Debbies Birthday!

Last night a group of us gathered at The Queens Head Kettlesing to celebrate, albeit two days early, the 50th Birthday of our friend Debbie. You will have seen Debbie on this Blog as part of the Hopper Lane Dominoes Team!.
We all had a fabulous meal and of course the compulsory cake, candle and singing Happy Birthday to You!!
So Happy Birthday to you Debbie for thursday, hope you have a lovely time with your family!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! The weather has been amazing this last week or so, for the time of year, but last night we finally got some rain. That combined with the warm sunshine again today has the trees just bursting into life. I love the colours of the spring, so fresh and green.
Ive just been out with the washing and saw the newly weaned Belties sitting out front so I went to say Hello. They didnt say Hello back but never mind! They looked to be enjoying the sunshine,

Harrogate Spring Flower Show

Over the last four days Harrogate Flower Show has been taking place down at the Yorkshire Show Ground. If you've never been and you like all things gardening this is the place to be. It does get very busy but there are lots of places to have a sit down and catch your breath. And its not just gardening, theres lots of food and craft stalls, something for everyone.
At the Spring show I love to go and have a look at all the flower arranging. There are some absolutely stunning displays, a tremendous amount of work goes into it all, its quite amazing.
Yesterday was no exception and I went with my very talented friend, and Floral genius, Daphne who has a florists shop called Hearts and Flowers on Otley Road in Harrogate.
Daphne had entered the class called A Magical Landscape and it was all about Alnwick Castle. The design Daphne did was her interpretation of the cascading waterfall.
The waterfall is a tumbling mass of water with spellbinding displays. The Grand Cascade is the largest water feature of its kind in the country and every minute, 7260 gallons of water tumble down a series of 21 weirs .
I think Daphnes interpretation portrays this very well indeed!!

TB Testing Part Two!

Its been a hectic old day today. I started off with a full house for Breakfast, then the vet was coming back to check the cattle, all 6 guests checked out and Ive 6 checking in tonight. Its now 3pm and Ive only just finished cleaning so Im really pleased none of the new guests arrived early!!
Anyway the visit from the Vet went very well. We thought that as the cows had been through the crush on friday they might not be keen on going through again. However they all wandered through calmly, Martin the vet checked them all and the conclusion was that all is well. None of the cattle have TB. Hurray, a great result!

TB Testing the Belties

As we reintroduced cattle to the farm last year we have had to have a routine TB test done on them.
Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an infectious disease of cattle. It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), which can also infect and cause TB in deer, goats, pigs, camelids (llamas and alpacas), dogs and cats, as well as many other mammals but doesnt affect Horses and Sheep luckily.
We thought the cattle might have been a bit frisky as they aren't used to being inside and handled. However they turned out to be very ameanable and came through the crush really well. Thomas showed his dominance and was first off the mark to show his ladies how its done!!
This test has to be carried out by a vet who begins by measuring the thickness of the skin in the neck on the animal, this is recorded next to their eartag number and details
Then they have two small injections of tuberculin and after 72 hours the vet will return. All the cattle will have to come back through the crush so he can feel their necks for any lumps. Any lumps found will be measured and if they are over 4mls larger than the recorded measurements they are deemed to be a reactor. Any cattle in the UK found to have TB have to go for slaughter and incinerated as the meat in unfit for human consumption.
Really hoping he doesnt find any lumps on Monday!

21 Years of B&B!!

Well this is an exciting milestone day here at Scaife Hall Farm as we celebrate 21 years of welcoming guests to our home.
We opened our doors on Friday 13th April 1990, unlucky for some I guess, but this has actually turned out to be a good move!
It seems such a long time ago, although Chris tells me Im good for at least another 30, I cant imagine that and certainly wont be going at the pace we are now. I might have to be more seasonal I think and get some help in with bed changing!!!.
Its certainly been a very interesting and varied 21 years. We have met people from all over the world and all walks of life from the Mongolian Horse Farmer to the Jonny Depp lookalike who was here for a party next door!! Adrian Boswell from Bread came to stay as did one of the experts from Antiques Roadshow, an International Cricket Umpire and a Director of the South African Cricket Board to name but a few.
Ive been a member of Farm Stay UK for nearly 20 years and have made a great deal of friends around the UK, largely due to the honour of being UK Chairman for 3 years, and Thank them for all their help and support which is invaluable.
Through this I went to Buckingham Palace and met the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and also courtesy of Visit Britain I went to Milan for three days to do a presentation to the media about Holidaying in the Uk, all wonderful experiences.
I would thank Barclays but theyve had plenty back in return for their help!!
So Thank you to all our visitors and friends who have helped our business to grow and we look forward to welcoming many more in the years to come.

Washburn Heritage Centre Visit

Yesterday afternoon we hosted a group of visitors who came to see us via the Washburn Heritage Centre. There were about 20 people in all who came to see the sheep and lambs. Luckily one ewe produced on cue and they all got to see a Live birth, well two actually as she had twins!!
We have, at the moment lots of pet lambs, so there was an opportunity for lots of cuddles.
This little girl, Arwen, got on so well with her lamb it went to sleep in her arms! Soo cute!
After seeing the lambs the pigs were next on the list. Chris let them out into the yard and they ran round grunting and squealing, as did the children, well maybe the children were not grunting but they all seemed to be enjoying the fun!!