Farming News – December 2023

Late Saturday night at the end of Nov. finds me sitting in front of my laptop, pondering, ‘What have I managed to get done during this last month of rain?’ We did manage to get the fodder beet harvested early in the month, which will feed the cows for the rest of winter. The beet will also feed the ewes around lambing time because the sugars in the beet help to prevent pregnancy toxaemia during the cold winter days when energy demands are highest. After lambing, the beet also helps each ewe to produce milk to feed her lambs.

Although my potatoes were planted on one of the driest fields on the farm, I have had to leave them in the ground until drier weather comes. I used some of the rainiest days to park the harvester indoors so that we could remove and repair a ‘worn out’ gearbox. The machine is almost 40 years old so I can’t complain if one of its gearboxes needed a rebuild. Because I did the work myself, the parts were relatively inexpensive.

I haven’t chopped any logs this month because the woodland is flooded and most of the fallen trees are waterlogged.