Its been another very busy season for our 3 holiday cottages this year. Very hard work but the rewards are worth it. Got to meet some very nice people and were left some lovely coments in our coment books which is just fantastic, makes it seem all worth while :) Hope everyone enjoyed their visit to the farm :) Time to wind down for a couple of months now, do some decorating and tidying up. We hope to see some of you next, to our loyal regular holiday makers we look forward to welcoming you again next summer :) Thank you.
About Me
- Bure Valley Farm & Love-Grub Farm Shop
- Hello from the Brownes. We're a family run farm in rural Aylsham. Our farm is home to Robins Rare Breed Oxford Sandy and Black pigs which we breed for their lovely meat (said to be the best tasting meat out of all rare breed pigs) The Farm is also home to Robin & Beckie's Boer Goats bred for their high quality healthy meat low in cholesterol and high in protien) We're also trying to increase the quanity of our very good quailty stock to help improve bloodlines through the country. Jackies Anglo Nubian goats, kept for both their meat, which is incredibly healthy for you and their milk which we're planning to make cheese, icecream, soap, moisturiser and a probiotic drink with. We also keep a few chickens, some traditonal breeds as well as hybrids and some Muscovy ducks for their free range eggs as well as David having arable land to produce home grown cereals for our animals. We also have 3 holiday cottages alongside the farm. These are run by Jackie and Hayley. All visitors have acess to our private section of the river Bure. We'd like to share the farm experience with visitors to Bure Valley Farm and those following our blog. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Friday, 29 November 2013
'Love-Grub'
Our 'love-grub' farm shop sign has arrived today!! :) Its currently taking pride of place in the shop but look out for it on the A140 near the burgh and aylsham junctions in the next week.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Breeding and Babies!!
Its that time of year again, when we have a re-arrange of our herds, to be put into new fields with their billy's and prepare for the next lot of babies to arrive in 2014.
We've only been in the goat business for 22 months and the one thing its seems important to stress is the breeding of top quality stock, mainly in our Boer goats which is why i feel its an important thing to mention on our blog. Boers are relatively new to the country, first imported in 1987, and as such have normally been breed up, known as up-grading from crosses to a full Boer male. Each kid gains a blood percentage, for example if you were to breed a Nubian female to a full blood Boer male, the resulting kids would be 50%. If you then bred that kid to another full Boer, the resulting kids would be 75%. If you then bred this kid with another full Boer the kids would be 87.5% Boer. (A easier way to work out the blood percentage is to add the percent Boer of the female to the percent Boer of the male and divide by 2, e.g 75 (% Boer female) + 100 (% Boer male) / 2 = 87.5% ) For this reason its incredibly difficult to find full blood Boer stock. We've been to Devon and Yorkshire to buy full blood stock, which is abit of a trek from our home in Norfolk and for distances like this you need to do a course and have a certificate which legally allows you to transport animals this far, understandably not very practical for the average smallholder. This is when the grading up of Boers can be handy to some, its relatively easy to pick up a Boer buck from not quite so good bloodlines (though be prepared to pay more for a Boer/Boer cross than an ordinary milking goat), which are perfect if you've a small milking herd and raise the male kids for meat. The Boer goat was bred in south Africa to be eaten, as such they are very hardy and incredibly stocky animals which will instantly bulk up the meat quantity and quality of the milkers male kids. This is what we are going to do this year. All of Jackie's Anglo-Nubian girls have been mated to our Boer Buck Aaron so that we get some meatier male kids from them next year. All the female kids from these will be for sale early next year.
Finding Boers from pure bloodlines can be challenging however if, like us, you want to build up a very good breeding herd pure blood lines should be considered an essential. Since they were first imported in 1987 numbers have increased but it hasn't become easier to find full blood Boers. We were incredibly lucky with our first starter herd. We managed to find a young herd of 7 females and an unrelated male all from pure bloodlines and although it was a long journey to Devon and home again it was well worth it. Our little herd now look lovely, all a lovely size and in good health and our male, well, hes surprised us all. A little wee thing when we brought him we never expected him to amount to much but wow how he's grown. He was just over a year when we got him and he's now at just over 2 and a half hes huge and still growing by the seems of things!! He's produced some fantastic kids this year with these girls and we're now very excited to see what he produces next spring.
