Wiltshire Village Meats Farm Diary - January 2008 -

	Wiltshire Village Meats Welfare - - Quality				In association with Walter Rose and son Family Butchers
JAN 2009 DEC 2008 NOV 2008 OCT 2008 SEP 2008 AUG 2008 JUL 2008 JUN 2008 MAY 2008 APR 2008 MAR 2008 FEB 2008 JAN 2008	FARM DIARY THE EVERYDAY STORY OF LIFE ON A WILTSHIRE FARM
	Links to other pages HOME FARM SHOP FARM SHOP - Greeting Cards WALTER ROSE ABOUT OUR FARMING FARM DIARY RECIPES QUESTIONS CONTACT US		HAPPY NEW YEAR! January 2008 Muddy walks and forecast snow We started the new year with some fresh air and a muddy walk across the fields. A year ago the ground was incredibly wet after a wet autumn - the springs were running and rivers flooding. This year the clay soil was sticky and hard going for smaller feet but nothing like a year ago. The soils on our farm are very varied. On the downlands the soil is mainly light chalk soils, but the lower part of the farm are mainly clays but with some sand and peat thrown in for good measure. The variety of soil types certainly makes planning crop rotations a more of a challenge. The temperatures are dropping and snow is forecast - I know two children who will be very pleased even if the rest of us won't be. 9th January 2008 Piglets in the kitchen Two temporary residents have joined us in the kitchen. Two slightly premature piglets which were too weak to be fostered onto a sow (their mother had too many to rear herself) needed some warmth and TLC and so are occupying a box by the aga for a couple of days. Hopefully they will be strong enough to be fostered by Friday, until then they are providing great interest to the children and cats and dogs. Fortunately the cats only seem mildly curious. The snow came to nothing - just lots of rain - much to the relief of the adults. 17th January 2008 Rain and AONB's Last January I wrote of how much rain we had and the springs came up for the first time in three years. Well I noticed the spring by the farmhouse is up today and it's raining hard and more forecast for the next few days. I have just come back from a meeting on the 'Arable Strategy for the North Wessexs Downs AONB' (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). We are priveleged to farm in such a beautiful part of the world and to have so many rare and important species on our farm. The government now takes 17% of our aid payments and puts most of it in to Environmental Schemes and Rural Development. We only get back a portion of what is taken out. A lot of the work that is done is excellent, especially some of the advice on soil management, and farming arable land to benefit farmland birds. However, the cynical part of me wonders how many experts, consultants it funds and whether as much benefit could be derived if less money went on creating more and more beaurocratic schemes and iniatives the more money was left with farmers to fund conservation work. As a former Environmental Scientist I can appreciate both sides of the arguement! That was a bit of a rant! A good meeting on the whole - it is useful to take time out occassionally to think through the way we do things and the impact this can have, for good or ill on the environment.
	For further information on anything on this site please contact Muriel Naughton Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk