Drawing to a close

Shep is still busy shearing. Have to say I am getting well through, in actual fact my usual shearing was finished last week and since then a few days have been given to other shearers to get them caught up on the job before another season draws upon us.

As is oft the case the weather can worsen causing lost days on the shearing boards, when it picks up farmers get busy with their hay and silage crops and more days are lost to the shearer, finally when the season ought to be over there are still woolly sheep running around out there and there is a desperation to get them all clipped out before the night frosts return.

 

This 'summer' turned out to be poor. We did have a heatwave in early/mid June but from then onwards the weather deteriorated, I blame good old St Swithen and am looking forward to the 24th August when I am convinced the weather will look up, the sun will shine and all will be well.

Rain was badly needed, grassland has freshened up nicely and stock have been doing better. However the inclement weather has made shearing, hay and silage work difficult for many. The rain came a tad late. If only the tables could have been turned and the rain had come after lambing time to get the grass growing with the heatwave following to make gathering the fodder easier and shearing sheep a doddle - it was not to be with the result that every farmer I have spoken to has less fodder than usual. Less bales of hay and silage to see them through the winter, quite a problem when there was nothing left over from last winter - nothing held in reserve to supplement a poor crop this year.

It sounds like the trend is pretty similar through out the country which is slightly disconcerting as anyone requiring extra hay or silage will find it is at a premium; difficult to source and probably dear to buy. Many around here have spread fertiliser on their cleared hay fields in the hope of being able to snatch a second crop in September, a few more bales to boost their much needed winter supply, fortunately the damp weather has enabled this fertiliser to get a hold in the soil and is therefore encouraging the grass to grow, hopefully there may be a dry spell in a few weeks which will enable the crop to be lifted easily.

As for Shep? Well a couple more days in the clipping sheds and that should see the season draw to a close. For a day or two I thought I wouldn't be able to round my clipping count up to 3,000, I now find myself now chasing 3,500 but know this is highly improbable as there are only a handful of sheep left to be shorn. Not to worry, the tally is above last years and for all I like nice round figures I'll just have to content myself with some peculiar final total

St Swithins Day

The 15th July is known as St Swithin's Day and rumour has it that should it rain on the said day then it would continue to rain for 40 days and 40 nights, that would take us right through until the 24th August!

It did rain on St Swithin's day. The night previous it absolutely hammered down alongside flashes of lightening and brattles of thunder for good measure. The wind picked up and it continued to rain with the result that Shep had one of those unplanned days off. There was little hope of sheep drying although optimism remained until mid afternoon but there was to be no joy, sheep would not be dry and so a day off was the result with an entry in the diary which read WET.

It is hard to believe but Tarset has basically suffered a drought. Even harder to believe if you live here as Tarset is renowned for attracting rain and yet this year precipitation has been to a minimum. That spring flush of grass we were all so desperately waiting for at lambing time never came, pasture fields have been bare, embarrassingly bare.

Hay fields shut down from stock to allow the grass to grow have also been struggling, the crops look poor and no one has bitten the bullet and cut any down as yet. This time last year the hay and silage season was well under way but not this year and now there is a hold up due to the weather. The chances of the crops growing much more now are slim and the feeding quality of them will soon begin to deteriorate.

So, bare pastures, poor crops in hay fields - no grass, except that is for the hill ground. Once the hill ground got warmed up with the heatwave we experienced in late May and early June the grass took off. The hill ground is mostly peaty around these parts and so retains the moisture well with the result that a drought and hot spell really helped it. Hill sheep have been doing very well, as have their lambs which is a god send after the harsh winter and spring which they experienced.

It has been quite a pleasure to experience a heatwave and has definitely made the shearing season a great deal easier if not a tad sweaty, Shep was getting to the stage that I never considered it may rain and hold you back, came as a bit of a shock when it did. Not only did it rain but it absolutely hammered down and on St Swithin's day at that.

