Farm duties continued..
Today we started off on the farm by feeding round the cattle.. One of the bulls is being fattened up so he is being fed on nuts and barley, as well as a little roughage - silage, and his ration will be increased gradually to help him put the weight on but not get too fatty.
We also fed round the housed Lincoln Red cows at Durdham farm, again with nuts, barley and silage. The females housed here are all in calf and are due to give birth in January, so in a few weeks time some calving pens will need to be built, which we may or may not be involved with. But hopefully we will get to see some calving in the coming weeks!
We then had to move some sheep to a new field, so phoebe and I herded up the flock and walked them to their new pasture a couple of fields away. This just offers them some fresh pasture for nutrient content. And we also put two new mineral licks in the field, because this is a great way for them to get the vitamins and minerals they need during the winter months when the grass offers less.
There were then a few winter maintenance jobs that needed doing, so we got underway rubbing the mud clods off a borrowed disc cultivator (as this is being returned to its owner) and a power harrow that was stood in the yard. In the meantime Neil had pressure washed the plough down, as all the ploughing has now been completed, so once cleaned the mouldboards (the shines silver parts that go down in to the ground) were covered in silicon gel - a lubricant to help protect the mouldboard, and the remainder of the plough doused in a mix of engine oil also used as a protecting agent as the plough will now be stored over winter.
We finished our day a little early as all our jobs were completed! Oooooh but I am nursing a really swollen wrist... Think it was the bolts fault from yesterday! Not good.
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