Rob started calf rearing in 2001 here at Hill Top Farm.

He’s been looking after calves since he was a little boy on the family farm, but rearing them himself and making decisions on what he wants to buy, rear and sell has been going on since 2001.

Now, after several (a-hem … and the rest!!) years have gone by, he has decided that we are going to rear Hereford cattle, taking them from 2-3 weeks old, to fully grown.

Have a look on Wikipedia for information about the Hereford breed : Herefords

So, do you know the identifying features of a Hereford?

The classic white face on a black body

Hill Top Farm is the perfect place for these Herefords with all that Yorkshire grass!

Sometimes, they get even cuter, a ginger/red with a white face!

Maggie feeding these gentle Herefords

They will be kept in our barns during the colder months – the fields take too much of a hammering from their hooves in the winter months, and it’s much easier to keep an eye on them and keep them well fed in the barns in the colder months. Once the weather turns in the Spring (Rob & Jess keeping their fingers & toes crossed!), they can be let out into the fields.

I literally can’t wait to see them be let out!!! Expect bounding calves … well, they’re not so little now, so it might sound a bit thunderous!!!

We shall be taking pictures / videos / slow mos / time-lapse / anything else we can think of – sort-of-visuals for this moment!!!

Keep an eye on our Instagram posts to see what’s happening!

So, the calves we currently have, were born in July 2018, and Rob bought them in August. They are BIG!!! They are beautiful though! Jess looks after them daily during the week, and Rob looks after them over the weekends generally.

When younger, they required milk, which was a powder mixed with hot water, made up in the mornings for them, and fed to them in a trough. They were all weaned off the milk by the end of October 2018, and are now chowing through tonnes of hay, straw and Rob’s “home-mix”!!

This is a secret blend of (well not so secret now!!!) barley, wheat feed, molasses, soya and some minerals.

He has spent hours working out the best blend for optimum growth and health – believe me, I’ve seen the figures, heard the phone calls with different suppliers, spent hours crimping the barley after it was delivered to keep costs down … everything! You name it, he’s thought of it! And if he hasn’t thought of it, he wants to know about it!

So, what’s the point of all this?

To be able to produce our own beef for our guests.

It’s a hard thing for some people, to see their food in the field, and then accept that it goes on the plate. BUT it is what livestock farming is about, and something we truly believe in, and we 110% look after the animals to such high standards, that they lead a happy and healthy life.

We want everyone who comes here and enjoys our BBQ, to not only have our home-reared sausages, but also our burgers! And anything else we end up producing!

We are always happy to chat / educate / inform / put mis-information to bed etc … so ask away with questions! Follow our herds – watch them go out in the Spring, watch them enjoy, and eventually see them before they go.

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