting down chewing cud. All calm. Water trough and gates okay.

Noticed cow with ear tag ending 58 has a patch of its coat missing on rear right flank as you look from behind. Not bleeding and cow moving fine.

Good to hear skylarks at northern western end and buzzard in tree there. Nice to see some spring flowers beginning to emerge since our last visit on February including celandines in full flower. No deer.

Anne and Tim

Saturday 15th March

 11 cows in the top field and 3 in adjacent field when I arrived. Fence and trough ok, all seemed content. Herd slowly moving into adjacent field when I was leaving. Gate between fields pinned back securely and top gate padlock fastened. 

Wednesday 12th March

 All 14 cows laying down on the far side of the smaller field, looking quite content. Checked that the top gate was still open and securely fastened. Trough working ok.

Monday 10th March

The stray cow that was reunited with the herd (thanks to Chris yesterday) seems to be content, all in the western part of the field near the trainline. Nice to hear the first skylarks of the spring!

*** REPAIRS NEEDED ***

 There are some urgent repairs needed to the timber 5 bar gate and posts on the southern side of the western enclosure. It's a convenient scratching post close to the trough and so gets lots of use. The patch repairs from last season are giving way.

Additionally, the gate latch keep at the south of the eastern enclosure has come away and the rail next to it is also detached.

Gate repairs and a check of all the fencing would seem sensible - especially given a cow stepped over the wire and out of the enclosure last year.

Sun 09 Mar

 One of the cows had become penned in the eastern enclosure, because the dividing gate had closed. It's likely to have been there for a few days and had been separated from a water trough for this time.

It may have lost a little condition (ribs visible) but seems absolutely fine otherwise. I walked it round to the rest of the herd and watched it make its way to the trough. It was a little agitated, so I didn't try to take a note of the ear tag.

I've wedged and tied the dividing gates open, but it's worth keeping an eye on them.

Electric fence working and charging.

Trough fine, refilling and getting lots of use.

Friday the 7th

 There’s one very lonely cow that seems to be trapped in the other field - people in the neighbourhood group chat have commented that he’s been isolated out there for a few days now. 

I don’t know if you can spot him in the panorama photo - a white speck in the right field near the electric fence  

Wednesday 5th March

 All 14 cows laying down just beyond the electric fence, all looking well and content.

Nice to hear the skylarks overhead.

Monday 2nd March - HIWWT update

 Hi all,

Tom installed an EF along Barton Meadows, this is to encourage the cows to eat the rougher forage rather than the fresh growth within the area that was hay cut in 2024.

This means the cows have access to all the rough forage in the east and wets field. And only access to the western trough.

Tom also brought a couple loads of aggregate down for the path by the kissing gate, hopefully that helps with access for all.

Thank you all for your support,

Sam