Parlour patter with the... THOMAS FAMILY
Cheryl Thomas of Gelligatrog, Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, runs 160 cows under the Gatrog prefi x, alongside husband Elwyn and daughter Anwen
Yet again I start this issue
on a sad note by paying tribute to Robert
Maskell who recently passed away after a long and courageous fi ght against Leukaemia. Robert was Holstein South Wales Club President when he passed away and was well known and a much liked and popular character by all who knew him.
He was always a smiling face who liked leg pulling at all times. With his wife Eirian they had a great working partnership and alongside sons Huw and Wyn developed the noted Gest herd. He was a true character and will be sadly missed by all. Back on the farm we started 2015 off to a good start with our EX95 Weeton Golden A Oralie calving her fi fth calf, a heifer by Gen I Beq Sammy on New Year’s day. She was a strong calf, had plenty of colostrum for the fi rst few days and came to drink out of the bucket without any hassle.
Just 10 days later after starting the morning milking I went into the calf shed to do the routine. To my horror Sammy Oralie was stretched out in the pen, dead. I just couldn’t believe it. The post mortem didn’t even show anything abnormal.
During the Christmas holidays Anwen and I went to see Annie and Paddington at the local cinema. I like days like these where you can switch off for a couple of hours and have quality time together. Within seven weeks I made another visit to the cinema. This time with grown up friends to see 50 Shades of Grey and this time it was hard to switch off. Apparently sales of cable ties and rope at our local Wynnstay store have gone through the roof.
Our annual Holstein Club dinner was held at The Ivy Bush Hotel, Carmarthen, at the end of Janaury. I was fortunate to be in the company of Huw ‘Bach’ Auctioneer, Meurig ‘Paxtonview’, Robert ‘Deri’ and Terry, one of the largest unit of laying hens in Carmarthenshire, and their good ladies. There was a good cross section of topics being discussed from dairy to chickens to rugby and much more including Meurig’s famous catchphrase ‘Bachan Uffarn’.
Spring also sees Elwyn and a few friends have their annual outings during the Six Nations Rugby Championship down to the local pub, The Red Lion. The other three being Robert Bowen, of the Lan herd, Hefi n Jones of the Coedllan herd and Walter Thomas who calls the pub his second home. The four of them remind me of Last of the Summer Wine. I can imagine some of you saying I must be Nora Batty. Unfortunately, they returned home from the English match very much down in the dumps and while watching some of it at home I noticed most of the singing I could hear was swing low sweet chariot. This is pretty serious at Cardiff, but it was a fair result. Elwyn hadn’t recovered by the Scottish match so they all stayed at home. But off they went to
the French match and gladly all returned home smiling.
Heather Thomas of the Gelliddu herd turned 40 during February and a group of us ladies were kindly invited for a weekend away in Cardiff. A great weekend was had by all, with activities ranging from afternoon tea, intense cocktail training and drinking in a private bar, Italian food sampling and a spa treatment. Within a few hours of my facial treatment I was back in the milking parlour having a natural facial. Thanks Heather for a wonderful time.
Sticking with birthdays, both Elwyn and his sister Marian celebrate their birthday on the same day and this was also in February. While feeding the calves this particular morning a text came through to my phone. As I was reading it, I remembered I had forgotten to wish Elwyn Happy Birthday. The text was from Marian thanking me for the cards and gift. I ran across the yard and into the parlour very apologetic, Elwyn laughed and said if he had forgotten my birthday I wouldn’t be impressed, which is most probably true. Luckily I had bought him a card. We all know attending meetings in evenings can be hard work, but some of them are important to attend. Therefore, when a letter came through the post regarding a meeting to do with Johne’s disease with our milk buyer, I suggested one of us went. On this particular evening I was helping at the local church hall getting things ready for the St Davids Day celebration, so Elwyn went along to the meeting. On my return home I was surprised to see that Elwyn was home before me, I had got the right night, but the wrong week. As an industry we abide by rules, regulations and a lot of red tape. We have been waiting for months for a demolition licence to come through in order for us to take the old farmhouse down. Eventually we reciceved the relevant paperwork and work has started by taking slates down and lifting fl oor quarry tiles.
Cheryl
Herd Size: 160; Average milk yield: 10,125 litres; Farm size: 192 acres; What is in the fl ask: Iota, Mincio, Sid, Contrast, Fever, Golddust, Deman, Mardigras; Classifi cation: 47 EX, 55 VG, 23 VG heifers and 11 GP, averaging 88 points; Best cow: Weeton Golden A Oralie Ex95 and giving 55litres daily, she is our highest classifi ed and highest production cow; TMR Ration: Wholecrop silage, fodder beet, grass silage and formulated blend; What’s on fl ush: Indianhead Rubens Rachel Red, a seventh generation EX from Sellcrest Rachel, fl ushing to Appsolute Red.
112 THE JOURNAL APRIL 2015
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