Seemingly this St Swithin fella died centuries ago and wished to be buried outside where he could have the rain fall on him. For all he was dead, and presumably would be taking very little hurt as a lifeless corpse, some kindly souls took pity on his remains, they that had been left under the soil to be rained upon, and decided to move them and give them an indoor burial. St Swithin must have been watching from some cloud somewhere and took umbridge, to show his disquiet there was apparently a great downpour, which lasted for forty days and nights and commenced on the day his body was moved indoors - the 15th July!!

All this is hearsay coz believe you mean I most definitely was not around to witness the event and neither was anyone else I know of, so it is just another piece of good old British folklore and one which I truly hope isn't correct coz I still have quite a few sheep to clip yet, anyhow, Falstone Show is on the 21st August and we really don't want it to rain on that day, do we?

Should it continue to rain in the manner that it has done over the past few days there may well be cause to commence building an ark, in the meantime it is quite refreshing to see the pastures freshen up, the grass is looking greener and possibly may have grown some. Water courses are filling again and stock which previously were struggling to find water are now getting it 'on tap'. The rain has done no harm whatsoever. Lets just hope it remembers to stop and gives the farmers a decent opportunity to gather their winter fodder.

Grass comes free, or does it?

The grey cells are working overtime, mental exhaustion will soon kick in..... I was thinking (which is always dangerous!). To many whom are not in the know it may be easy to conclude that farms have grass, which grows in fields, which is a natural process and therefore must be a cost free commodity - seems logical to me when I think of it along those lines.

If only life were so simple. Still on the hay and silage vein I'll concentrate on that for now. It would be far too complicated for me at the moment to discuss grassland in general.

If you have a lawn then undoubtedly you'll find you have to cut the grass, whether with and electric or petrol lawnmower the fuel is a cost. Breakages? Has that lawnmower ever coughed, hiccuped then died? Do you repair or upgrade? Second hand or new? More cost - similar problems facing the farmer and his hay machinery, slightly different costs considering a tractor suitable for all the jobs required on a hill farm will probably set you back forty grand (the cheaper end of tractors due to them being smaller models), a big round baler can be acquired at half the price of the tractor. One farmer told me recently the baler would have to kick out 16,000 bales before it paid for itself (I'll take his word for that, mathematics is not a strong point of mine unless I'm counting sheep).

Back to your lawn. Maybe you don't have a lawnmower, preferring to hire a gardener and his gear to do the job. Farmers have the same options. A neighbour has had contractors in to bale and wrap his silage at a cost of £4.50 a bale. The wrap is bought by the farmer, at present it is £50+ per roll( it pays to shop around), with a roll averaging 27 bales, therefore working out at approx £2 per bale.

The silage bale has so far cost £6.50 to bale and wrap. The grass was cut by the farmer. His service bill for the tractor prior to hay time was over a thousand pounds, he needed fresh blades for the mower, diesel, grease, oil. The grass was turned and rowed up, tines were needed for the hay bob and yet more diesel, grease and oil. Then the bales needed lead from the field, where they were baled, to the pad where they are wrapped and stacked, a contractor charges by the hour for this as distances led vary, the farmer actually led his own but hired in another tractor and a man to operate it. The cost of that silage bale is rising.........

So, it costs money to produce a silage bale but the grass was free - wasn't it?

There is the saying 'there's nowt free in life', personally I tend to disagree, however, when it comes to grass there is a lot of truth in that saying.

Your lawn? Ever had trouble with it? moss growing killing the grass off, or maybe it just got a hammering, trampled by kids or dogs, and you found yourself down the garden centre buying bits and bobs to improve it. Similar problems face the farmer but on a far larger scale, we are talking many acres not square yards.

Hay/silage fields are the best ground on the farm. Hay/silage is what gets your livestock through the winter months, a very important crop, the quality of which reflects on the quality and health of your stock.

