As we approach our third month of lockdown, it is safe to say that cabin fever has well and truly set in. Alison and I go through phases of being content and enjoying our surroundings and then phases of frustration, missing family and friends.

There is only so much that Zoom parties can do with regards to socialising and we are coming to realise that we crave face-to-face contact. It is important to recognise these difficulties and that we all experience them at different times – I see it in the children at times too, where they may be more argumentative and frustrated. Acknowledging the challenges and struggles that we all experience and talking about them is important and thankfully, those feelings subside. As movement restrictions are relaxed, it allows us to focus on planning some small activities that we can look forward to. The challenge for everyone now is sticking with the roadmap in place, having patience and resisting the temptation to jump the gun, bending the rules that have been put in place for us and our community’s safety.

The few rain showers that arrived last weekend were very welcome after the dry weather of the last month or so and it’s surprising how everything around the farm is starting to take on a healthier glow. It is a wonderful sight to watch the fields and trees almost greening up before my eyes – they had been looking off lately, mainly due to the lack of moisture.

Grass is starting to grow at pace now on the farm and the lambs have been thriving well with the sun on their backs, along with an abundance of fresh grass. Grass is now growing at 76kg DM/ha, demand is at 63kg DM/ha and there are 14 days grazing ahead at the moment. The winter silage stocks are well on their way to being saved, as we got the pit silage made last week, leaving us with about 150 bales left to be made. I should have these done over the next month, by way of removing any heavy paddocks. Making bales reduces the need to top fields, as we move into the heading out period for grass and maintain grass quality.

Another job that was completed last week in time for the rain was this year’s reseeding. It has been 15 years since I took over the farm and each year, I reseed a number of fields, the result being that as of last week, I have reseeded the whole farm. The big advantage of reseeding these fields is that I now have better grass growth in the shoulder period of the year.

I have started to apply a pour-on to the lambs this week, to prevent any cases of blowfly strike.

Any lambs that are close to being fit for the factory in the next month will be left untreated, as the withdrawal for this product is 40 days. I’ve been using it for the last few years and am delighted at how it worked, as it gives 19 weeks’ cover against blowfly strike. With any luck, I won’t have to treat lambs again during the summer this year.

All lambs will also have received cobalt when they are in the yard and possibly a worm drench, depending on how the different faecal egg count results come back for each mob. This has to be monitored closely over the next few weeks, as the predicted warm and damp weather brings increased risk.

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