Whilst looking around for another male to eventually go with these kids, we were met with alot of disappointment, though its important to mention that you should never go ahead a buy something that your not completly happy with for whatever reason. We ended up being incredibly lucky again with our second purchase of goats. We herd of a sale happening at Terraparks Boer goat stud in gloucestershire They have some amazing full blood stock having imported goats and embryos from Australia. We brought a very impressive young buck and 2 females to increase the diversity of the gene pool here and to improve the quality of genetics in our herd. Breeding is a waiting game though, the 2 girls wont be put into kid until next Autumn ( a year and a half after we brought them) and our young male has been put in with 3 of the first time kidding Nubian's, being still too short to service our Boer females. Unfortunately it means we wont see any profit from them for a couple of years and we had to pay alot for them, but if you want to better genetics its just something that must be done. We've also diversed and brought 5 red Boers and another traditional from stour valley Boer goats in Suffolk. This is a lovely herd and there gentics are from the Ram H line of Boers which originates in south Africa. We've got some more of these on order for next year :) Our most recent purchase was from Yorkshire, a herd of 10 females all from pure blood lines. These range in age from 8 years to 6 months and will be split into herds accordingly. The older 5 are in with our older buck and our younger 3 our with one of his sons from last year. Hopefully these will produce some lovely stock :)
For more information on out breeding herd please check us out on face book as i'll be uploding a herd page shortly.
We've only been in the goat business for 22 months and the one thing its seems important to stress is the breeding of top quality stock, mainly in our Boer goats which is why i feel its an important thing to mention on our blog. Boers are relatively new to the country, first imported in 1987, and as such have normally been breed up, known as up-grading from crosses to a full Boer male. Each kid gains a blood percentage, for example if you were to breed a Nubian female to a full blood Boer male, the resulting kids would be 50%. If you then bred that kid to another full Boer, the resulting kids would be 75%. If you then bred this kid with another full Boer the kids would be 87.5% Boer. (A easier way to work out the blood percentage is to add the percent Boer of the female to the percent Boer of the male and divide by 2, e.g 75 (% Boer female) + 100 (% Boer male) / 2 = 87.5% ) For this reason its incredibly difficult to find full blood Boer stock. We've been to Devon and Yorkshire to buy full blood stock, which is abit of a trek from our home in Norfolk and for distances like this you need to do a course and have a certificate which legally allows you to transport animals this far, understandably not very practical for the average smallholder. This is when the grading up of Boers can be handy to some, its relatively easy to pick up a Boer buck from not quite so good bloodlines (though be prepared to pay more for a Boer/Boer cross than an ordinary milking goat), which are perfect if you've a small milking herd and raise the male kids for meat. The Boer goat was bred in south Africa to be eaten, as such they are very hardy and incredibly stocky animals which will instantly bulk up the meat quantity and quality of the milkers male kids. This is what we are going to do this year. All of Jackie's Anglo-Nubian girls have been mated to our Boer Buck Aaron so that we get some meatier male kids from them next year. All the female kids from these will be for sale early next year.
Finding Boers from pure bloodlines can be challenging however if, like us, you want to build up a very good breeding herd pure blood lines should be considered an essential. Since they were first imported in 1987 numbers have increased but it hasn't become easier to find full blood Boers. We were incredibly lucky with our first starter herd. We managed to find a young herd of 7 females and an unrelated male all from pure bloodlines and although it was a long journey to Devon and home again it was well worth it. Our little herd now look lovely, all a lovely size and in good health and our male, well, hes surprised us all. A little wee thing when we brought him we never expected him to amount to much but wow how he's grown. He was just over a year when we got him and he's now at just over 2 and a half hes huge and still growing by the seems of things!! He's produced some fantastic kids this year with these girls and we're now very excited to see what he produces next spring.
