WHAT a shock! The hot, sunny weather we all enjoyed over the Easter weekend soon gave way to a cold, damp, cloudy and towards the end a very windy week of weather. From a BBQ on Easter Sunday, with temperatures reaching 25C to temperatures down nearer 12C, with the gale force winds making it feel really cold. How all the animals cope, when unlike us they cannot take off or put on some extra layers, I do not know.

Unfortunately rainfall on Manor Farm amounted to very little, although the ground has dried out and we could do with some warm showers. The permanent grass is not growing very well, not enjoying the dry or cold conditions and some of our cereal crops are looking a little stressed, in patches of the fields where soils are thin. However our short term of Italian and hybrid grasses have grown on quite well and will need cutting for silage very soon.

One of the jobs done over the last week has been to start preparing equipment used to make silage. Although we now use a contractor to do our forage harvesting, that is picking up, chopping and delivering the cut grass into trailers, we still cut the standing grass and take the chopped grass to our silage clamp. Therefore our mower has to be checked and serviced ready for use and the trailers have to have their high sides put back on.

Kevin has given given all his winter wheat its last application of nitrogen fertiliser which is applied in the form of urea prills. He has also been doing some selective weedkilling, using a knapsack sprayer to kill invasive weeds such as docks, thistles and nettles around the buildings. Another weed we have growing on a large patch of poor ground is hemlock. Hemlock is a highly poisonous biennial belonging to the carrot family, identified by purple spots seen on the stems. Every part of the plant is deadly poisonous, usually avoided by animals as when crushed the leaves give off a repellent smell. Kevin sprayed the affected area using a small sprayer mounted on the back of a vehicle, to prevent the plant spreading elsewhere.

Kevin also planted a field with turnips, a bulbous catch crop which will be ready to graze in 12 to 14 weeks time. Turnips are a member of the Brassica family and provide an excellent high nutritional value crop, which has low growing costs compared to other fodders. It has been proved to be an excellent crop for finishing lambs.

Mid-week Richard and I drove to the Bath and West Showground to help as stewards on Field to Fork day. This has recently become an annual event on the showground, when the Royal Bath and West of England Society hosts a gathering of local schoolchildren to show them how their food is produced. This year 1,500 children attended spending the time they had being guided by stewards around the buildings in which farmers and those from allied industries had set up information hubs.

On display were a selection of modern machinery, sheep shearing, spinning, beef cattle, pigs and piglets, sheep and lambs, milking, crops, bread making and bees and honey, to name a few. There was also an opportunity for the children to taste some foods, such as grilled pigeon breast, venison steak, milk, cheese and honey. Each display had a farmer in attendance who told the children about what they were looking at, then they could ask questions. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day despite the rain, with a great deal of positive feedback following the event.