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Notable treble for pedigree Otley herd

9:00am Sunday 16th September 2012

The Newbirks Holstein Friesian pedigree herd of A Lawson & Son, based at Mill Farm, Arthington, Otley, achieved a notable treble when clinching championship, reserve championship and top price honours at the opening September Craven Dairy Auction at Skipton Auction Mart.

11,000 on sale

10:00am Saturday 15th September 2012

Skipton Auction Mart’s peak sheep sales season continues to produce massive turnouts, with another five-figure entry at the latest fortnightly store lamb fixture, when almost 11,000 head of lambs were penned for sale.

It's the end of an era

11:42am Friday 6th July 2012

We have just returned from the Royal Highland Show. As exhibiting at the show is quite costly, we debated long and hard as to whether the trip would be worthwhile, but as we have quite a number of customers in Scotland we decided it was probably time for a return trip north of the border.

Rain stops play again

10:43am Friday 22nd June 2012

It’s Sunday afternoon and I am sitting in the Land Rover in Commercial square in Leyburn waiting to meet up with our honey supplier. We are short of honey, in fact we have run out and it is my fault because I badly underestimated how much we would need for this week’s production. At least it’s a better day than yesterday, it’s fine and quite warm and even though there are very few shops open now there are still quite a lot of people wandering around. I have three buckets to collect and I am borrowing a warming box as two of the buckets are still quite thick and grainy and we can’t use it like that; hopefully by tomorrow morning they will be just right.

Show day was a wash-out

12:35pm Thursday 14th June 2012

Every move I make is being watched. Two pairs of eyes are peering at me from the soil construction that is cemented into the corner of the office window. It is not quite complete as the soilwork around the entrance hole needs a bit more work, but I think the pair that picked the nest site might have spent their first night in their new home.

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Welcome to London

2:36pm Monday 11th June 2012

Last week David and I had another London trip. We travelled down to Guildford on Tuesday and stayed overnight with my cousin Alison, enjoying a very good meal out at Jamie’s (Jamie Oliver), a restaurant in the centre of town.

Dale looking lush and green

2:23pm Thursday 31st May 2012

It’s about 9.30pm and I have just been out to check on a couple of lambs that have been”blowing up”. This build up of gas in the stomach can be fatal if you don’t catch it in time and it can often happen in bottle fed (hand reared) lambs that are starting to take dry feed. It’s pretty upsetting too, particularly if you lose them after rearing them from birth.

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Birds return as sun shines

12:59pm Thursday 24th May 2012

I have only heard the cuckoo once this year. It was a few weeks back - one afternoon when I was getting out of the car to open the bridge gate. He sounded as though he was up the gill at the back of Raisgill, but the way sound echoes round the valley it is often difficult to tell. I had a few coins in my pocket and I seem to remember that's good luck. I also turned them over just to be sure!

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Weather's a hot topic

11:00am Thursday 17th May 2012

Just about everywhere you go and everyone you speak to at the moment seems to pass comment on the weather. I try not to, but it’s almost impossible not to talk about it when it affects so much of what we do in our day-to-day lives. Compared to the last two years, lambs born this year will have had a difficult start in life; many of them, lambs three weeks old or more, will have been wet through more often than they will have been dry. In fact they will have yet to experience what it is like to have warm sun on their backs.

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