Pure Hereford

blog

2009-09-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

Cripes its been a long time (13 months) how very remiss of me. The farm is still here, and even more Herefords are on that farm. Harvest is nearly done, still 35 acres of beans to cut and that might be today. Later this morning wheat seed should arrive and with a following wind we should have most of it planted this week !!

A short blog I know, but its a start, I had almost forgotten this existed, untill reminded by Heather Gorringe wigglywigglers.co.uk , so thanks Heather.

2008-08-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

I know this is temping fate , but the grain worked a treat. We will need it on Monday and I bet it throws a wobbler, all because of this blog.

Why will we need the grain drier on Monday ?, the Oil Seed Rape is finished, thats why !!. Yesterday (friday) was dry all morning, all morning !! so after a quick lunch, no roast swans or larks tongues, and away we went about 2-30 pm. It was not too bad, even dusty, always a sighn of dry going. About eight Robert took over while I went for a quick tea, more poached eggs than roast suckling pig.

I was getting down to the nitty now, the weather forecast was for rain about lunchtime today (saturday) and there was still some tea in my thermos. If I could finish the next two fields, and the weather guessers were right I could get it done . by 2-00 am I had got far enough and went home and slept well if briefly. This morning ( saturday) was grey and less than promising, but to the combine I went. By 9-30 it was spitting with rain but I went on slowly, and within half an hour the drizzle had stopped and slow progress was being made.

At 2-30 pm I had it done, what a relief, It took 7 attempts over 10 days to harvest 105 acres of Oil Seed Rape. As if getting the grizzly task done was not enough, an hour later it started to rain again, its now nine pm and still raining, relief !!

So how did the crop do, well until its all loaded onto lorries and weighed we wont know exactly, but the best guess so far is around 4.5 tonnes per hectare, which is great. If we had been able to harvest at the right time rather than two weeks late who knows how much more there would have been. Such are the joys of farming.

Not a very exciting blog entry I know, but I claim extreme tiredness, time for bed, and its still raining.

Harvest or rather lack of harvest

2008-08-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

Farming is endlessly challenging, especially when livestock are included. The biggest wild card whatever we do is the weather. Farmers are famed for moaning about the weather, so why should I be any different ?

Its the 13th of August and half of the oilseed rape is still in the field rather than in the grain store where it ought to be. We have had rain every day for so long I have forgotten what a dry day is like. Monday dried quite well and by lunchtime I was getting itchy. By 2-30 there was no holding back and I went and made a start. To my surprise the moisture content of the seed was around 11%, considering rape has to be 9% or less to be sold we got at it. Conditions were difficult to say the least, and the combine was grumbling and growling at the damp crop, but by 4pm things had improved and were going quite well. At 5 pm it rained again and stopped all progress.

Today we are trying to get some rape dried , anxious times ! I hate using the drier , its old and pretty tired. In a more normal season the combine is big enough that we seldom have to harvest grain or rape that needs drying. Why not wait for better weather ?, I hear you say. Well rape has an unfortunate habit of harvesting its self. The pods split , especially in windy weather when the crop is fully ripe. This is starting to happen , completely loosing the seed.

I must go, the drier is running, I can hear it from the office, a little coaxing might be needed.

Sodding weather

its a combine picture.

2008-07-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

Just to prove that I get dirty and do some work , heres a picture of me and my combine in a field of Barley. The field is called Beech Quarry, its one of the very few fields that I have amalgameted buy removing a hedge, guess what he two fields were called, annswers on a post card.
When this combine was new in 1995 it was considered huge in terms of output, at around 20 tonnes of wheat cut per hour, today ther are combines that are physically similar in size that can do 3 times that amount per hour plus. If I have one of those in 13 years time harvest will be a couple of long weekends, bring it on !!

Im back

2008-07-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

What have I been doing neglecting this blog ?? shame full. I think I know why I'm so bad at any diary type discipline, its genetics. About 5 years ago we turned an unused room here in the farm house into a proper office. Nothing big and glamorous but ideal place to impersonate a productive office person. The room in question had always been known as "The Back Place", what it should have been called was "The Skip". It was filled with the detritus of 45 years of Teague family occupancy.

In this muddle I found all sorts of interesting ( to me ) stuff. A box full of Mums fathers farm accounts from the late forties and fifties, it was reassuring to see that he had whopping overdraft too, more genetics. I also came across a box full of Dads diaries from the late sixties and into the seventies when we moved from Tattenhall in Cheshire to Manor House Farm. I had struck gold, twenty odd priceless tomes of Teague family history. I opened them with anticipation, what great wisdom was within ?. Not much, in fact sod all. A few ear numbers of pigs and cows and the date they were mated , and occasional references to bills payed. So you see we Teagues are poor at this sort of thing but I will try.

