What happens during winter?
Winter sees the cattle being brought back inside after a spring and summer at grass on the Morrisons Farm at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Our new cattle shed is well ventilated so that the livestock get access to lots of fresh air yet are shielded from the worst of the winter cold and wet conditions that can be bad for their health and welfare.
We are in the process of building two native breed cattle breed herds, Shorthorn and Aberdeen Angus. We are particularly interested in developing a pedigree Shorthorn herd and were delighted to see the safe arrival of another twenty one calves during the autumn months.
The Shorthorn breed is the one we are planning to focus on long term for Morrisons’ new Traditional Beef range. This was launched in our stores in October and is proving extremely popular with customers.
Our sheep flock can winter happily outside as long as we make sure we give them plenty additional feed to make up for the diminishing amount of grass available as winter progresses.
Unfortunately heavy rainfall in south west Scotland during autumn resulted in waterlogged fields. This meant we had to abandon plans to sow winter wheat or barley – ideal for both straw and grain feed for livestock. We are now aiming to plant crops in spring so that we can at least have some supply of home grown cereals.
