Oak House Farm News 1.10.20

The weather has taken a turn for the worse over the last few days and it’s not looking great for the weekend. It’s a bit of a worrying time on the farm as we need a few dry days now to sow the autumn crops and at the moment it feels a bit like last autumn’s washout. With barbecues now firmly behind us for the year (unless you’re really keen), it might be a good weekend for a casserole or nice roast joint. All the meat you need will be available in the shop on Friday and Saturday Large Whites As well as our Old Spot pigs, we have a small herd of Large Whites. For many years, the Large White was one of the main breeds of pig reared commercially in England. In fact the original inhabitants of some of the older pig buildings at Oak House Farm were a prize winning herd of Large White’s owned Lord Woodbridge who owned the farm at the time. More recently the breed has declined very significantly as more modern breeding lines have taken over the commercial pig industry. There are now less than 350 Large White sows left in the country making the breed one of the most at risk on the Rare Breed Survival Trust list. We are pleased to be doing our bit to help preserve this fantastic breed of pig, which is prolific and generally good natured as well as making for tasty pork and bacon. Profile: Kalico Dundee Our shorthorn bull Dundee is 10 years old but we have never kept any of his daughters as all of our female cows are pure Red Poll. Dundee is a real favourite of everyone on the farm and is rather like a large, friendly dog. Recently we have acquired a couple of Shorthorn females to add to the herd, Margot and Esther. This spring, Esther had a heifer calf and Dundee is the sire. Kalico Dundee is a very special calf as she is the first daughter of Dundee that we will be adding to our herd. Hopefully she will inherit Dundee’s easy going nature. Opening Times  Wednesday 9am - 3pm  Friday 9am - 5pm  Saturday 10am - 4pm Please observe our C-19 precautions in the shop—one customer (or group of related customers) in the shop at a time please.