Amazing maize

One week in June the lads on the farm did a fantastic job. A whole herd TB test, clear too, they all harvested all the silage and most of the hay for the year. The photo is of me stood in one of the maize fields at the end of July. I was a bit worried by trying to grow this crop in these particular fields, as if you read the recommendations, they would be marginal at best. Too high, soil too thin and partially facing away from the sun, maize just loves warmth.

It just shows how much difference weather makes and how much luck comes into it. We were slightly late planting the seeds, germination was slow so the seedlings stayed underground during all the frost that would have killed the plants, as it is not a frost hardy crop.

As it emerged from underground in the second half of May the weather significantly warmed up and the crop never looked back. It must be one of the best crops of maize in the area. It’s almost 8 foot high all over, right out to the hedges!

The grass for grazing has grown all summer, therefore so have the lambs and the calves.

We’ve had a good period of artificially inseminating the cows with some new bloodlines. The bulls, Sportsman, Black Bill, Emblem and Ace have been busy too, the good news is they have now gone quiet. That should mean they’ve done a good job but we will only know when the technician visits with his ultrasound scanner and gives us the results of everyone’s labour.

We were getting worried about bull sales in April as we hadn’t had an enquiry for quite a while. Then suddenly the phone was red hot. We always get our vets to fertility test the bulls before they leave. It’s part of our ethos of trying to make sure the customer is satisfied with his purchase. As long as we know the bull is fertile we can be more confident he will leave the new owner a great crop of calves.

Since I last wrote the café, including the extension, has re-opened. After a nice steady start, which gave all the new staff time to learn, we have built rapidly. We have started opening the café on Sundays and this Sunday we also opened the shop for a trial period.

I hope you’ve all had a good summer. As long as we get some rain, I’m hoping for an Indian one.

Stuart Luxton