On October 4th video recordings were made of different scenes on the

farm and in the dairy as part of the EuroDairy Project to provide farmer

to farmer information about different innovative projects on dairy farms.

Once available we will include the video on our website.

Six families visited the farm and dairy in October: on the 3rd a family

from Oñati,

Two scientists from Neiker (Farm R&D) collected samples of slurry and

manure on October 4th for a comparative study of slurry and manure

from organic and conventional dairy farms to identify hypothetical

differences in the microfauna depending on usage or absence of 

antibiotics on conventional and organic farms respectively. The study

is part of the EU URAGAN program to promote the “rational” use of

antibiotics on livestock farms. From our point of view the most

rational policy would be the gradual reduction and elimination of the

systematic use of antibiotics on farms, but this would obviously imply

immediate changes in livestock farming models. We stress we use no

antibiotics on our farm.

Apart from the weekjly farmers’ market held in Bilbao every Saturday,

we also went to the organic fair in Gasteiz on October 7^th and the

annual fairs held in Lanestosa (October 1^st), Zalla (October 2^nd),

Karrantza (October 7^th), Arrigorriaga (October 22^nd) and Galdames

(October 29^th).

Flower of the month. Mint (Mentha sp.)

There are quite a few mint species, some easier to identify than others.

Additionally there is a tendency for mint species to cross. Mint tends to

be invasive and when we find it in our fields it is usually in given patches.

Mint has many uses, in the cooking, in medicine, as a natural insect

repellant and as a room scent. . It has no particular forrage value.

One of the most important extra jobs on the farm in the autumn is

cutting back hedges and clearing patches of brambles, nettles or

other scrub that may have appeared during the spring and autumn

and which the grazing animals do not trample or eat.

The resulting piles of branches or plants are sometimes shredded using

the topper.

Much of October as characterised by hot sunny days (wiht tempera-

tures reaching the high 28ºC) followed by relatively cold nights (with

temperatures falling to 5 or 6ºC). We also had some damp, cloudy

days but very little actual rainfall, only 16 litres in fact. In this sort

of weather we find that many seeds that have fallen in the allotment,

such as tomato or green bean seeds,  begin to germinate. However

these plants do not survive the colder weather later in the year.

What did the cows eat?

As we mentioned above, there was hardly any rainfall in October, but

the cloudy days, mists and dewfall on cold mornings helped make grazing available.

Thus, the cows were able to graze nearly every day, although we also

gave them pea and alfalfa based forrage, grass silage and a little feedstuff.

Given that the bedrock below the farm is mainly limestone, there are very

few natural water points available for the cattle and we thus take water

to each field as the heifers move around the farm.

All farm machinery is periodically cleaned.

Recipe of the month: Fried cheese

We have made this very simple recipe with both our soft cheese and

our fine cheese. Obviously the more flavoursome the cheese the stron-

ger the taste of the fried cheese… in the case of Vista Alegre cheese,

using fine cheese gives a stronger flavoured dish.

1 cheese (about 300g)

Very fine bread crumbs

3 eggs

Jam (optional)

Cut the cheese into 2-3mm slices. Beat two eggs in a plate, keeping

the third for if necessary. Put the fine breadcrumbs on a second plate.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and when hot, coat each slice of cheese

in egg and then breadcrumbs and fry for about 1 minute, letting the

breadcrumbs brown and the cheese heating but not melting. Eat hot.

The fried cheese can be served with different sorts of jam (optional).

We have seen very few snakes this year… this slow worm (Anguis

fragilis... strictly speaking not a snake but a lizard) appeared one very

warm afternoon.

César went to a one-day course in the Derio Farm College (Bizkaia) on

the theory and practical methdology for taking milk samples for analyses

(we have to do this for Listeria tests, for example). Miren went to a

week long course on theory and practice of cheese making, run by the

Arroyo Laboratory in Santander.