The Barley was harvested last week with little drama, the straw baled and the fields cleared. What a relief to have lots of straw again, we have nearly 200 Herefords under 6 months old and they use masses of straw, as they are too young to be outside all the time.

last Sunday Sue took part in the Cardiff 10 kilometer run. It was scorching hot and I had to take shelter in a bar and drink very cold beer while she did her run. She did very well for a first attempt coming in at 1220 out of over 4000 entrants and completed the course in 56 minutes.

The course was around Cardiff Bay, which if you get the chance is well worth a visit. Its a modern entertainment complex on the site of the once derelict Cardiff docks. Its little wonder the economy is in the mess it is when you see the scale of the once massive docks trading with the world replaced with dozens of restaurants and shops consuming wealth and creating very little.

On Monday the 28 th July we were given access to the Blue Tongue Virus vaccine, so this week all the the cattle have had their first dose. Administering the dose is very simple and gave me the chance to weigh quite a few cattle. The weight is entered into a piece of computer software tat calculate Daily Live Weight Gain (DLWG), our young cattle are growing at about 1.15 kg per day which for Herefords is pretty OK.

Before I forget the new Pure Tilth podcast is up, see what you think.

Tick tick tick tick

2008-07-04T02:17:00.000-07:00

Can you hear that clock ticking, I can. Today we are, ( I say we , actually Robert ) has started to apply a chemical to our winter barley crop to stop it growing and start it ripening. This means that we have two weeks, thats how long the chemical takes to work, and if the weather is kind we will be starting harvest. Harvest is easily the biggest event of our farming year and always seems to catch me out how ever well laid my plans are. At the moment crops look well, what they need is hot sunny days, not the wet weather the forcast has to offer.

The Combine is nearly ready to go and there is still some tidying of grain stores to be done but at least we have a deadline and that's what I need !

The news this morning that a cull of Badgers in TB hot spots will not be going ahead came as no surprise. Although the evidence of Badger to cattle infection is pretty overwhelming the politicians involved have more of an eye for their careers than the welfare of tens of thousands of cattle needlessly slaughtered each year and farm businesses put in financial peril. I suppose having the fact that you were the one that sanctioned a badger cull on your CV is seen as unacceptable by those people who know nothing of the reality of the situation.

Fred Update, Fred is making fantastic progress, the cannula is still in place and is allowing any build up of gas to escape, but should come out next week if all remains well,..long live Fred.

Sorry about all the links, I only hope they work. Next I will try pictures, look out !!

Hows Fred

2008-07-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

I am sure you are worried about Fred, well things are looking pretty good, hes up and about , looks a little under the weather and who can blame him.

He is in a small pen with two others for company and has eaten a little this morning, we are , dare I say it , optimistic.

Next job, drive to Heathrow Airport and back, is that South of Hereford ?, best dig out the Gazeteere !!

That Bloated Feeling

2008-06-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

We had some friends over last night , and despite my Cholesterol reducing diet I had a bit of a bloated feeling, after many sandwiches in the garden. The over full feeling was alleviated by a game involving 6 adults 4 children a terrier and a football. There were no rules , considerable physical contact ,no outcome and a lot of fun. The unnamed game ended when it got so dark we couldn't see the ball or the other combatants.

This morning was a very slow start, not being the highly tuned athlete I once was . A quick scan of a pen of 60 weanling's ( cattle that have just gone off milk to a solid diet) revealed trouble. Many years of looking at animals, and cattle particularly gives you an eye for trouble. One of the bunch was suffering from Bloat and if you read what is contained in the link you will be a bloat expert.

The young Hereford in question was looking pretty sorry for himself and very full of gas. The old remedy is to give them a drink ofbicarbonate of soda and warm water,then walk them round to help the gas escape from one end or the other. After an hour it was obvious the remedy had failed and the vet was called. John is a brilliant cattle vet, and vet in general and acted quickly. While Steve and I restrained the patient, who John called "Fred", perhaps that's his name and I didn't know?, a small incision was made in the left side. When I say incision it was more of a nick and a plastic cannula inserted into the top of the rumen. This is a tube that allows the offending ( and offensive smelling ) gas to escape.

The whoosh of escaping gas left Fred about 30% smaller and a 100% happier. It would not have been long until the pressure inside Fred would have suffocated him, so the nick was in the nick of time( am i trying too hard ?). The cannula will stay in Fred for a couple of weeks until normal digestion returns.

What a dramatic start to the week, and tomorrow Sues Aussie friends head for home and we are taking them down to Heathrow, which could well be another drama, I do hope not!

All Clear

2008-06-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

The TB test was passed without a hitch, next we test the whole herd on July 14th. Tomorrow I must make sure the restriction is lifted.

Its a wet windy night here in S Shrops, time the weather bucked up. This time last year we were in a state of chaos , with water every where. This year its the turn of the US to suffer flooding. This is a report from Agriculture online about the whole gruesome situation.