Being the best grazing the fields are used throughout the year. Lambs will be spaened (weaned) onto them shortly to take advantage of the new growth, ewes may be tupped in them and are often fetched into them to be lambed or they may be used for keeping ewes and twins on as the quality of grazing is better. Eventually, after lambing time they are shut down and allowed to grow into a crop. Simple really.

Except, like your lawn, the hay fields do get a hammering, they have fed many mouths and hopefully kept everything on a rising plane, they can get tired and need assistance.

Manure, both natural and man made is often required to give the field a lift, get it to produce plenty of crop through the growing season (which is a short one up here in Tarset). Obviously the livestock grazing the ground has been manuring as they go along which is a great help but more is required if that huge stash of winter fodder is to be available.

Natural manure generally comes from the cattle sheds, a by product. Cattle that are housed throughout the winter don't half produce one hell of a pile of shit (call it dung if you feel more comfortable with that). Well, that really simplifies the job, cows do what they're good at, eat the silage and dutifully pass it out the other end then it can go back on the fields, help produce more silage and so it goes......

Cattle in sheds need to be bedded up, you wouldn't like to lie in your own excrement for months would you? Neither do they, and so the farmer puts down bales of straw which soaks up all that skitter and piddle and leaves the cattle to lie comfortably whilst chewing their cuds and dreaming of spring time and fields to frolic around in.

Straw is the stalks which corn grows on, wheat, barley, oats...... which is harvested in the back end on lower running farms, the stalks, like hay and silage gets baled up and sold on to the livestock farmer for bedding.

So, we have the straw, a by product from the corn harvest. The corn men would often burn the straw/stubble on the fields which put nutrients back into the ground, there are rules and regulations now (fancy that!)and so straw is now often chopped by the combine harvester then ploughed back into the ground.

But livestock farmers need it....... Umm, ever heard of supply and demand?

The arable men face costs just like the silage men, the weather causes problems too. No one really wants bad straw, mouldy, damp stuff doesn't do the job as well (imagine damp cotton wool against dry - the absorption rate definitely varies).

Good straw becomes a highly sought after commodity and in recent years the cost of buying in straw has rocketed, last spring it was dearer to buy in than the equivalent in hay or silage, this year it is prophesised it will be worth more per ton than the crop it was carrying.

That good old farmyard manure isn't free after all, in fact it is down rightly expensive.

Man made manure is obviously going to come at a cost. Fertiliser, as it is generally known as, comes in a variety of forms. Unlike spreading muck, with fertiliser you can buy the compound which your ground requires. More potash, less nitrogen, etc. You have a number of choices to suit your particular needs. Last year saw the cost of fertiliser double, this year it had not halved (things rarely come back down in price)but risen again (albeit slightly). I have been told it probably costs £45 and acre for fertiliser (although costs will vary depending on types and quantity spread) and that you would hope to get an average of 10 bales to the acre (again size of bale comes into it)

As I said earlier mathematics are not a strong point of mine (how on earth I passed my O'level I'll never know), but even with my very limited mathematical abilities I can definitely say that grass does not come free. That bale of silage comes at a cost.

Oh! I nearly forgot (told you mental exhaustion would kick in) - rules and regulations now in force mean that the farmer has to pay to dispose of the plastic wrap, net wrap and strings which are left over after his silage has been used - yet more expense! A box of matches was a lot cheaper.

Haytime

Back to haytime. You've already seen this grass being cut on an earlier blog. The cut row of grass is known as a swath (unsure of the spelling but that is how it is pronounced). It is often left to kill on the top but some prefer to get the green grass scattered out as soon as possible to allow it to get air and sun at it. There are mower conditioners used nowadays which beat and crimp the grass as it is cut allowing it to wilt quicker, they will also leave it spread out if required, all aiding to getting a quicker kill. This mower is the older version which basically just cuts the grass.

A haybob is used (below) to scatter the grass out and when the settings are changed it will also fluff it up in a row ready for the baler to pick up

The baler (above) has a pick up wheel on the front which draws the dried grass into a chamber where it is packed into a bale before being tied with string, knotted and spat out the other end. Round bales can also be wrapped with netwrap rather than string before being spat out.

