Archived News

21st November 2008

Over the weekend we had two groups of contractors in the Abinger and Wotton area, one cutting maize and taking it to a silage clamp at Raikes Farm and the other cutting and carting on behalf of another farmer who has bought the maize from us.

As mud was being carried onto the road in places, we borrowed a road brush to sweep the mud away.  The brush fits onto the PTO shaftat the back of a small tractor – that’s ‘power take off’ .  Unfortunately the brush has now broken down and we have ordered the parts to repair it.

I have heard from a couple of friends who have not been thanked by tractor drivers for reversing or pulling in to the side over the last few days. Unfortunately we don’t have tractor details and therefore cannot pin-point the drivers concerned.  However we will speak to both contractors who have been in this area over the past week and remind them that we would expect courteous use of local lanes.  We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Today, 96 cattle have been moved from Chapel Farm back to Coast Hill Farm where they will be over wintered.  Fifteen cattle can be transported at a time in our cattle trailer, so this has taken all day.

Sam has been littering-up the young stock, which are housed in well ventilated barns, these help to prevent the calves catching Pneumonia whilst still providing good shelter from tonight’s dreadful weather.

The Friesian cross cattle that were moved to Farnham have settled in well and the local farmer has sourced a tonne of potatoes which they are enjoying along with their silage.

Laurence is snatching a few hours here and there to harvest his maize seed, but the combine harvester has also had a break-down which has slowed progress – the chain will be fixed by David tomorrow hopefully.  If you remember, this is the maize which we grew under plastic last spring and is cut by a special ‘maize header’ which would not look out of place in a child’s story book.