| Newsletter Spring 2006 | page 2 of 5 | |
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In our farm shop
All our apples are now gone, and we don't expect strawberries until the end of May. However, we have jams, jellies and apple juice, and the usual juice mixes including raspberry and apple, strawberry and apple, blackcurrant and apple, as well as presentation bags, bag-in-box juice and so forth. And, as always, the playground is open for all who wish to partake.
A new orchard
We have been planting orchard yet again this spring, with a further four acres of various apples. Among these are old favourites like Tipperary Pippin, and some new introductions never planted before, including Wellant and Autento. We look forward to trying these new apples, which are reputed to have excellent flavour, and supplying them to you, commencing this autumn. We have also planted trial trees of old and rare varieties.
Apple Blossoms
The apples will be coming into full flower during the first week of May. If you wish to see a beautiful sight, call out, perhaps on Saturday the 6th or Sunday the 7th. If the weather is nice, take a walk around and breathe in the scent. Better than a Bulmer's advert, and that's not easy!
Cider vinegar
Following many comments by farmers
about the ability of cider vinegar to reduce somatic cell counts in
milk, we have started to produce and sell a probiotic cider vinegar
specifically for this purpose. Results have been good, with one farmer
who has a sixty cow herd in Dundrum attributing a drop in cell count
from 550 to 160 in a month, to the effects of feeding the vinegar to his
cows by adding it to their drinking water, and more positive reports
coming from other dairy farmers in the area.
Because of the sceptical nature of people (not least myself) to unproven
cures, I have arranged for clinical trails to be undertaken in the
University of Limerick next autumn. These will compare herds with high
cell counts that receive no treatments, with herds receiving our
probiotic cider vinegar, and also pasteurised (non-probiotic) vinegar.
Hopefully the results of the trials may shed some light on how the cider
vinegar may have an effect on somatic cell counts, and also will help to
convince all involved that the vinegar really does have a positive
effect.
If, in the meantime, you wish to try some vinegar on your herd, or on a
small number of animals in the herd, it is available from our farm.
- Page 1: Gideon's Apple
- Page 3: Apple Frost Protection
- Page 4: Peak Oil, Solar Grants
- Page 5: Religion, by Willem Traas
- Newsletter main page