A Month on the Farm

by Lisa Buchanan

~ AUGUST ~

It has been a good month! Although the lack of rain is continuing to alarm all farmers, especially for us because the hay crops have been so poor which means less food available for the Winter months, other things have been going well.

Dougie – the baby bull – excelled himself at The Royal Norfolk Show being acclaimed Breed Male Champion. And little Poppy took a very good second in a strong class of baby heifers. This was capped off with the Sussex breed standing fourth against twelve other breeds of cattle in a competition in which breed societies put forward a team of their best four animals (Dougie was one of them!). For a small native breed to do so well against every other breed, including the giant continentals, is a real feather in the cap and hopefully encourages farmers to think about the benefits of having native breeds, which flourish on just grass and taste delicious too.

To cap it all, the last cow to calve – and it was her first – produced a super little heifer. So easy, outside and both the mum and baby are flourishing. Here is a picture of them both about two hours after birth.

We have managed to get some hay in this month, but the crop is so thin – a field which in a normal year would give us 45 bales, is yielding well under half that. We don’t want to cut more of our grass because it is the cattle’s feed now and, hopefully, well into the Winter months, rather than coming inside. But who knows what the weather will do? If we have a torrentially wet Autumn, they will not be able to stay out as long because they will damage the fields, even if we move them fast from paddock to paddock – finally we will just run out of places to put them. But for now, they are flourishing on almost daily fresh pasture.

We have vaccinated the cattle and sheep against Bluetongue – after last year’s experience we now know it is 90 per cent effective so it is more than worth it. And we have given the cattle their annual boluses of the trace minerals they need. Both have been done about three weeks before the bull goes in so they should reap maximum protection while we need them at their healthiest.

Arthur, our new stock bull, is growing in anticipation - he shall soon be with a group of beautiful girls, and we cannot wait to see the results: next May will be a most exciting month.

Something we have noticed on the farm this year has been the explosion in insects. We have so many ladybirds, grasshoppers, spiders, bees, butterflies, moths, midges and other small flying things. This is such a strong indicator that nature is thriving, despite the drought, in our system of farming where we start with the soil and work up from there. It is good for the soul to see the fields so alive.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has bought our beef mince. Rave reviews so far so let me know if you want any!