What's going on "down on the farm" - a regular update of day-to-day management issues and our hopes for the future. This week, the cattle get a breath of early spring sunshine; pigs are eating us out of house and home but the demand for welfare-friendly chickens increases
What's going on "down on the farm" - a regular update of day-to-day management issues and our hopes for the future. This week, the cattle come in for winter, we "test-drive" our new squeeze crush and return "Good View" field to long-term grazing.
What's going on "down on the farm" - a regular update of day-to-day management issues and our hopes for the future. This week, we hold a Farm Open Day, hear about an outbreak of bird flu and have a visit from the Rural Payments Agency.
What's going on "down on the farm" - a regular update of day-to-day management issues and our hopes for the future. This week, we rescue the muck-spreader, establish our winter oats and start our autumn programme of sheep-breeding.
There is definitely an autumn feel in the air and the weather could turn , but at present we are enjoying a relatively calm period which is allowing us to get on with preparations for the winter. All the stock are out grazing the meadows and there is still some good grass about for the cattle and sheep...
The beginning of September means that most of this season’s lambs have reached four months of age and are ready to be weaned off their mother’s milk. The separation of mother and their off spring must be a distressing experience for any species of animal, so we make every attempt to keep the process, quick, calm, efficient and minimise the stress levels for stock and staff..
Yesterday we completed our small, but significant grain harvest. This year we have tried a new rotation in the chicken range, to include a crop of spring sown barley as an effective break from chicken for a year, before the birds return to the ‘clean’ area...
What a few days! The flooding in Oxford is now largely gone, the mess and debris need to be cleared, and repair work will take weeks to complete. Some of the lower lying meadows are still underwater and not yet accessible; others are too wet for livestock or machinery...
As livestock farmers we accept that looking after animals is a 365 day-a-year occupation, but we do try to plan our work and rotate weekends so that everyone has some time off. Yesterday was a case where everyone had to muck-in and pull together in what turned out to be the most dramatic floods anyone can remember in North Oxford....
It is probably fair to say that most farmers are experts when it comes to complaining about the weather: it is either too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. ...