The small square baler will have a sledge running behind which holds the bales, once full they are released to lie on the field waiting to be stacked. This actual baler has a flat eight sledge behind, it does just that, leaves the bales in a flat eight which are later lifted with a grab and stacked into a 48 before a bale transporter picks it up and transfers them to the hay shed - gone are the days of hand balling every bale and knocking the knees out of your jeans!

The round baler above has just spat it's bale out. A four foot round bale is roughly equivalant to 8 - 10 small bales. Note the baler has backed back sideways across the field to release the bale, you really don't want to meet one of those bales rolling down the field towards you. People have been killed before now.

The sky is a bit of a give away on the above photo, the grass was intended for hay, preferably small bales, however, the weather was breaking and the big baler came in. It was very close to being hay but deemed not close enough and to save having dusty, foisty big bales of hay it was later wrapped and ought to come out as good quality haylage.

Hay time can be a stressful time of year. I've never enjoyed it and fortunately get away with out being involved these days, the better half is involved though and the stress, mumping and grumping still comes into the house, at least there is someone to let off steam to.

When the weather is good and settled it can be a joy but eyes are always skywards, weather forecasts are checked regularily, decisions get made and altered. Silage is indeed a saving grace but you still wish to get that good. Days can be long, cutting grass before the sun is well up to give you the main part of the day to deal with grass that is lying, leading in the evenings and wrapping into the dark of night can all be the norm when the weather is dodgy.

Stressful on the mind and body. I often leg pull "what d'y mean you're tired, y've just been sitting on your arse all day!" "How come your neck and shoulders are sore? Is the steering wheel heavy?"(is there any suprise I get mumping and grumping?).

Concentration and focus is needed, no time for day dreaming. Spending alot of the time driving forwards but looking back, checking all is well, catching the breakages as soon as they happen before more damage is done. Ensuring everyone's safety. Watching the weather. Eating on the hoof. Maintaining the machinery. One eye open watching out for the unexpected, the other looking for the expected. It's never ending but eventually it will come to an end, a sigh of relief, a count up of bales, an estimate of what will be required throughout the winter, a bigger sigh of relief if the target has been reached. Slight despondency and a quiet prayer for a kind winter if below target.

Machinery is eventually repaired, greased, oiled and put away until next time. I say eventually, not immeadiately. The reason being your crop may be secure but your neighbours may well be battling on, should they have any major breakdowns your assistance might well be called for and so the machinery can 'loiter' for a while,on stand-by, just in case! No one wants to see their neighbours stuck.

The following link to the woolshed blog is apparently a 'Tarset Special' with the hay rake mentioned now on display at the Bellingham Heritage Centre

http://woolshed1.blogspot.com/2008/10/daft-laddies-weightmans-hay-rake.ht

Hay and Silage

Well folks, it is well and truly hammering down outside and so here's the promised blog on hay making. We were all fortunate as there was a window/break in the weather. Week before last saw a fine spell, 3 good winning days and a couple of softer days. What on earth am I talking about I hear you say? Well, a winning day is heat and air. Sunshine which actually has some heat behind it and a nice dry breeze. Ideal conditions for winning hay, although a heavy crop takes more than three days of these conditions to make good hay. Softer weather is exactly that, overcast, weak sunshine and a soft or damper air. Not what a farmer would wish for if trying to make hay but totally acceptable for silage.

Hay - what is it? Well dried out grass basically, nice crispy stuff with no soft green grass in it. Silage? A greener moister version of hay. To confuse you further there is then haylage - a superior version of silage, very close to being hay but just not quite dry enough.

