Christmas down on the farm

The Savills Blog

Christmas down on the farm

For some, Christmas is a chance to slow down and press pause. For others, the holidays can be anything but. Here’s a snapshot of festivities down on the farm.

Calling out the vet to deliver a calf by Caesarean section isn’t ideal, especially over Christmas, but on Helen Newbrook’s family farm in North Wales it goes with the territory. With around 100 dairy cows, 650 breeding sheep and varying numbers of beef cattle, Christmas Day is very much a working day for those with animals to tend.

Everyone has to get stuck in but, as Helen says, “That’s why I love it – it’s family time.”

Up at 6 am for 6.30 milking – festive music in the milking parlour the only concession to the holiday season – then it’s off to check on the calves and other livestock which must all be fed and watered. Bedding must be clean and the sheds mucked out before heading out to the fields to check on the sheep. Frustratingly for children, presents must wait.

Christmas dinner comes as a welcome break before, come rain or snow, it’s back out for milking and more livestock checks at 5 pm. And throughout, there’s always the chance of greeting a new arrival in the dairy herd. 

In contrast, by Christmas Eve it’s time to take a couple of days off on the Logan family farm in East Lothian before deliveries start again for New Year.

The farm supplies potatoes – 400 acres of them in various forms, ‘dirty’, peeled or chipped – to a variety of markets including the main hospitals in the Central Belt as well as restaurants, chip shops, wholesalers and schools. This makes the run-up to Christmas especially busy. Wherever and whenever you’re eating it, who doesn’t want tatties with their turkey.

And although Christmas Day itself is a holiday, the farm’s roadside vending machine – The Veg Shed – is still ready for action should anyone get caught short. 

Always well stocked with eggs, seasonal vegetables and Maris Piper potatoes, the 40-locker machine is popular with the public who are increasingly interested in the provenance of their food. And, because it’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it can be a valuable pit stop. 

Hamish tells of one Christmas Eve when the overnight CCTV camera captured a nocturnal shopper. Had the reindeer run out of carrots? Nope, it was the police on a late shift – and a festive food emergency with a happy ending, we’d like to think.

Further information

Helen Newbrook grew up on the family farm in North Wales and is now a food and farming consultant for Savills in Taunton. Hamish Logan is a food and farming consultant based in Savills Perth office who spends one day a week working on the family farm in East Lothian.

Contact Helen Newbrook or Hamish Logan

 

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