It's been a sizzling June! We've just finished haymaking....the last 2 years have been a write off due to rain, what a difference this year.

We aimed to produce 100% haylage but now have a good stock of quality hay as well - the sun dried the grass rapidly before we had a chance to wrap it. Haylage is wrapped in black plastic whilst there is still moisture in the cut grass, it has a higher sugar and nutritional content than dry hay so is an efficient winter forage.

There's always a trade off though and ironically I've been suffering with 'hay fever' throughout the whole process. With no air conditioning in the tractor cab you could say I've been feeling the heat with the windows shut!

Harvest is next on the agenda. We're anticipating a lower yield from the crops after this prolonged dry period as the grains have not had the moisture to fill out. Dry weather is synonymous wth a good harvest but we need rain during the growing period.

We have not currently been able to maintain calf numbers due to extortionate market prices making it unviable to buy them. It's difficult to put a finger on what's happened and I guess that some are just trying to get calf stocks up before they enter the harvest period. We did have a few Holsteins join us two weeks ago, however these are a dairy breed not renowned as a beef producing cow so we aim not to overstock with them. We will continue to keep an eye out at the local markets to replenish stocks soon.

The sheep were sheared as my last column went to print, and it was a relief to get that completed before the heatwave. Doris' litter of piglets have reached 8 weeks now and been weaned. Meanwhile Mavis has produced a healthy litter of 9 so lots of young in the pig department.

We have a couple of woodpeckers enjoying the farm garden at the moment. It's nice to see them about, and demonstrates a good biodiversity. As I sign off from this I'm off to meet the local scout group who are coming to the farm for an "adventure evening" They're basing themselves in the "Badger Sett" area, a clearing in the woods created for Teddy Rocks so I hope they have lots of fun and enjoy their evening in the countryside.