I have spent many a coffee break this week watching my neighbours on the other side of the valley spreading fertiliser. It makes you feel quite decadent observing others at work whilst relaxing & boosting your own caffeine levels. Organic status has saved us a fertiliser bill but the straw bill just takes it place, and to get here straw has had to travel a very long way!
I have nearly finished all the preparations for the Smallholders Show in Builth Wells this weekend. Its a fab show. I have printed so many Tractor Mad pairs of Dickies overalls that I barely saw Tuesday. So all packed and ready to load up tomorrow. This will be the first year of taking number 1 son as a stand operative. I hope that we both survive in tact. His main focus is currently a Welsh Black Steak for supper, lets hope I can get a fair amount of effort from him before that! We have a tradestand in the Glamorgan Hall so if you are coming to the show do say `hello.` Alternatively you can always take a peek at our website!
Really impressed with the grass growth situation, long may it continue, but lets have a dry weekend for the show or at least a request for rain at night only. Well you can but try.............
Well we are still here ~ haven`t been blown away yet. Infact I was expecting worse. We have previously experienced the kind of storm which leaves you lying in bed listening to the roof of the house creaking. When gale warnings are issued I always park my car behind my Dads house ~ his tiles are held on better than mine.
The loader tractor has died........again. It is no surprise really. It is legendary in our locality. A classic case of `the repair man has never experienced a model quite like yours` I have wanted to push it into the nettles for years but the Environment Agency won`t let anyone do that now so the idea is to put it back together and sell it via Classic Tractor as a restoration project for someone with time and skills. Anyone interested in a Marshall 804 as a challenging project? Meanwhile the parts have arrived this morning so it looks like a challenging weekend, hopefully it will be eased by having the radio volume cranked up to max. and a constant supply of mugs of tea. Oh yeah, and a working tractor ASAP. If you have ever wondered why there is no Marshall lookalike tractor on our clothing designs, this one is why!
My elderly 32yr old horse is starting to fall apart which just proves that there are somethings in life that you can do absolutely nothing about. The vets have been great and we have decided that whilst he is happy we will just let him carry on. He charged in from the field last evening and is still seriously enjoying his food so I can`t ask for much more at this stage. 25yrs is a long time to have any animal and he will leave a big gap gap in the place when he does go.
Crusty the recovering calf is now quite literally crusty ~ with ringworm. She is responding well to the Tea Tree, Lavender & Juniper oil cream which is actually suitable for people with excema and psoriasis but we seem to use an alarming amount of it on the cattle to very good effect.
The forecast is not great for the weekend ~ the muck is still sitting there waiting to go out. Lets hope for a dryer week next week. 
I reckon its time to put another of these Blogs together ~ thankyou for reading this, especially if you are visting via my website
My Dad finished the hedgelaying target which he set for himself and then disappeared for a week to Holland on holiday ~ its OK, he brought me back some waffles. He has been steadily working his way through the farm for the last few years and the place is really starting to look good as a result and the hedges are in great form and stuffed with wildlife.
We have had a very ill calf which I am pleased to say has recovered and is now making up for lost time on the food front and I am quietly hoping that it will reconsider growing. The children got involved with nursing `Crusty` and she is now as daft as a brush. Move over Splodge and Spotty, I think that this one could make it onto a shirt ~ if she would just grow a bit and sort out her mucous issues.
Still have most of the muckspreading left to do so hopefully there will be a long spell of dry weather ( well, one can hope!) and I`d like to book in advance for an early turnout please, Thankyou!
I always feel that January is a great month for overviewing life and in our case it is about the only time we get to overview and plan. Much time is being spent in the office, particularly as a result of my New Year resolution to really get a handle on the paperwork on a regular, consistent basis and not have to resort to crisis management which does nothing for my digestion.
We knew which shed needed to be re-roofed this summer but the heavy rainfall has really brought some clarity to the issue. The cattle (sucklers) have wintered well despite our late, heavy and rather stalky silage. Its good to know that we have plenty of it but the straw situation looks like it could catch us out and I don`t like to think of what the straw price could be in our part of the country in March/April.
It is also the time of year to choose a new cow for the t-shirts ~ yes I did say t-shirts. It all started about three years ago when I thought it might be interesting to add a cow to our childrens clothing design range. Tractors.... Diggers.... Cows... it just seemed like a natural progression. We were fortunate to find just the right volunteer `Splodge` closely followed by `Spotty` the following year. This years cow selection is hanging in the balance but make no mistake, it is a coveted place to be.
It is hard to criticise a cows conception rate when she has an alternative income stream.