Wednesday January 15, 2014

Day 37..

Fertilisers! That's how we started the day! Looking at soil fertility and its requirement for fertilisation. When a soil has been determined as deficient in nutrient/s you need to work out the correct amount of fertiliser to be applied and to do this you will use the data as specified in the SNS Index (Soil Nitrogen Supply). Therefore, the amount to be applied is the figure, according to the soil type, in the index from 0 to 6. And, according to the ratio of nutrient application - which is commonly 20:10:10 (20% nitrogen 10% phosphate 10% potassium (potash) ) you need to work out the amount to be applied in kg. For example, if the mix is 20:10:10 and the soil was a deep clay - sns index of 4 you would need to apply 120kg of fertiliser per hectare, therefore;
20% = 120
0.2 = 120
120/0.2 = 600kg/ ha
We then went on to discuss the differences between organic fertiliser and inorganic! Organic is from plant and animal matter and inorganic being materials that have been chemically and synthetically made.

Our next lesson should have been machinery theory, however, we were taken down to Durdham farm because the pedigree bull was being tested for AI (artificial insemination) classification. As the bull mounts the cow the seaman is caught in a tube (by intercepting the process) and then a sample placed under a microscope to determine the amount and quality of the seamen. To be a registered bull with the AI organisation the sample has to fulfil certain criteria and on this occasion the bull was not successful (after three attempts).

For this afternoons practical we were doing a general health check on one of the flocks of sheep. Using the mobile penning system the ewes were herded in and generally checked over. As the weather has remained quite warm this winter there is a risk of flies and worms, so they will be wormed as a precaution. While we had the ewes penned in, we worked in pairs to carry out dagging - removing the stuck on poo from around the back ends with a pair of shears. Again, this could be a knock on effect of the warmer weather and means the sheep are 'looser' than normal! This is carried out as a preventative measure against fly-strike when there is an infestation of the wool, skin and eventually flesh caused by blowfly or botfly maggots.

When we arrived back at the farm dom discussed some of the cows digestive system and what happens when milk fever strikes as we looked at the calves with their mothers.