As we feared, Mike the bull wasn't firing on all cylinders last year. We should have almost finished calving by now, but so far just five calves have been born (all heifers). We replaced Mike with our new bull, Winston, in July 2007 so we'll probably get a surge of calves in April (lambing time) which will cause problems if the weather's bad. Here are some photos of the calves when they were in the back yard while Chris mucked out the shed and gave them clean straw.
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The stags are back on the farm again. On 4th March, we counted 27 red deer stags on Opposite (the field opposite the farmhouse). I took a photo with Chris' camera.
When I was spring-cleaning the holiday cottage this morning, I saw three stags from the window of the master bedroom, so I took a photo of what guests may see from their bedroom. It's usually sunnier than this, of course! Chris saw a roe buck by the track to Barham Field the other day, and took this photo. We seem to be becoming a wildlife sanctuary. It's lovely to see so many deer on the farm, as long as they leave a bit of grass for the sheep, cattle and ponies.

Chris and Sarah on Arabella & Tempo

Chris didn't want a birthday party, so the Exmoor Foxhounds met at West Ilkerton and we had a party anyway. Our wonderful neighbour, Jim Sanders, collected £1 coins from lots of friends and neighbours and bought a lovely Rowan tree which Richard Leworthy supplied and planted. Many thanks to everyone for making the day so special. Ken Walker made a speech, Jim Sanders sang, and everyone had a good time despite occasional flurries of sleet and snow. We were very pleased that Ada Tucker came. She was born at West Ilkerton and lived here until the farm was sold to my Grandma in the late 1960s. It's always a treat to see Ada at West Ilkerton. I took a photo of her standing by the entrance to the yard (last picture below). The photo at the top of the Farm page of our website http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/ is of Ada standing in the yard when she was about nine years old.