Farm Diary 21
I am writing this page in April 2000. It will lack the immediacy of some of the earlier entries, but should still give some idea of farm life. The text will be rather brief! I am basing it on memories evoked by the photographs and on the notes in the farm Day Book and animal and field records.
May 15
We found a lamb dead in the field two days ago. It was the one that had had digestive problems and had never thrived. It looked as though a badger had got it (badgers are worse than foxes and kill in a particularly nasty way).
Ten and a half tons of organic chicken feed were delivered. It's fantastically expensive
We moved a lot of the animals around yesterday - the young cattle to Lower Racks from the Ham, the ewes and lambs to the next quarter of Corner Park, and last years ewe lambs from Penmead down to Mill Field. The last lot had to go down the road. I wish I'd had my camera. It was a lovely sight seeing them in front of me, filling the little lane with it's high banks full of wild flowers. These lanes would have been made originally by herds and flocks of animals being moved.
.
Our gateway
The young cattle love lying down by the water trough at the very top of the field. There is a lovely view towards Bodmin Moor.
Hermia and Blossom
Which ewe?
When I took these pictures of the ewes and lambs in Corner Park I knew exactly which ewes they were. Now I can't remember. When the ewes are in, having their lambs I get to know them really well. Then they go out in the field and I can still tell one from the other. Then they are shorn towards the end of June and their appearance changes dramatically and I'm back to only recognising my favourites.
I think I forgot to mention that the first cases of Orf we spotted back on 15th April (Diary 13), were the last. Using the homeopathic spray in good time made all the difference. Next year we will use it from birth.
For some other good farm diaries, link to:
Paul Stanbridge,
farming 500 acres of arable, 25 miles North of London.
A good example of a responsible, conventional farmer. I don't envy him his
problems with destructive humans.
Ford Farms, a small farm near us who has just started a diary page.
