Finding staff, fixing buildings and feed prices are all keeping Charlie Armstrong on his toes

We have fed sheep now for six weeks and should this continue through until April I think the whole country will run out of fodder. Grain is changing hands in the £200/t bracket, hay is more than £200/t as is N. Beef and sheep farms can not stand these prices. With a bit of luck the supermarkets will realise this and pay us more – what a great new year wish.

Now the snow has gone, more damage to buildings has become apparent. As the damage won’t be repaired soon, polytunnels are being erected to put our early-lambing ewes in as these start lambing soon.

Most ewes have stood up well to the bad weather and now they can get at grass, it will give me time to convert an old self-propelled sprayer with flotation wheels in to an Armstrong wet weather sheep snacker. This will hopefully travel on the fields – nothing else will – and it shouldn’t leave a mark.

The new year brings with it the annual job of finding lambing staff. Actually, finding them is no bother, but whether they can do what it says on the box is a different thing.

With feedstuffs being too expensive, all cattle are now being fed a store diet of straw and potatoes. These will be turned out in the spring and finished at grass, hopefully.

Last month, while my mother in-law was down watching the children’s nativity play I was instructed by my wife to get her a bottle of gin. It turned out the bad weather had not driven her to drink, but it was to put in the window washers of her car – she now smells of Gordon’s most of the time.

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