Whilst looking around for another male to eventually go with these kids, we were met with alot of disappointment, though its important to mention that you should never go ahead a buy something that your not completly happy with for whatever reason. We ended up being incredibly lucky again with our second purchase of goats. We herd of a sale happening at Terraparks Boer goat stud in gloucestershire They have some amazing full blood stock having imported goats and embryos from Australia. We brought a very impressive young buck and 2 females to increase the diversity of the gene pool here and to improve the quality of genetics in our herd. Breeding is a waiting game though, the 2 girls wont be put into kid until next Autumn ( a year and a half after we brought them) and our young male has been put in with 3 of the first time kidding Nubian's, being still too short to service our Boer females. Unfortunately it means we wont see any profit from them for a couple of years and we had to pay alot for them, but if you want to better genetics its just something that must be done. We've also diversed and brought 5 red Boers and another traditional from stour valley Boer goats in Suffolk. This is a lovely herd and there gentics are from the Ram H line of Boers which originates in south Africa. We've got some more of these on order for next year :) Our most recent purchase was from Yorkshire, a herd of 10 females all from pure blood lines. These range in age from 8 years to 6 months and will be split into herds accordingly. The older 5 are in with our older buck and our younger 3 our with one of his sons from last year. Hopefully these will produce some lovely stock :)
For more information on out breeding herd please check us out on face book as i'll be uploding a herd page shortly.
Monday, 25 November 2013
Sorry its been quiet on here for a while, been away to the New Forest for a few days so have been unable to post anything but its business as normal again now. Came back to a few developments, the shop is progressing very well, will hopefully be done in about a week :) And its the time of year (again, cant believe how quickly time flys by!) when our stock gets moved around for mating purposes and planning for our babies next year :) more info on this to follow shortly.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
CAE testing
62 goats all had blood samples taken this morning to be tested for CAE, (This is a nasty arthritis which can cause serve problems in goats and carries cant be used for breeding purposes.) and it only took 2 and a half hours! they were all rather well behaved and obliging. Its for routine maintenance things such as this that having well handled and friendly animals is rather helpful. Fingers crossed all our results will be negative and its safe for them all to have kids next spring.
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Our Logo and sign design :)
Here is the design for our Love Grub Farm Shop product logo and the design for our main sign :)
We love it and hope you all like it to. Dont forget to come and visit us when the shop is up and running in 2-3 weeks for taster days where you can sample some of our products :)
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
R.I.P Meggan
Last night our darling little Meggie lost her fight to stay with us. Her body had just become too weak that no matter how much spirit and will power and determination she had to stay here with us she sadly lost her fight. Over the past couple of days she had become to weak to use her little legs and sometimes even lifting her head was a struggle, though she tried very very hard, happily taking the oatmeal and porridge we syringed into her and trying to munch her hay right to the end. She even semed to enjoy her warm baths to try and help her leg muscles. Although we only got to spend 2 weeks with her she was much much loved by all of us being such a strong character despite her tiny size and the gap she leaves behind is huge. She will be very very missed. Though, despite the sadness felt by everyone i think she taught us all a valuable lesson - no matter how hard, how pointless it may seem, its always worth fighting for and bless her little heart she fought until the very end.
Someone told me, not so long ago, that some things are too beautiful to be with us for long and my little Meggie was certainly beautiful, inside and out. The yard already feels that little bit duller, but we feel privalaged that we got to have her, even for just this short time.
So you rest in peace my little darling, after the fight you put in you certainly deserve to. You would have had a lovely life here and we are all so very sorry you dont get the chance, it feels very unfair, but i think you know from how those wise little eyes looked at us that we really did try our best, and that we love you, always.
Someone told me, not so long ago, that some things are too beautiful to be with us for long and my little Meggie was certainly beautiful, inside and out. The yard already feels that little bit duller, but we feel privalaged that we got to have her, even for just this short time.
So you rest in peace my little darling, after the fight you put in you certainly deserve to. You would have had a lovely life here and we are all so very sorry you dont get the chance, it feels very unfair, but i think you know from how those wise little eyes looked at us that we really did try our best, and that we love you, always.
