A BUNCH OF FLOWERS FOR MOTHERS DAY

It’s that time of year when the early sentinels of Spring, the native snowdrops, are cheekily showing their faces from the hedgerows and jolly daffodil blooms are dancing merrily on the breeze. They are a reminder that Spring is tantalizing just around the corner and with it, the excited anticipation of warmer climes.

This weekend sees us celebrating Mothers’ Day and no doubt many bunches of spring flowers will be given as a symbol of love.

Here on the farm, every day is Mothers’ Day.  Rarely does a day go past when a new life is not being brought in to this world by one of our Oak Park Girls.  Since 2018, Emily has been building her herd of Jerseys (some women covet the latest designer heels – Emily loves to collect beautiful pedigree cows!) and she has dedicated a lot of thought and energy into the breeding lines of her beloved girls.

Now at this point we could go off and wax lyrical about the technical benefits of Jersey milk and the fact that it contains 18% more protein and 20% more calcium than average milk.  Or that the Jersey cow actually has a low carbon footprint due to its’ ability to convert food to high quality milk.  But you don’t want to hear about that.  You need to know the real key detail which is …. Do our cows have names?

And we can categorically say yes, most definitely.  When born, a calf will be allocated a number which stays with it for its entire life.  A required legal formality yes, but who wants to be just a number? Emily likes to give her girls a name based on their family ancestry and it just so happens that the Oak Park Dairy herd are named after flowers – so you could say we have our very own bunch of flowers!

The first of Emily’s Jerseys to be born here on the farm was in the Spring of 2018 and she was christened Primrose.  Since then, there have been many flowers born – Honeysuckle, Forget-Me-Not, Clover, Violet, Daffodil, Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe. The list goes on.  And they in turn have given birth to their own mini Irises, Buttercups, Daisies and Peonies.

Now, you’re not supposed to have favourites but Emily does have a soft spot for Lupin. She’s a girl with attitude who is always the first one into the milking parlour.  You see, if you are the first one in the parlour, you’re going to be the first one out which means only one thing, you get first dibs on the fresh food. And don’t think you can stop her when she’s on a mission for anything edible – she’s got sass and is not afraid to use it!  You certainly can’t say that she’s lacking in character.  In fact, our herd of cows are all characters in their own right. They are beautiful creatures, easy going with a side-line in escapology and above all they are fantastic mothers.

So, to all the fantastic Mothers who deserve recognition, we hope a bunch of flowers is on its way to you this weekend.

And to our own mum, Linda, who keeps us going when the going gets tough and is the fastest bottler in the West, we can’t promise you roses this Mothers’ Day but there is a large bunch of flowers out in the field waiting to come in for milking!

 Emily and Matthew