Wiltshire Village Meats Farm Diary - Sep 2009 -

	Wiltshire Village Meats Welfare - - Quality				In association with Walter Rose and son Family Butchers
OCT/NOV 2009 SEP 2009 AUG 2009 JUL 2009 JUN 2009 MAY 2009 APR 2009 MAR 2009 FEB 2009 JAN 2009 DEC 2008 NOV 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		September 2009 - Silage, sunshine and fencing It feels very autumnal now although at least we have had some warm sunshine - warm if the wind stops blowing. We finished harvest to our surprise by the August bank holiday. Despite the very slow start we were fortunate to get the crops cut between the showers and the straw baled. Our neighbours new combine worked a treat and certainly seemed to cover the ground more quickly than their old one - no break downs either! Yields and quality of grain were reasonable- shame about the price which is once again way below the cost of production! At least we feed some of our crops to the pigs. Now the fields have all been cultivated and oilseed rape planted. Muck has been spread on some fields - sory about the smell if you live locally. We do plough the muck in as quickly as possible to reduce the smell and reduce nutrient loss, it is a very important part of maintaining soil fertility. The rain and warmth has helped the grass regrow nicely since we cut hay in June so we have taken a second cut of silage. We are experimenting with feeding silage to the sows - once they realise it's food and not something to play with they love it. The silage contractors have a wonderful high-tech silage wrapping machine that wraps square bales. Now that the crops are harvested and the fields bare we are able to start fencing another field for our outdoor pigs. This will enable us to move some sows off a sloping part of one field which could cause erosion in the winter if stocked too densely. A local building contractor, Perkins Bros, have been sorting out the water supply from our reservoir and fencing the perimeter of the field to make it pig proof. The pig paddocks will be electric fenced. A central roundhouse has been erected where pig can be brought in for vaccinating and loading. The paddocks are laid out in a radial - like the spokes of a wheel. This enables groups of pigs to be easily wallked into the middle when they need to be moved. On the domestic front we have decided to move the geese into the field with the sheep. The geese have loved being in the garden especially with all the fallen apples and whilst they do keep the grass down they do make a dreadful mess. They have also started to peck at the windows. Neither the sheep nor the geese were very happy with the arrangement at first - the geese left the field at high speed and hid in a patch of nettles For the rest of the day. They are coexisting more happily now, we walk the geese into the stables each evening. The children are back at School so it's times to catch up with the office work
	For further information on anything on this site please contact Muriel Naughton Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk