A month on the farm

by Libby and Lisa Buchanan

It is hard to believe that only two months ago we were suffering from one of the worst droughts on record. Our fields were cracked and the grass all but dead. We kept the cattle to just a very few fields to avoid adding further stress to the rest of the land. To our dismay, we had to feed from our winter stocks, which is the last thing you want in August! However, Nature is a truly wonderful thing. The rains came and within two days (we have photos to prove it!) a green haze could be seen on the fields and then just grew and grew. Wonderful, rich, green grass across the farm. And with the weather remaining unsettled but warm, it has kept growing. The cattle are totally contented without the flies of the Summer and the slightly cooler air. Long may it last! But don’t be fooled – we dug a hole for a gate post last week and the ground is bone dry. We do desperately need a wet Winter.

We have spent the last month repairing things. Wobbly gate posts, broken gates, walls in the yard (building walls is harder than you think!) – all getting ready for Winter. It is the best time of year for doing jobs while the cattle are outside and the silaging finished (although the grass was so good we did snatch one field of silage in October thanks to Philip Gurney’s ability to do a huge amount in a short time and dodge the rain!).

We have had a successful competition season, winning the Best Farm under 500 acres in the Laughton & District Ploughing Match and the best silage. In the Sussex Cattle Herd competition we came third in a big class, we won the best cow and calf, and our bull was third and his son won! All very good for our morale.

Next month, we start our transition to truly regenerative farming, outwintering our yearlings. They will be grazed in small paddocks and moved every three days. We are learning all the time (the only way!) and are hopeful this will help improve our soils, Nature and viability! All three are entirely interdependent.

We hope you are enjoying this magical time of year as much as us. The gorgeous sunsets and sunrises, the mists that hang across the fields in the early morning through which you catch glimpses of the cattle as if seeing them through a veil, the glorious colours of the trees. We pinch ourselves every day that we are so lucky to live in such a place as this.