July weather

We could do with some sunshine and warmth to ripen the crops; the current prediction is for harvest to be at least a week later than normal.

oilseed rape 18th July

The oilseed rape was desiccated earlier this week to stop it growing and help even up maturity across the crop ...

wheat 5th July

wheat 18th July

and the wheat is slowly turning colour. 

Goodwrights Livery have taken over the running of the livery yard at the farm. Not only do they look very professional in their new shirts, but they've been busy painting the stables and tack room so that the livery yard is looking as smart as they do. It's good to see horses grazing in the paddocks again, though there's so much grass at the moment that they can't keep up. There are still a couple of stables available on the yard, so if you're looking for a livery yard for your horse, contact us and we'll pass your details on to Goodwrights Livery.

the ducks have an adventurous day out

I think our ducks have a pretty good life. Just before dusk they walk to the duck pen, sometimes storming the henhouse en route to devour any feed the hens might not have finished (usually breaking the food hopper in the process) and after they've been fed they settle down for the night, securely shut away from predatory foxes. During the day they wander around the farm  - congregating in the long grass, picking up the wheat that spills onto the ground by the speed bump during harvest time and splashing around in the pond. Sometimes they wander off to the horse paddocks or into the garden but they usually stay fairly close to the pond.

So what on earth got into their heads yesterday? Why did they decide it would be a good idea to waddle out of the yard, through some undergrowth, under a hedge, across one half of a dual carriageway and settle down in the central reservation of the by-pass? When I found them they looked quite happy there. One of them was sitting down contentedly and the others appeared to be watching the traffic pass by. Luckily there was a break in the traffic and I managed to shush them across the road and back to the pond. I thought that was the end of it but then Bill found them later in the day making another break for it. He's put up some duck barricades to stop them getting out through the bushes but a large drainage pipe leads from the end of a nearby ditch under the road. Let's hope they don't decide that their next big adventure will be to swim down the pipe.