Last week we had managed to deliver Thunderbob into the field at Hey Farm and it looked as though she was settling down nicely. She got on well with the other heifers and as long as she was left alone she was fine. To tell the truth she was a bit rangy when I bought her and I wasn't sure how well she would do but I needn't have bothered, she soon put condition on and started to fill out into a nice, if not spectacular, young beast. She was the sort of animal you knew would never need a vet. Don't ask me how I knew that, I couldn't give you an answer but she had that look about her.
As all the heifers put weight on they caught up with the grass in the field and it became obvious I would have to do something about it. At one time in the early 18th century Queen Anne bought farms and dedicated the income from them to the support of the local church. Hey Farm was one of these and part of what was called Queen Anne's Bounty. In the early 19th century when the moor was enclosed, parts of it were set aside to augment the Bounty and Hey Farm had a small enclosure on Whitemoor but this was sold off sometime later in the century, I think when Crooks bought the farm. Edward got to hear that this small piece of land was up for agistment, letting off for summer grazing, so I asked him to secure it for us and one weekend we decided to drive the heifers up there to better grass for the summer.
No problem, we simply drove them out onto the road and set off up the hill for the moor. Thunderbob gave no trouble at all, she followed her mates until we got half way up the hill alongside the field when she decided she wasn't having it, broke through the hedge into the field and started grazing as though nothing had happened. We decided that if that was what she wanted, she might as well stay there. If we got her onto the moor she would probably have escaped and come back anyway. So, while her mates were on holiday she stayed on her own with us until after a few months we brought them back.
When the weather turned we brought them into the barn for the winter (I'd bought a load of hay) and they hadn't been in long before Thunderbob came in season so we sent for the Billycock Bull, this was the name we gave the artificial inseminator from the Milk Marketing Board who, for a small fee inseminated her with very high quality semen. We had a bit of a job holding her but she took nicely and by the time turning out time came in Spring she was nicely in calf and doing well. She was due in July, a good month for calving.
Ted Waite with some more of his ladies. Hey Farm 1976.