Saturday, 26 October 2013
Things arent looking too good
I mentioned the other day we had a poorly baby girl, one of our new boers from yorkshire, and said i'd post any progress so here goes.
After seemingly getting alittle stronger and more inclined to eat after her worming medicine she seems to have taken a turn for the worst during yesturday evening. She is now so weak she cant even stand even with help from us she just wants to collapse! :( So another call to the vets was made and after much disscusion we decided to give her a 'booster' powder mix full of vitamins, minerals and electroyltes to see if this would help give her enough energy to eat so she can gain strength. It took awhile but we eventually managed to get it into her and give her bottom a bath and since then she does carry her head higher and even tried to shuffle herself forwards to get to her hay, which she happily wound in in mouthfuls rather than picking at. All fingers are crossed this will do the job :) otherwise her future seems abit uncertain though we are all determined that failing her is not an option!!!!
Our poorly boy now has a mineral tonic to drink for 5 days in the hope this will restore his inner balance and reduce the swelling. Fingers crossed again. He's still refusing to eat his grain through so we've been shopping this morning and are hoping to trick him into eating some Honeychop chaff :)
On another note, we also now have a poorly duckling to treat as well. Feeling rather cursed at the moment :(
After seemingly getting alittle stronger and more inclined to eat after her worming medicine she seems to have taken a turn for the worst during yesturday evening. She is now so weak she cant even stand even with help from us she just wants to collapse! :( So another call to the vets was made and after much disscusion we decided to give her a 'booster' powder mix full of vitamins, minerals and electroyltes to see if this would help give her enough energy to eat so she can gain strength. It took awhile but we eventually managed to get it into her and give her bottom a bath and since then she does carry her head higher and even tried to shuffle herself forwards to get to her hay, which she happily wound in in mouthfuls rather than picking at. All fingers are crossed this will do the job :) otherwise her future seems abit uncertain though we are all determined that failing her is not an option!!!!
Our poorly boy now has a mineral tonic to drink for 5 days in the hope this will restore his inner balance and reduce the swelling. Fingers crossed again. He's still refusing to eat his grain through so we've been shopping this morning and are hoping to trick him into eating some Honeychop chaff :)
On another note, we also now have a poorly duckling to treat as well. Feeling rather cursed at the moment :(
Thursday, 24 October 2013
A new home for our Boer girls
The new shed arrived for our Boer girls this week and although, thanks to the weather, it took longer than expected to put up its now all in place and our girls our settling into their lovely new home.
Although very glad to be back in their field after 2 weeks inside they were rather quizical to the new contruction at first....
Nothing alittle food couldnt fix though :)
Although very glad to be back in their field after 2 weeks inside they were rather quizical to the new contruction at first....
Nothing alittle food couldnt fix though :)
Poorly Goats
Since arriving here and seemingly coming along really well the vets put abit of a stopper on our hopes for them. Some of their droppings were sent for a worm count to be on the safe side before we introduced to our herd and the results were unbelievable!! one of our little ones had a count of 9900 per gram!! and she only looks alittle skinny. Just goes to show no matter how well they look and seem you never know whats going on behind the scenes!!
We've now given them the latest wormer on the market and fingers crossed they will be all clear in 2 weeks and can be introduced to our girls ready for there billy :)
One of our babies breed this year has developed a swollen gland in his throat due to an iodine defficiency but hopefully with an injection he will be right as rain in a few days time :) we'll keep you updated in there progress.
We've now given them the latest wormer on the market and fingers crossed they will be all clear in 2 weeks and can be introduced to our girls ready for there billy :)
One of our babies breed this year has developed a swollen gland in his throat due to an iodine defficiency but hopefully with an injection he will be right as rain in a few days time :) we'll keep you updated in there progress.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Our new girls
Our 11 new girls are settling in well. They have all weighed and wormed so hopefully with lots of TLC they will soon start to get better so they can be let out in the field with the rest of our goats.