We are having great trouble with a huge flock of crows and Jackdaws around the yard. They are helping themselves to the cattle feed, which has barley and oats in it, its like a scene from Hitchcock's "The Birds" when we go to the yard the other side of the road.

My attempts to drive them off with occasional gun fire are not working, any one got a plan B ??

I am angry, really angry......

2008-06-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

On Monday I told you about getting cattle sorted for a TB test (tuberculosis) , these were a8 cattle from 4 herds that had a TB breakdown. The cattle were traced to me , as i bought them as baby calves. The vet and I knew the test had to be done by the 24th, so we were a day early, today is Thursday and the test will be read today and the results sent to the Animal Health department.

This morning I have received a restriction order, stopping me from buying or selling cattle because the test has not been done. i took several deep breaths and rang the number on the letter, and without swearing expressed my frustration. The duty vet told me that the test should be completed by the 24th, , the letter says done by the 24th. I know this sounds like hair splitting but , as I said through clenched teeth to the vet in question, "this sort of draconian action does nothing to encourage cooperation from the likes of me".

Having got that off my chest, had a coffee and a piece of toast, which i shouldn't have as there was butter on it and I have raised cholesterol ( 8 gulp !) I feel guilty but calm.

Thanks to Isobel davies for the comment on the Worshipful Company of Farmers being like the Bunderberg group. I have found out who they are and its exciteing to be compared to the worlds most powerful club. If the Buderberg gang are China and the Indian subcontinent our WCOF group would be an uninhabited island off the Orkney's, you get the idea.

Time for more coffee and a couple of deep breaths.

Wrong Again

2008-06-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

My gloomy prediction of yesterday was proven wrong. Steve fenced, I helped a bit in the morning by pushing some posts in with our trusty digger, Robert tidied some grass, including the chicken run, which impressed Sue, and I even got some office work done.

I managed to spend half an hour with Dad before lunch, hes wheel chair bound due to a stroke, and we put the world right I can tell you. Dad has time to read the Telegraph in some detail , which possibly gives a skewed view of the world which suits us fine. We concluded that politicians are beneath contempt and euro politicians are well below that.

Its easy to snipe at our leaders and whatever political colour they are the same probably applies. It does seem that there is a greater emphasis on job security and future pension payments than on making difficult decisions for the greater good.

The decision by the European Parliament to ban the use of many of the sprays used on our crops seems insane. In the face of rapid food price inflation and looming supply issues why do anything to make that supply more difficult ? This was discussed on farming today this morning and featured Kit Papworth a Norfolk farmer who was on the Worshipful Company of Farmers Course that Matt Naylor and I met on , its worth a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/radio4/aod.shtml?radio4/farmingtoday_tue
.

lets get started

2008-06-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to blog for a while, it took a little push from my mate Mat Naylor, blogger and fellow Pure Tilth member, along with Ian Pigott to get me going. To listen to our fledgling podcast try this www.puretilth.com .

Mat is relatively techy, compared with me, I still marvels at the alchemy that must make calculators work. Like most people I just use what I absolutely have to in any tech situation and never go further, time to change.

If you have read my bio, that Mat kindly put up you will have a general idea of who what where etc. You will probably have noticed that we live and work on a farm, and thats probably going to be the main "thrust" ( good word) of the pure hereford blog.

So whats been happening farm boy ? I hope you ask.

Its monday, and Bob Geldof, in a rare moment of performing talent said " i dont like Mondays`s at all", neither do I Bob, and today was a bit of a stinker.

It was mostly/ completely my fault, several jobs had to be done this morning includeing takeing cattle to market, and a meeting scheduled with a really nice chap called Bob Slater from FWAG www.fwag.org.uk , and cattle prepared for TB testing at 2 pm. I was on my way to Ludlow market with two very fine fat cattle when a chap rang to say he would be there at mid day to select Herefords for next week delivery, which was a suprise as I was about to call him. Got home, washed the trailer out from the Ludlow trip, when Bob Slater rang to say he would be an hour early if thats Ok, in the meantime 8 cattle had to be penned for the vet at 2 pm to do TB tests.
As usual it all got done, and the machine that blows straw into the cattle pens for bedding was temporarily fixed and 9 Herefords were selected for next week, Steve and Robert who help me on the farm got it sorted

Tonight has been one of those magical early summer evenings we so rarely get, and to make it even better we have one of those big beer boxes in the pantry made by www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk .Left over from Sues parents 50th wedding aniversary at the weekend, congratulations Bill and Jean, it was fantastic. There is something magical about real ale on a quiet summers night, much as a glass of crisp white wine in a cafe in a provincial French town or ice cold beer in a mid western tavern on a sultry evening. When something just fits , it just fits and should be enjoyed. I enjoyed it hugely whilst Charlie enjoyed his swing and the Morning didnt seem so bad after all.

Tomorrow, I have to face the demon of the office work, Robert is cutting the excess grass in some grazing fields and Steve is building new fences, whats the betting thats not what happens.