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June 2007
Well the 1st of June feels a bit more like summer - no rain and its warm! June will be a very busy month with hay-making any time, preparations for harvest which will be early this year, and even a family holiday!
1st June 2007
Who needs Springwatch or Bill Oddie! There is wildlife everywhere, fledgling birds, baby animals, insects and flowers - all we need to do is get out and look for it. Our tiny garden pond was dug three years ago and it is wonderful to see the wildlife it attracts. Great excitement was caused this week by a visiting frog which of course had to be caught, cuddled and photographed - it has kept rather a low profile since. The pond is teeming with water snails, water boatmen and all sorts of insect larvae and plants. One day I have a great ambition to hire a digger and dig out a really big pond in a field near the farmhouse - I can see from maps there used to be a pond there in the 19th Century. Unfortunately it will have to wait until time and money will allow - but one day!
The wet weather has caused problems for the staff looking after the pigs - extra straw is needed which is extra work. Also the high winds and heavy rain have knocked down a swallows nest in the stables which is sad. Hopefully they'll rear another brood. Some of the crops have been knocked flat as well but nothing too drastically damaged.
Our childrens menagerie has been added to by two baby wild rabbits! I know it's daft but possibly no more daft than keeping any sort of rabbit. They are called 'Straw' and 'Bales' as that is where they were found. They are completely tame now and I know it's a bit embarrassing for a farmer to say so - they are rather sweet!
We took my parents for a visit to Crooked Soley pig unit last weekend. Fortunately the rain held off and a great day was had by all. Many of the sows were farrowing so we were able to see many newborn piglets. A sow can rear 10-12 piglets, sometimes they have more than this (we had a sow who had 19 live piglets last week) and some who have less (one had a dismal 1 piglet born). It is a very important part of the job of whoever is looking after the sows to level up the litter sizes to about 10 piglets a sow. If it is done carefully and quietly a sow will usually accept foster piglets. Removing piglets for fostering can be more difficult as a recently farrowed sow is very protective towards her babies and can be very quick and very dangerous. You need to be ready to run fast! Levelling up the litter sizes is important for the health and welfare of both the piglets and the sows. Even little runts like the one in the picture can do fine so long as they can find room at a teat to feed properly.
3rd June 2007 - haymaking
Today our neighbour has mown our hay so we are hoping for a dry week. Hay needs about a week to wilt in the cut rows and to dry properly. It has to be turned a couple of times before it is fit to bale. If hay is baled before it is properly dry the bales get very hot and there is a high risk of fire. Also the hay will go mouldy and will not be very palatable. We don't have our own hay making equipment anymore so we pay our neighbour to do the work on contract.
20th June 2007
We managed to get the hay all safely gathered in by the evening of 8th June - this was the night before we went on holiday so it didn't help the packing get done! However, we beat the rain and as the deluge has hardly stopped since we were very fortunate. We will have to monitor the hay carefully over the next month to check that it isn't getting hot. We will probably restack it to let some heat out.
Our week in Dorset/Devon was a great break (we only manage one week a year), and everyone seemed to manage without us - Cameron only had a few phone calls! Now the only problem is catching up! We have a change of tenant in one of the farm cottages we let so I think a day will be required cleaning the cottage and tidying the garden if the rain holds off. On Saturday we are attending a Food Fair in Chippenham. This is aimed at encouraging children and parents to eat healthy packed lunches (Sheldon School 11.00 - 1.00pm) so a display will have to be created for that. Come along and see us!
26th June 2007 - Chippenham Primary Schools Food Fayre
Thank you to everyone who attended the Food Fayre in Chippenham. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves especially as it stayed dry for the morning. Well done to the organisers as it was really busy and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We had a family feel to our stand with Alasdair and Rachel very much part of the team - including helping with putting up the gazebo which we had never done before, and for which we had no instructions! We were ready with only seconds to spare. Walter Rose & Son provided us with cooked meat samples which flew off the plates - the peppered pork steaklets being the favourites. If you are looking for cooked meat on our shop page please come back in a few days by which time the shop pages will have been updated, or contact us or the shop directly.
As well as providing bookmarks and stickers for children we also ran a 'Guess the animal'competition which proved very popular. I'm very pleased to announce that the winner is Lauren Ward. Well done Lauren, we will be contacting your School to send you your prize and certificate. Well done everyone else, sorry we can't give you all prizes but we hope you enjoyed taking part.
Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk