I know many of you would have liked the last two months to have been hotter and dryer but the mild damp conditions have been a perfect growing climate. It really is true that “every shower in May is an extra load of hay”. We should be getting an extra few loads of hay this year. By the time you read this we hope to have cut our silage and we might have been able to do some hay too.
Lambing has finished and we only have one cow left to calve. The grass has kept growing and all the animals are looking great. Tomorrow we should finish shearing the ewes and all the lambs should be treated to prevent flystrike. This is where the blow flies lay their eggs on the sheep, they then hatch into maggots which can be a major problem the wooly members of the farm.
We have had a great season selling bulls -17 so far. There are two left to sell in the current crop but I also have orders for a number of bulls from the next crop which will be ready to depart in the autumn. If it keeps going like this I will definitely break the record of 30 sales in a calendar year.
[pull quote] ‘I hope Dad is looking down on me’
When a customer comes to view the bulls, I hope dad is looking down on me. He used to so love that part - he loved telling the stories of how we purchased the fathers of the bulls for sale. Alternatively he used to show them his collection of vintage machinery. Returning customers always mention Dad and say how they are sad he isn’t there any more.
I guess it’s a sign of the modern world but I have so much admin to do every day. Its so easy to get a back log particularly at busy times of year such as lambing and Christmas. This year I had a mishap which might have been a blessing in disguise.
My knife slipped whist at the shop and I ended up with a nasty injury. I went to minor injuries, got stitched up a returned to the shop. On the Saturday evening I had a call from the surgical team in Exeter explaining that they think they ought to see me. The long and short of it was that I had a 2 hour operation to repair a severed nerve and artery in my left index finger. Initially I couldn’t do much, even now physical work is not allowed but I have been able to catch up on phone calls and record keeping. I have never been so organized.
I hope you all have a lovely summer. Now the grass has grown some warm weather would be lovely.
Stuart Luxton
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