Personal Journal of Karen Hunter age 14

I live at West Tarbrax Farm Shotts with my dad Robert, mum Lorraine, sister Alison (11) and brother Mark (9)

We own Clydevalley Jerseys and Letterkenny Holsteins

March 2008
We started serious training of the Jersey cattle for Ayr Agricultural Show. Alison’s calf seems to be very strong willed and is growing faster than she is.

Clydevalley Sultans Twinkle 7 sold 2600gns 13th Gold Top Sale

April 2008
Alison’s calf is still proving stubborn and she has also decided to take one of her “Judy” Holstein heifers which I have to lead because of its size.

May 2008
Moved all 8 Jerseys, 1 Holstein plus feeding, plus caravan and all showing stuff to Ayr Show. Weather had short downpours but luckily stayed dry for the dairy classes. We won all the classes on the Saturday including Champion and reserve with 2 sisters. I managed a 3rd in my showmanship class but Alison’s calf was still uncontrollable- well it was 6 inches taller than her - so she took an experienced dry cow in a showmanship competition and managed a 3rd place. She is now determined to have a calf leading for the Highland Show next month.

Ayr Show May 2008

June 2008
Dad started silage and we managed to bale it all dry. Mark was in his element, being machinery daft and made sure everybody was where they were supposed to be. Alison chose another calf, hoping it wouldn’t grow too fast. Had a morning out when we took a cow and calf to Real Radio where the presenter had to milk by hand. The calf was in the studio and we all had a good laugh.

We are all a bit disappointed that dad decided not to show at the Royal Highland Show this year as there is too much going on at home. Definitely next year!!!!!!

Real Radio June 2008

July 2008
We managed a quick holiday in Tenerife in the sun. Dad was judging Jerseys at Great Eccleston Show and at Penrith. These were great days out with lots of good Jerseys in the sunshine for a change and what’s more we agreed with dad’s judging. We also went to Kintyre for the day for the Scottish Holstein club trip we went to see 3 herds and took part in the stock judging competition we all finished in the top3 in our appropriate groups. It was a great day. At the end of the month we had a bus (55 people!) trip visiting from Northern Ireland to see around the farm. We gave them supper and they were in no hurry it was dark when some came in from the fields -It was a late night.

August 2008
Another busy month! 2nd cut silage seems to be taking forever because of the miserable weather, dad keeps stopping and starting, Preparing for the calf show at Lanark Market, things worked out well, Alison had chosen a “Belle “ calf which was going really well and I inherited her “Highland Show calf” which had outgrown her so I didn’t have much calf training to do as Alison had it going really well. We got Champion and Reserve champion Jerseys and we both managed a 2nd in our showmanship classes against Holstein breeders so we were both happy.

Lanark Calf Show August 2008

September 2008
The cattle have started to come in for the winter which means we are all kept busy, cleaning out, bedding and feeding. We do the afternoon shift after school and 1 morning at the weekends. We get quicker each time until dad has a shift around!!!!

October 2008
Start of the month is time off for Alison and me to do our other pastime which is dancing. Our annual show lasts for 3 days so with rehearsal time it takes a week but we love it. We then hosted a cattle dressing training session for the young farmers, we tagged on and learned a lot. Good job we didn’t have to have them all lead! By the end of the month dad has a short list for AgriScot so we help lead and get all the stuff organized.

October 2008

November 2008
AgriScot- we get the day off school- and it is a very busy day there are lots of good dairy cattle present. We manage a 3rd and 4th in the heifer class and a 3rd in the cow class. We are busy all the time talking to lots of people and this year we managed a 1st for best presented cattle stalls so it made all our work worthwhile.

AgriScot November 2008

December 2008
Merry Christmas! Quite a quiet month. Alison got a new set of cattle clippers and is desperate to use them. Good job it is so cold!

Show Calves 2008

January 2009
Dad said it would be an easy New Year! So far he has had loads of cows calve, It is our job to look after them and it can take ages!

February 2009
We are all trying to decide what calves to pick for Ayr Show. Mark wants to try showing for the first time and choosing a suitable calf is proving difficult. There is plenty to choose from but guessing how much they are going to grow is the difficulty.

Oh well back to training cattle next month it doesn’t seem like a year since we did this!

Here’s hoping for a good season!!!!!!!