Firebeacon Farm

06/03/2026

Calving 2026 has started with Dunny having a beautiful bull calf our of our old boy Harris!

She calved by herself during this afternoons school run in the pen with all the rest of her herd mates for support!

The calf is very spritley, trying to gallop and jump within the first 2hrs after having a big drink of milk from his mum!

It is so lovely to see cows calve themselves and the calves suckle and go on full of energy!

This is one reason we love the Dexter breed, as they very rarely have calving problems, and the calves are born easily and up on their feet and away!
fans

06/03/2026

The sheep were rather happy to see me this morning. It may be a drizzly one, but its wonderful to wake up to these guys everyday!
Marc Hamlett Amy Hamlett

04/03/2026

I found a wild egg this morning from our 'wild chicken!

Our chickens are all free range in a large paddock, but this lady is queen of the farm and roams freely, roasting with the cows at night.

We have tried to introduce her to the other hens, but despite wing clipping she still escapes, and off she goes around the farm!

I was lucky to find this egg this morning, she usually lays in the corner of the cattle barn! And amazingly the cows never break her eggs!
Marc Hamlett Amy Hamlett

03/03/2026

03/03/2026

The first cows out in 2026 for Firebeacon!
We turned out Red & Moonflower with their 3 calves today.

This is so we can make space for the main flock of sheep to come in for lambing soon!

So the cows have had a big shift around, Harris and Pepsi have also gone out. And some of the heifers have gone into a bay of the straw barn!
Marc Hamlett Amy Hamlett

02/03/2026

We are still putting up tree guards around all the trees, shrubs and the orchard we have recently been planting!

We are nearly there now. William has been a great help after school putting some more up! It has been a wonderful opportunity for us all to learn so much about our native trees and shrubs!

02/03/2026

With the flowers out all around the farm we have lots of insects and bumble bees busily going about their daily business.

Anyone would think Spring is here!

02/03/2026

Monday morning here at Firebeacon, Pancake and Boris are happy to say hello! Marc Hamlett Amy Hamlett

01/03/2026

Today we were bolusing, bvd testing and applying spot on to the whole herd. All 4 of us were on hand to help and get the job doen between morning and evening farm chores. Now thats what a family farm is about!

William found a fantastic new way to move the cattle in the race, that doesn't cause stress to animal or any potential injury to the handlers! He used his water pistol to spray water at them until they moved the correct way down the race into the crush! We found this worked really well, and will definitely be doing it again in the future, William is so inventive!

Rosie was brilliant at loading the bolus gun and writing down animals eartags for us.

Bolusing:
At Firebeacon farm we are low in iodine and selenium in the soils, so as the cattle are 100% pasture fed they also lack in these minerals. Every 6 months the animals receive a mineral bolus (similar to a multivitamin tablet) and it slowly releases minerals over the 6months.

Spot on:
In the winter the cattle are bedded on straw. This sometimes can cause them to get lice. This can cause irritation and loss of hair. So we use spot on, and topical solution we apply in one spot on the shoulders to help treat the lice.

BVD testing:
We test the herd routinely (the youngstock each year and any bought in animals) for BVD. This is to prevent any virus circulating in the herd, and if it was to occur we could catch it early.

We get our bolouses and spot on from.
ACT Wessex Marc Hamlett Amy Hamlett

01/03/2026

Today we were bolusing, bvd testing and applying spot on to the whole herd. All 4 of us were on hand to help and get the job done between morning and evening farm chores.

William found a fantastic new way to move the cattle in the race, that doesn't cause stress to animal or any potential injury to the handlers! He used his water pistol to spray water at them until they moved the correct way down the race into the crush! We found this worked really well, and will definitely be doing it again in the future, William is so inventive!

Rosie was brilliant at loading the bolus gun and writing down animals eartags for us.

Bolusing:
At Firebeacon farm we are low in iodine and selenium in the soils, so as the cattle are 100% pasture fed they also lack in these minerals. Every 6 months the animals receive a mineral bolus (similar to a multivitamin tablet) and it slowly releases minerals over the 6months.

Spot on:
In the winter the cattle are bedded on straw. This sometimes can cause them to get lice. This can cause irritation and loss of hair. So we use spot on, a topical solution we apply in one spot on the shoulders to help treat the lice.

BVD testing:
We test the herd routinely (the youngstock each year and any bought in animals) for BVD. This is to prevent any virus circulating in the herd, and if it was to occur we could catch it early.

We get our bolouses and spot on from ACT Wessex.
FarmingUK
Farmers Weekly

01/03/2026

Hurray its March and we can look forwards to around 2hrs extra of daylight by the end of March!