Autumn has arrived - and what a drop in temperature we have seen almost overnight! Thankfully, the rain finally came, and the singed yellow looking grass has quickly recovered and is now a luscious shade of green. The ditches have slowly begun to fill up in places, which has lessened the nomadic sheep wandering. Parents around the county have celebrated as the children return to school, the beaches that were once packed with people are now once again empty, and the combine has been cleaned and is parked up back in the shed for the next 10 months.
September has continued to be a busy month with tractors and discs back out in the fields, now working the ground in readiness for seeding wheat and other autumn crops.
In the meantime, on the farm, we have been preparing our seeds for the autumn drilling by having contract cleaners in for the grain. The contract cleaners bring a special cleaning machine for the grain which is fed through it to be cleaned and then bagged up into 500kg bags in readiness for seeding our fields
The Drill is also now out in the fields and Oil Seed Rape went into the ground early September. Winter Wheat has begun to be drilled mid-September and we are crossing our fingers as emergence (the process of becoming visible after being concealed) has been very late this year due to the very dry summer. It is yet to be seen if our crop will get through the winter months but hopefully the weather pattern will change and be kind to our crop.
Cows and calves are continuing to grow as we top up their diet with daily hay, they will remain in their fields for another few months until the weather really turns. There have been a couple of new editions to the herd with the latest baby calf being black and white with cute brown ears. The remaining autumn calving will be taking place over the next two months.
The lambs have now all been weaned from their mothers, and a few that are now ready have been sent to market for the store sales. The ewes are being sorted out ready for the rams to be introduced in October and November. Hopefully if the grass continues to grow, the sheep will be in a better condition when their boyfriends arrive.
With the nights drawing in much more quickly and with evenings being quite chilly now, we know that winter is not that far away. But we will enjoy the autumn whilst it lasts - with its hedgerows abundant with Rosehips, Sloes and Blackberries knowing that the birds and wildlife are having a feast.