Poul the expert bale carter

All the harvest is finished apart from the Spring Beans and about 8Ha of straw to bale. The Spring Beans will probably be ready to harvest nearer the end of the month. The combine has software to record yields of each field and they have now been downloaded and recorded on the office computer. In general, I would say it has been an average year for yield but maybe above average for quality. Fields have varied quite a bit dependent on soil type; the lighter soils have yielded less due to the long dry spell. The farms have just purchased a new tractor with all the bells and whistles!! We got it tried out cultivating ground for sowing red clover.

All the Oil Seed Rape and Winter Barley is sown and through the ground and it is looking well with very little slug damage this year, which is pleasing to see. 1^st Wheat after OSR is also through the ground and is also looking well. On the whole it has been an average harvest, but almost perfect conditions for establishing next year’s crops. So the pressure is on for a good harvest next year!!

The livestock workload is slowly increasing leading up to mating time for some of the ewes. They have to be brought in to get a check over, mainly udders, teeth and feet and any with problems are not mated and sold at the market.

We have also started feeding the cows some straw to help alleviate the problem of Hypomagnesaemia (Grass Staggers) – a lack of Magnesium in their diet. This can be fatal and can strike without warning. We also give them a free access mineral lick high in magnesium as cows cannot store this mineral and relies on its daily intake. The magnesium in the grass decreases at this time of year hence the problem usually occurs around autumn.

We have also bought some lambs this month 180 ewe lambs for breeding and 386 lambs for finishing. The 180 are mainly Scottish grey face and the 386 are all Blackface and all organic. It has also been a busy time baling and carting all the straw home for bedding and feeding the cattle approx 8,000 bales. Poul the expert bale carter has been hard at work.