As we continue to navigate our way through these unprecedented times, I think Alison has begun to have a clearer understanding of what life is like for me on the farm. When it is very busy it is not uncommon not to see anyone or to leave the farm for several days on end.

I think she also has realised why I am usually so keen to leave my workplace when the farm is quieter.

It is great to get out to do an activity as a family that is healthy and enjoyable

This will come in time. However, we must all do our bit for the immediate future to sit tight within our 2km radius. We have actually tried to turn this period into a positive for our family. We have been using the fact that traffic on our road is quieter to teach the children how to cycle safely. It is great to get out to do an activity as a family that is healthy and enjoyable.

Hopefully in the future we will be able to put these newly acquired skills to use with the children further afield but for now we’ll stay close to our own fields.

Grass growth

Grass growth on the farm has really started to take off in the last couple of weeks and at present we now have growth of 47kg DM/ha/day and demand is currently at 47kg DM/ha/day. This is not including the 40ac that has been removed from the grazing rotation for silage and I will no doubt have to drop more in the coming weeks despite having it stocked at 3.4LU/ha.

I plan on spreading a bag of pasture sward per acre across the grazing area on the farm

The hoggets will be used as usual as a flying mob cleaning out paddocks properly after the ewes with the lambs so as not to compromise the milking ability of the ewes rearing the lambs by forcing them to graze fully.

I plan on spreading a bag of pasture sward per acre across the grazing area on the farm in order to keep grass moving on in them while the others are closed for silage.

Pit silage

This year, I plan on saving a pit of silage instead of making all bales for the first time since I stopped finishing cattle. The purchase of the secondhand diet feeder last year has made this an option going forward as transporting silage from the pit to the shed will not be a problem. Feeding the ewes this spring has been made so much easier with the feeder and there was a big reduction in prolapses occurring in the flock this year.

Due to COVID-19 no additional help is being brought on to the farm

The lambs from the two central progeny testing (CPT) groups will be weighed this week to see how they are performing; they have already been in the yard last week for a worm drench and a footbath. Due to COVID-19 no additional help is being brought on to the farm to help with these tasks. Instead we are doing fewer jobs with the mobs when we bring them in, to comply with social distancing. However, this will mean working with each mob more often.

This will be the first performance check of the year. Ideally, they should be doing 300g/hd/day or better and is a good indicator as to how well the ewes are lactating as much of their weight gain to now is from mothers’ milk. From about seven weeks of age lambs are starting to incorporate more grass into their diet.

The last number of years I have let the lambs out to a sheltered paddock with access to a shed once they settled down

We have also started weaning the pet lambs off milk over the last couple of weeks. Once the lambs are eating a good amount of ration and are about five weeks of age, I start removing lambs to a separate pen without access to milk. The last number of years I have let the lambs out to a sheltered paddock with access to a shed once they settled down and finished them off creep and grass. Another option would be to leave them in the shed and finish them from creep alone.

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