A month on the Farm

by Libby and Lisa Buchanan

One of the biggest jobs of the year is done - the yards are cleaned out and there are some super piles of manure in the fields. We had some charming children from Cumnor House visiting the farm recently and when we showed them the dung piles we asked what they saw. “Flies” said one. “A muck pile” said another. To which we said, “We see a heap of gold“. Artificial fertiliser is now selling for £1000 a ton and only last year it was probably around £250. Not only is our manure free, it is also massively less damaging to the environment than artificial fertiliser, which is made using natural gas and does no good to the soil. But our hearts go out to conventional farmers who are reliant on it. There are other ways to increase soil fertility using clover and herbal leys and new rotations of crops, but you cannot switch to this new way overnight. These are scary times for many farmers who are only trying their best to produce food for us all, while making a living.

The cattle are loving being out in the fields, although we have had one very poorly two-month-old heifer. She had scour - a gastric infection - a few weeks back for which we treated her and she seemed to improve quite quickly. But then she went downhill again. We have been doing our best with various antibiotics prescribed by the vet and, having thought we were fighting a losing battle, she seems to be improving. We are very happy and pray she continues to do well.

Meanwhile, our little orphan calf, Primrose, whom we have been bottle feeding in the field has managed to find plenty of milk from the other mums and now turns her nose up at the bottle. That is a big saving - a bag of organic calf milk powder is fantastically expensive. Dear Primrose clearly knew she was putting financial pressure on us and has solved the problem all by herself!

The recent rain has brought us so much joy. It seemed like 2020 all over again and we were becoming desperately worried how we would manage with little grass and hungry mouths. But all this has changed and the grass has literally grown four inches in a couple of days. We feel so blessed and a huge weight has been lifted. The last thing anyone needs now is a poor harvest. Let’s hope we keep having a few showers now and then - but not over the Jubilee weekend!