I am sure all professions are similar but it seems as though you spend the weeks before a holiday trying to get in front and then a fortnight once you return trying to catch up. It was however lovely to get away from the madness for a bit, I just wish mobile phones had not been invented. It would be nice if the only messages coming through were: “all is fine and nothing to worry about here.” Instead I received “can’t find the cows, they have strayed onto the neighbouring common; one of your sheep has died and the tractor has broken down.” But that I suppose is the nature of the farming beast!
The longest day has long since come and gone and the harvest is now in full swing. I’m sure you’ve all seen those large contracting gangs of forage harvesters and convoys of tractors working late into the night. I should imagine a few of you may have cursed these giants for their long night-time hours or for blocking up the road, but to us they provide a vital service. Most farms these days can’t afford to carry such specialist harvestin
g equipment so these guys fly in and out with their shiny tractors and make short work of it, leaving the little boy in us all with tractor envy! As the old saying goes, ‘you can only make hay when the sun shines’ and these guys get in and out fast, they will have a queue of farmers all watching the weather and all wanting them on the ground on the same day.
With the shearing done and the heat of the summer on their backs those baby lambs we all admired back in the spring are now big enough and old enough to fend for themselves and are weaned. Once we separate the lambs from the ewes we take the opportunity to health check the flock, selling any which won’t be fit to breed again. The ewes have spent the summer eating the best of the grass to rear their lambs, now they need to be prepared for the next breeding cycles which usually start with a summer diet and fitness regime on the commons of Dartmoor. The same applies to the rams (which for most of the year have a pretty easy life) and only the very best will be retained for breeding. I suppose you could liken it to young singles losing a bit of weight and toning up before they go out courting….
Weaning the lambs is a very noisy affair with the lambs totally able to look after themselves, but having never left their mother’s side, will make some serious racket for the first couple of days, until they settle down! They will need checking regularly at this point as their reputation suggests they are quite stupid and will get into all sorts of trouble especially when they are desperate to return to mum. The lambs now fending for themselves will be given the best grass and will be grown on through the summer and autumn. The best of the females will be retained to maintain the flock and any surplus females are usually sold at Tavistock market. The very best males will be kept as rams but the majority of the males will fulfil their destiny with a sprig of rosemary or a dollop of mint sauce.
The cows continue to rear their spring born calves and the bulls are busy spreading their love. The young cattle make best use of the lush grass and grow themselves on. We still have the cloud of TB looming with more testing planned for the autumn and still a long way from TB free status. This makes it hard to sell our cattle, which has had a major effect on cash flow this summer. Let us hope that this new government grasps the nettle and commits to seriously tackling this massive problem.