When temperatures finally got into the 20s, you could nearly hear the grass growing, not to mention the cattle becoming much more content on sparser paddocks. It also allowed us to cut two meadows for hay, which was starting to look unlikely in the middle of July. While the cattle nearly always prefer silage or haylage in the shed, we find that hay is always welcome on cold October mornings as a tetany preventative, or if a cow has to be housed for a few days during summer.

Growth has lagged behind in comparison to other years and along with the changes in temperature, pastures were growing in stops and starts and were too wet to achieve a full clear-out in most grazing rotations. This return of the rise in temperatures was gratefully received, as there had been a poor regrowth in the later silage fields, despite the application of the last of our slurry.

Our small foray into growing vegetables has also seen the benefits, with my ‘lazy ridges’ of dung and straw finally beginning to look like they’ll actually work. Although the first planting of courgettes were massacred by slugs, the second crop of Brussels sprouts, broccoli and carrots are now beginning to take off, along with a ridge of potatoes.

While it’ll never feed us over winter, it’s very rewarding to grow even a small amount and certainly shows how much time and effort is involved when growing veg for market.

Soft ground has also played havoc with cows’ feet, with a few looking like they shall need hoof trimming before being housed for winter. While most of the cows are gone in-calf, the couple which remain to be bred have poor feet and no doubt, this is part of the cause. Both are repeat offenders concerning hoofcare and neither has improved with age, so it’s looking likely that this will be their last year, depending on if they go in-calf.

Despite the bad year as regards weather, we’re very pleased with the calf quality this year with two being suitable for showing, though with them being born in May and June, we decided in the end they were too young to be away at a show for most of the day.

Along with their age, our annual herd test is due shortly and booking two in to be tested would likely have flagged us for a complete test on all. However, we will overwinter both and perhaps next year they might make their debut on the show circuit, provided they deign to be trained, as I always find the heifers more contrary than bulls when halter training.

For the first time in many years, there has been a noticeable increase in both swallows and house martins around the farm, with new nests being built and the first hatch already fledged. On one particular wall, there are four house martin nests in close proximity and when we had the occasional enthusiastic chick decide on a premature flight, it became a case of eenie meenie miney moe as to which nest to return them into, before they’d become a snack for the farm cats. While it’ll be some time before they depart for warmer climates, their non-stop twittering is always the sound of summer around here, making a pleasant change from the year-round chirping of the house sparrow army, which has invaded our slatted shed for many years.