On March 7^th a group of Secondary school students from Sopuerta

visited the farm and dairy.

On the 17^th we showed a family from Gipuzkoa around the farm and

dairy and on the 24^th a family from Bilbao.

Two cows calved in February.

What was the weather like?

After the first ten or so days of very mixed weather with sun,

clouds and rain, the weather was predominantly dry and sunny,

with very low temperatures in the mornings (2-4ºC) and  even

a light frost on the 27^th and warmer temperatures reaching

14-16ºC during the day and unusually to 20ºC on the 24^th.

We collected 91 litres in the rain gauge.

What did the cows eat?

The drier weather meant the cows could graze outside, the first day

being on March 12^th. . The cows were, as usual, very frisky after

months in the barn. We also gave them freshly mown grass and a little

feedstuff.

Recipe of the month: Quick and easy yogurt marinade for chicken

This month’s recipe is a very quick and easy one, really the first step for

a chicken dish:

Add a squeeze of lemon juice to one cup of natural yogurt, plus 1 tsp

minced garlic and a tablespoon of curry powder. Stir together and add

chicken (breasts and or thighs). Marinate in a bowl up to 24 hours and

then cook using your favorite cooking method (grill, roast, etc.).

Blackthorn is native to Europe, western Asia and parts of northwest

Africa. On the farm it is usually found in hedgerows and reaches the

size of small trees in some areas of scrub. Its sharp thorns make it

a useful hedgerow plant. Its other common name “sloe” really refers

to its fruit, a very dry tasting wild “plum”, which is used to make

sloe gin or can be used with other hedgerow fruits such as black-

berries, elderberries and hawthorns to make jam or jelly. The flowers

can be used to make tea.  In the Basque Country sloes are used to

make “patxaran” with aniseed liqueur. Blackthorn makes very good

firewood, burning slowly with good heat but little smoke. The wood

was also sought after for making strong walking sticks and tool

handles.

During March we made some silage, spread slurry, got rid

of nettles and dockplants

As old fern leaves die back they sometimes make circular

patterns on the ground.

We went to the farmers market in Bilbao every week. Additionally,

on March 19^th, we went to the annual farm fair in Güeñes.

In March we bought the piglets we will fatten up during the year

ready for making chorizo sausages in the winter.

Occasionally, the cows, heifers or calves manage to escape from

the pastures. This is usually due to the presence of other cows

in nearby fields, a gate left open or a rickety fence. Even if a

fence of hedge is intact, animals will sometimes force a way out

of a field. On the 25^th it took us two hours to find, round up and

herd back to their field seven calves and heifers.

The quality of our milk

Parameter

Optimum result

Farm result

Fat content

>3,70

3,79

Protein

>3,10

3,15

Bacteriology

<100.000

11.000

Somatic cell count

c.150.000

185.000

Presence  / absence antibiotics

Absence

Absence