Charlie, our stockman, started the process this afternoon of weaning our calves.  When our calves are about 8 months old, they are separated from their mothers as they are now eating adult food and the mothers' milk is running out.  Already currently pregnant, our cows have a calf every 12 months, so this process gives them a break before their next calf is due. 

 To the human eye, this can appear to be very emotional for calf and cow alike with both tending to bawl continuously for about 4 days, which can be heard for some distance and causes some sleepless nights for us all!

With little notice the A361 North Devon link road was closed at the end of September with notices showing that it was likely to be closed for up to four months.

Really handy at the start of the shooting season which much of our rural economy relies upon during the slow winter season!

One might have thought, that since the A361 is the main arterial route for North Devon, overnight and weekend working would have been the sensible which would have seen the works complete inside a month but enquires elicited the response that “curing times” and “contingency planning” made this impossible.

Not to be put off a good day's shooting alternative methods of transport are often brought into play by our teams of guns, avoiding the irritants of our increasingly poor road network!

Our Stables Manager, Megan, has been busy welcoming some new faces to the livery yard.

Firstly Belle, a sometimes cheeky four and a half year old, who has transformed from being rather nervous to being happy and settled with her owner finding the breaking process far easier now she's at Mornacott.  Her owner says she has a very forgiving and kind nature and certainly likes her creature comforts!

Secondly, we welcomed Tumble, a rather frisky 6 year old chestnut thoroughbred.  At 16 hands, he has played two seasons of polo and has previously raced.

And lastly, Paddy, a very handsome and successful ex-show jumper.

Not a very exciting topic for a news update but one that causes great frustration for all of us a Mornacott! Conservatively we have around 600 gate posts around the estate and the frequency with which these now need replacing is increasingly concerning. Whilst some of the gate posts (lovely old solid pieces of oak!) have been supporting gates for decades most of the new gateposts installed in ongoing fencing projects started some seven years ago are already rotted through (many haven’t even lasted beyond three years!). We’re told that this is largely due to the changes in the law relating to what preservatives can be used to treat the timber in order to protect the environment.

It does seem rather strange to think that our environment is better protected through banning preservatives which allowed timber to last four or five times longer than it currently does in exchange for the massive increases in wood consumption, burning of old posts, labour and tractor diesel necessitated through the shortened lifespan of “environmentally friendly” gateposts. But, hey, what do we know!

Thankfully, we have large quantities of old railway sleepers on hand (these being so full of preservatives and tar) which, whilst not very pretty, make excellent and long-lived replacement gateposts!  

Last week a couple of our guests had a red letter day, float fishing with a variety of baits on the lake. They caught an abundance of carp, 150 in total with the biggest weighing just over 10lb. The favourite bait at the moment seems to be sweetcorn! 

This year Mornacott teamed up with Portledge Estate and co-hosted the Exmoor Keepers Challenge. Charles our Estate Manager and Toby our Head Keeper competed in a number of events which included rifle and clay shooting and Exmoor’s version of the Highland Games. The day concluded with a quiz focussing on gamekeeping topics. Once again, our team emerged victorious and will be going for their hat-trick next year which has never been achieved before.