Treathro Blog
Stories from David & Debbie

In January 2024 we were approached by our vet to see if we would like to be involved in The Pembrokeshire Project for bovine TB.   They were looking for 15 farms throughout Pembrokeshire to take part.   Although we are farming on such a small scale, we have experienced first hand the problems facing farmers regarding...

For the first time since we have been here we have had to make the decision to bring some of the cows inside due to the waterlogged fields.  Like most of the UK we have had a tremendous amount of rain over a long period and a lot of our fields are covered in standing...

Cwtch had been limping quite badly for a couple of days .  Rest and Metacam (the animal equivalent of ibruprofen) did not seem to be helping.  So a vet visit and X ray showed a ruptured cruciate ligament which was repaired using Extracapsular Lateral Suture Stabilization (ELSS).  This essentially uses a surture in place of...

We still have some amazing rescue chickens – they are living their best life as is evident from the size of some of the eggs they are laying – very painful I imagine!! It is still rare to get a double yolker – feel extra lucky when it happens!  Half a dozen of these gorgeous...

We have gradually developed what we consider the perfect Welcome Pack for our two holiday lets.  Almost completely locally sourced with our farm eggs, Morfa milk and our home made bara brith and welsh cakes (Mary Berry recipes), along with some fruit/herbal teabags and Kenco coffee pods for the coffee machine. Just what you need...

We have installed 36 solar panels onto the roof of our new barn, these along with the four new batteries that store a total of 18 kWh will go some way towards supplying the electricity for the farm and both holiday lets.  With any luck we can feed some back into the grid as well…..we...

With a mixture of regret and joy we have decided to sell our flock of sheep and to focus on the cattle instead.  Despite the advantages of having the sheep here – ie they eat the bits of grass the cows won’t, and the pleasure in seeing the lambs grow and play in the fields,...

Having loved having Maggie and missing her so much we started to look for another spaniel.  After a few months searching we managed to find a puppy which met all our requirements and as an added bonus her pedigree showed a number of relatives in common with Maggie! It is amazing how you forget what...

We have finally finished our replacement barn…….! The old Atcost shed was knocked down and some of the old concrete pillars used to adjust the ground heights.  The roof was asbestos so had to be disposed of safely by being wrapped in plastic, put in a special skip and taken to a registered tip.  ...

What a horrendous winter it has been so far, not cold but just almost non-stop rain.  The fields are now almost like rice fields, with the cattle and sheep almost paddling about! Our cattle are bred to be outwintered and usually do very well outside, the one problem is the pouching of the fields causing...

On the whole the breeding cows look after themselves.  They are given a long acting mineral bolus twice a year, their hooves are trimmed annually, if necessary they have a spot on mite treatment and the occasional worm treatment.  They are checked twice a day and moved around the farm for good grass as required,...

Very very sadly Maggie our spaniel died at the beginning of this month…..she was 13 and life was becoming increasingly difficult for her, she had increasing canine dementia which was beginning to impact on her quality of life (and Cwtch’s!).  In many ways we were very lucky, she died very suddenly here at home jumping...

We were a little more anxious this year as this was the first year we had used Durham and it was his first season.  However, he didn’t fail to deliver and all 17 cows he covered were pregnant.  So happy all round….. Our vet uses ultrasound to give the cows an internal scan through the...

Back in July we became the owners of another farm cat…..We were down to three cats and felt it was time to increase our numbers!  Hence the addition of the absolutely stunning Tommy.   He came from a domestic litter so we were concerned how he would adapt.  As with all new kittens he needed...

We were determined to bring the ewes inside as near to due date as possible as we felt they were in too long last year resulting in a lot of potential prolapses – factors contributing to this are being overweight and lack of exercise so the longer they are outside the better.  We brought them...

Finally ready for letting.  It has been over two years since this project started and it has certainly felt that long!  The barn was in a worse condition than The Dairy and as we weren’t in a particular hurry, we decided to use a builder we knew and trusted and be more involved ourselves.  The...

We have 3 semi wild ponies which roam the headland, they come from generations of welsh mountain ponies bred for such unique terrain.  They are used for conservation grazing and keep the gorse, bracken and brambles under control, this allows the habitat to remain in good condition for the wildlife in this area.  They are...

Our intention has always been to grow our suckler herd by keeping some of our heifer calves, this obviously means we have to sell Tim (our absolutely gorgeous pedigree Red Devon bull) and replace him with another bull that can service his daughters!  We advertised Tim and put the word out for a few months...

We know the time has come to wean the calves off as the cows march off determinedly when they start trying to feed,! This is usually when they are around 9 months old, the calves seem to spend most of their time away from their mums anyway.  Perfect timing as the cows should have a...

When we first moved onto the farm we had the whole perimeter securely fenced, leaving individual fields to be done as and when – at least we knew if livestock escaped they could only explore our land!  Some fences were fine but the majority needed replacing or mending in parts.  Relying on electric fencing is...