Archived News

11th September 2009

Farm walk details listed below on 6th September.

This week may beat all previous stress levels here on the farm, it’s like waiting for a pressure-cooker valve to release the steam! Laurence finished harvesting 200 acres of spring wheat at Dunsfold and moved the combine back to Shalford to cut fifty acres of spring rape.  In August the decision was made to dessicate the spring rape which helped improve readiness for harvesting throughout the crop.

With a 5am start on Wednesday, trying to avoid commuters, Laurence drove the combine harvester back from Shalford to Dorking.  The twenty mile journey via Guildford’s one way system, took one hour and twenty minutes with David driving ahead of the combine, orange lights flashing to warn oncoming vehicles.

Laurence is driving a vehicle which takes up the width of one side of the road and half of the other side, (this is with the cutter bar removed!) he must then negotiate all the traffic islands, junctions and traffic calming measures which is no mean feat.

As ever there has been a lot of cattle work this week. Waterbeck Willow, the bull we hired to serve Harvey’s offspring had to be fetched off the North Downs and transported back to Raikes Farm.  Willow was collected the following day and taken to Sussex, where he will be serving four Belted Galloways before travelling back to his home in Wiltshire and more cows to serve.  He is a very content bull!

Previously when the cows were scanned, Flora wasn’t pregnant, so she remained with Harvey a little longer.  However as each cow has increased to a vast size, ‘bagged up’ with milk and given birth, Flora still appeared unchanged. This week, Flora has surprised us all by giving birth, (without any sign of even being in-calf) to a very bonny heifer calf, months after the main group. This brings our total this year to 5 heifer calves and 5 bull calves. 

Laurence began harvesting linseed at Sondes Place Farm yesterday.  He was forced to stop after three acres, with another 197 to go, because the fingers between the blades on the cutter bar were too blunt to cut the stems of the crop which he says are ‘tough as old boots’.  Harvest grinds to a halt once more, Laurence whizzes down to Petworth to pick up £1,000 worth of new fingers and then Dick begins the task of swapping them over.

Wheat is selling today at £82.25/tonne whilst back in February it was £144/tonne.  For every 1,000 tonne of wheat that’s a drop in profit of £60,000.  If we sold forward, the November price is £92.50/tonne but of course the risk being, that if you sell forward you are locked at that price and in the fluctuating market, the price per tonne may well increase. Class 4 feed wheat was selling at £177/tonne in July 2008

As Prudence is due to farrow early this month, she was moved out of her field on Tuesday and brought into a barn so we can keep a close eye on her and she has peace and quiet away from Percy and Phoebe during farrowing. 

Christopher has been on ‘Prudence watch’ each morning and evening and this evening has found Prudence quite restless and breathing heavily.  Also she has bagged up with milk and it comes readily from a teat. So I think we’ll could have  a new litter of piglets quite soon.