Our younger girls. Erin (front left) Jemmima, Jade, Megan, Carmen and Juno.
Jemmima
Jade
Left to right - Megan, Juno & Carmen
Some of our older girls Molly (back) and Judy
Judy
Cowslip
JemmimaJade
Some of our older girls Molly (back) and Judy
Judy
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
A step forward...
We had a succesfull meeting at JetPrint this morning. Our logo for the farm shop is designed :) yay!! will upload a pic for thoughts when we get files. Now only the road sign, main sign and shop referb to go.....
Sunday, 6 October 2013
New Arrivals!!!! :)
Today was a very exciting day for all of us here as we welcomed 11 new traditional boer goats all the way from yorkshire!!
After a 4 hour drive they were all very hungry!
More pics to follow once they have settled in. They will all stay inside for a few days so we can make sure they arent affected by their trip then they will be split older ones and younger ones and let out with our girls in the fields.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Ducks!!
Absolutely beautiful morning in the duck run today :) couldn't resist taking a few picks, they are so cute, though getting so big and feathery.
They hatched 17 ducklings this summer between 2 mums
Our crazy collie Ruby loves them too!! she keeps a watchful eye on themMoving Day
A couple of days ago our 12 boer kids were introduced to there new friends, 5 kalahari reds and another 3 traditonals. The 20 of them love skipping around their big field together and feeding time has become a nightmare!!!
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Some Very Sad News
R.I.P RubyRed Simeon
24/6/2013-27/9/2013
It was a very sad day yesterday when we lost our 3 month old male. He was such a well built, handsome man, the first we had breed here at the farm and we had incredibly high hopes for him in the future. His loss has been felt massively by everyone here, his larger than life character will be sorely missed.
Our handsome chap
Having snuggles with his sister
We will all miss you.
24/6/2013-27/9/2013
It was a very sad day yesterday when we lost our 3 month old male. He was such a well built, handsome man, the first we had breed here at the farm and we had incredibly high hopes for him in the future. His loss has been felt massively by everyone here, his larger than life character will be sorely missed.
We will all miss you.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Catching Up
Hello There :) Apologies for our quietness since Feb, we've had some big changes on the farm. Our resident blogger has decided to take some time out for travelling and its taken us a while to get the hang of lol Though hopefully we shall be up and running properly again soon. We've also decided to open our own farm shop with our own homemade range of "Love-Grub" produce from jams, chutneys and cakes to fresh meat, goat milk, goat cheese and hopefully some yummy goat ice creams.... More news to follow. We're also planning a range of soaps using up our excess goat milk as it does wonderfull things to your skin :)
Its been a crazy summer here and we've got alot of new stock on the farm. Jackies Nubians had 12 kids (2 were pictured in the EDP at the re-opening of the Goat Inn, Skyton) and our Boers had 13!! All kinds of fun haha ... (pics to follow) We were also very lucky to get 5 Kalahari Red young ladies, which we intend to breed alongside our Traditional Boer lines. We had 9 little piglets from Robins pig, along with 17 ducklings and 20 chicks. We will be uploading pictures very soon so please be patient, bloggings all new to us haha
Its been a crazy summer here and we've got alot of new stock on the farm. Jackies Nubians had 12 kids (2 were pictured in the EDP at the re-opening of the Goat Inn, Skyton) and our Boers had 13!! All kinds of fun haha ... (pics to follow) We were also very lucky to get 5 Kalahari Red young ladies, which we intend to breed alongside our Traditional Boer lines. We had 9 little piglets from Robins pig, along with 17 ducklings and 20 chicks. We will be uploading pictures very soon so please be patient, bloggings all new to us haha
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Fresh Meat
It was a sad day on Monday when our first goat and 2 more little piggies when to the abattoir. This does however mean we shall have some meat soon so do let us know if you'd like any.
Goat meat is said to be much healthier than other meats and taste similar to lamb. It is also one of the most consumed meats in the world.
Goat meat is said to be much healthier than other meats and taste similar to lamb. It is also one of the most consumed meats in the world.
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