Calves to help secure island’s biodiversity
THEY ARE only small, but two newly-born calves have a big responsibility ahead.
The calves, born on Valentine’s Day, have been given to La Societe Guernesiaise’s Conservation Herd and when they are older they will be helping to support the variety of life in the island by doing what comes naturally to them.
At this stage the calves are too little to join the herd, and volunteers help out twice a day to feed, water, muck out, and provide fresh bedding.
Dave Bartram, the manager of the herd, picked up the calves from James Watts’ Meadow Court Farm at the weekend.
While the Guernsey cow has a strong cultural heritage, Mr Bartram said the role of this herd was to repair and conserve nature.
‘They will be future grazers for increasing biodiversity within Guernsey. They are Guernsey pure bred, but it’s not about the breed of cow, it’s all about increasing the biodiversity.
‘Like any newborn it’s a lot of milk to start with, maybe three litres in the morning and more in the evening.
‘Then over the weeks we gradually wean them off the milk onto the solids and onto hay.
‘Ultimately a cow will have four stomachs, but their first stomach is called a rumen and it’s very delicate and needs building up to create the main stomach, so we have to make sure that the milk that we give them is at the right temperature, so we mix it up and we serve it to them at about 39/40C.’
Later in the summer, after they have practised grazing by themselves, it will be time for the youngsters to join the main herd, and then in the autumn two of the three-year-old cows in the herd will be sent for slaughter.
Within the last decade around half of Guernsey’s species-rich grasslands, which support the ecosystem, have been lost.
Modern agricultural practices do not always support the flourishing of flora and fauna, so this herd goes to different sites around the island with the aim of bringing back life.
Mr Bartram explained how the different sizes of cow support biodiversity.
‘As well as grazing there are different weights trampling the ground, it’s the trampling that disturbs the earth and brings seeds to the surface and creates ideal germination.
‘So maybe an orchid seed will lie dormant for 100 years waiting for the right environment, and these guys will come along and graze the grass, trample it, poo on it, and create the right environment for an orchid seed that’s been dormant for decades.’
For 13-year-old Luca Gaudion, seeing the new calves arrive was an exciting day.
Luca is one of the volunteers who are helping to raise the calves.
‘It’s nice to be with the animals, I love them, and they’re settling into their new home well.
‘I’ll come down here whenever it’s my shifts and I’ll feed them, give them milk, give them nuts, and muck out their beds, fill up their water.
‘They were a little bit jumpy when they first got here, but now they’re getting used to their surroundings, and they have calm natures.’
The volunteers do not usually name the animals because of the nature of farming, but Luca could not resist and had named the pair Valentine and Rainbow.
