Farm yard manure - it’s great stuff!

Stuart Luxton explains how some major financial outlay does pay extra dividends…

Hello again everyone. As I write the weather seems to be playing up – just warm and pleasant but with little sun. It could be worse but conversely could be much better. The seasons are rolling on though and Autumn will be here sooner than we think.

Harvest has been going well with the silage all but done, although we could do with some sun to finish off the hay harvest - but I am sure it will come.

Because of our geographical location we grow very little corn, so we need to buy our straw from other farmers. We have started collecting this and storing it away so we can provide the animals with bedding over the winter months. The bill from this is usually one of the biggest of the year but it is something we cannot avoid or do without. One of the good things about all the straw is that we get plenty of farmyard manure to spread back on the land. All our fields have been regularly tested for levels of plant nutrients. We then target the manure to the areas that need it most, which helps us achieve good yields in subsequent years without as much need for artificial fertilizer.

On the animal front we have finished our spring calving but it won’t be long before the cows that have their young in the autumn, start to calve. The bulls have been hard at work; their workload seems to be reducing - which is a good sign as it should mean that most of the ladies are in the early stages of pregnancy.

We have been out on the moor rounding up our sheep and getting them shorn too. It is always a busy time of year!  We have to gather all our sheep from their grazings on Dartmoor and walk them back to the farm. Once at the farm we shear the adults and also perform a variety of animal husbandry tasks such as prevention of fly strike and foot trimming. The sheep are then marked with fresh paint and walked back to the moor. In the heat it is very noticeable that they are happier without their winter coats and are always in a hurry to return to the areas they regard as home.

I decided to give the lads a hand shearing the ewes this year, which with hindsight was not a good idea! I enjoyed it at the time but having not shorn a sheep for a quite some time I might have overdone it – it was a good workout and I was very stiff and sore the next day!

We recently had a sad experience on the farm with a new brood of pups. Sadly when they were just two weeks old we lost their mother. We then had to rear them on artificial milk with a bottle – with its obvious highs and lows.  The pups are doing well and now think we are their mum and dad, but we definitely don’t want to repeat the experience.

At the shop things are as busy as ever. We were very pleased to have our planning application for an extension approved and are now excited to be planning the new build and the products and services we will be offering.

I hope you’ve all have a great summer!

Stuart Luxton