Herd of the Month
The Carne Herd
By Digby Gribble
Apr 26, 2005 - 9:24:00 AM

The Carne herd is owned by Andrew and Christine and Greg and Helen Hichens and is in sight of the sea on the North Cornwall coast at Morvah, near Pendeen.

The herd is around 120 cows and a Charolais bull is used to produce cross bred beef which are mostly sold as stores but some are now being finished and sold locally. The better cows are bred to AI but the number of heifer calves produced in the last 2 years has been disappointing.

Brothers Andrew and Greg and their wives are all involved with the Farm and in the summer months Greg works locally as a Silage contractor helped by Andrew's eldest son David who will be going to College shortly.

Cousins Jeremy and Ross Hichens are enthusiastic members of the new EGCS youth group and in addition to competing with calves at last years Stithians show also took their calves to Church at Christmas which rather upstaged the Rabbits and Guinea pigs also on display.

Jeremy and Ross brought this years calves to the Tredinney weekend where Carne Welder by My Own Hot Shot Blast Off caught the Judges eye

Carne Welder

The two boys and schoolmate Edward Hosking are planning to bring three calves to the Bath & West show to support the new Guernsey calf and Showmanship classes.

The Carne herd regularly features in the leading herd lists and averaged 5813 kgs and 474 kgs F+P in 2004 and are fed a partial TMR through a Keenan feeder supplemented by Out of Parlour feeders, they are housed in cubicles with mats for greater comfort and passages are scraped automatically.

Heifers are outwintered amongst the Gorse on the high ground above the farm where they are given Big Bale silage to appetite, and always look well.

Carne Fig.

It was a bitterly cold April day when I was last there and the cows were sensibly seeking shelter under the stone walls which are a feature of the farms in this area and have now received "listed" status i.e. are protected and must be maintained, disregarding the efforts of former generations who man handled these rocks and stones to the sides of these fields to be able to earn a living from the land.

The Hichens family are keen supporters of the Guernsey breed and provided two animals to the Cornwall team at the Bath & West last year and were to be found at 5.30 on the Judging morning helping to prepare all 14 members of that team.