When I first came into the farming business all grass was cut and made into hay, small oblong bales moved by hand. Round balers were getting a hold away in-bye but the hill farms were still muddling along with the traditional small bales of hay. Some farmers were beginning to experiment with big round bales of grass placed inside very big plastic bags which were tied to keep the air out, this stuff got the name of silage and it quickly caught on to the point wrappers were produced enabling these bales to be basically cling wrapped ensuring no air got into the bale and so preserving it over the winter months. A huge step forward for everyone.

Why go to all that bother when traditionally hay was always made? Good question. Hay is dried out grass, nice and crispy - there's your answer. Poor weather in the summer months can have your hay crop ruined in days, a problem faced by farmers for generations not just since the days of 'global warning', 'greenhouse gases' and the threat of 'we are doomed'

Long before the days of highly paid government scientists travelling to our arctic regions and concluding the ice was melting because they were breathing on it our farmers have struggled with inclement weather conditions throughout the summer months. Before hay was baled, in the days when pikes (piles of hay)were the thing, there are tales of hay washing down the North Tyne river due to flooding. You could go back as far as farming history would allow and there will have been seasons when the crop was ruined. Silage has saved the day.

You may have guessed that one thing the farmer really doesn't want is rain once the grass is down, dampness can be accepted, invariably has to be accepted but wet can cause the brow to furrow and grey hairs to sprout.

Years back there was a lot of dusty hay of poor feeding value, having been rained on and more rained on, turned and thrown about the field with tractors to enable to dry out then rained on again. If baled when too damp it would go mouldy and heat in the hay shed. Baled when too green it would also heat and come out in the winter the colour of tobacco, although this was readily acceptable to the livestock, they seemed to love the 'burnt' hay. Mouldy hay was a different matter, animals picking through it to find something they were happy to digest. There was also the problem of self combustion, oh yes, fill a shed full of damp stuff and it'll heat with the possibility of fire. The tobacco bales already mentioned would have been very close to causing a fire in the hay shed. Heating bales also move causing the front of the hay shed to fall out and re stacking being necessary.

Silage has been a god send to farmers, enabling them to pick up their grass before it is ruined by rain. Grass can be cut and picked up with the baler straight away if necessary although most prefer to give it the opportunity to wilt. Once air tight it will be preserved until required for feeding, however, get a hole in the bag/wrap and problems arise, fermentation, sour bales and we're back to the stock picking through it to find something palatable. Too much contamination and the bale is ruined completely - unfit for consumption.

Silage pads are fenced off to ensure no sheep or cattle can nibble at the wrapping, unfortunately vermin such as rabbits and crows can still make a mess of a heap of bales. Sticky patches get applied when holes are noticed in the hope of keeping the air out. Children are NOT allowed to play on the heaps (most probably a health and safety issue in this day and age anyhow), we don't want the kids hurt but we definitely don't want the wrap torn.

There is a down side to silage, especially on hill farms. They are big, heavy and require a tractor to move them. Not ideal when the snow is deep and the sheep out bye are hungry. A small bale of hay can be picked up by hand, slung over the shoulder and carried. In many ways the small bale is irreplaceable, it has it's place the farm and it always pays to try and get some every season - just in case.
Check out the woolshed blog below
http://woolshed1.blogspot.com/2008/10/daft-laddies-ist-fit.html

Grass cutting

Grass cutting. To many a lawnmower would spring to mind, if you're lucky enough to have a lawn. Here in Tarset it is the tractor and mower, time is marching on and those that have not as yet managed to gather their winter fodder are getting a start. The weather has been poor, to say the least, over the past few weeks and farmers have been hoping a better week might be coming as they don't want their valuable winter fodder ruined by rain. However, there comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet. Fields are being dropped in bits. Dyke (wall) backs cut first as they take the most drying and also if the rain comes hopefully the cleared ground might dry enough not to cut up as the machinery runs over it when the middle of the fields are done.
.

Silage is planned at the moment, it can be gathered as a greener crop and so take less hurt from the rain, should the weather improve no doubt there will be an attempt to make hay. The grass needs to be dried out to make hay, dry sunny days would be appreciated. We'll wait and see.