HERE on Manor farm there are signs that autumn is fast approaching. The days are becoming noticeably shorter, berries are ripening in the hedgerows and the swallows gathering on wires preparing to return to South Africa to avoid our winter when there are fewer flying insects on which they feed.

The weather has continued in much the same way, with plenty of cloud, damp at times, spells of sunshine and a good soaking midweek, just to interrupt land work for a while. However, over most of the week we all managed to continue with harvest and preparation of ground for planting.

Kevin collected the combine at the beginning of the week managing to harvest a large proportion of the wheat on Stowell Farm before the rain arrived, but there is still more wheat, spring barley and oats to harvest. Kevin's brother, Mark, took the wheat to a store in Corsham, where each load was weighed and a sample taken to check moisture and quality.

On one trip to the store Mark was accompanied by my brother-in-law, Ken, who found the visit very interesting. Meanwhile my sister, Priscilla, joined Kevin in the combine, where Kevin explained how it worked, also about all the computer monitoring shown on the in-cab screen. Whilst Kevin was combining it was being followed by the baler, making the straw into big round bales.

In another field on Stowell Farm, Ian was using our old baler to make 1,000 small bales of wheat straw. At the same time Francis, Kevin's father, was using a tractor and grab to load the bales on to a flatbed trailer, to transport them back to the farm. These small bales are especially useful to bed up small sheep pens at lambing time. There was however a delay in the proceedings, when the baler broke down and an engineer had to be called to fit a new part.

When combining has not been possible, Kevin has been replacing points, which are the wearing parts on the ends of the tines of the cultivators, used to prepare the ground for next year's crops.

Here on Manor Farm, Richard has done some more cultivating, whilst Ryan has used the power harrow, followed by roller on two fields previously planted to barley. The fields were then ready for Richard to employ the drill to plant a new grass ley. Ryan has also been spreading slurry from our store onto some short term pasture, which will be ploughed. Ian loaded two lorries with winter barley during the week. The only grain now left on the farm is about 30 tonnes of winter barley, which we will hopefully sell soon.

Our old rotovator, which is now scrap metal, needs to be replaced so Richard and Ian have been looking at some cultivators to see which one would be the best replacement.

Preparations for calving are also underway. More milking cows are being dried off in preparation for their two months holiday prior to giving birth. Ian has been erecting temporary calf pens in one of the barns and some of the cows and heifers (animals due to have their first calves) have been brought back closer to the farm. This is so they can be given a supplementary diet balanced for heavily pregnant cows, and it's also easier to keep an eye on as they get nearer to calving.

Early in the week Natalie, who is on her summer break from Reading University, did the milk recording while Ruth milked. This process involves taking a milk sample from each cow, which is then taken to a laboratory for analysis. Each sample is checked for the percentage of each of its constituents, also a cell count reading. The cell count gives an indication of the health of the udder. A higher than normal cell count can show that there may be a level of infection present.

To end the week a pipe burst in the cooling system of one of the tractors, luckily, Richard ONLY had to take half the tractor to pieces to replace the pipe.