I’m pleased to report that calf prices have begun to even out and we have started building numbers of young stock back up.

We had seven lovely Angus crosses join us last week to go with Simmentals and Fleckvieh crosses from the previous week. We still need to source more and have a presence at the weekly markets.

The weather has been a bit of a roller coaster. The pigs find the hot weather challenging as they have few sweat glands and are not good at temperature adjustment.

They all have water 'wallowing holes' in their pens which I top up daily as this is the most effective way for them to cool their body temperature. Golden Pig Roasts also has lots of bookings coming in for next year so I need to be expand the breeding stock and will be looking for more sows and making breeding plans now.

Harvest has been early in many areas. We are yet to start but the crops have been desiccated so we now have a short timeframe within which to harvest. Desiccation involves spraying the crops with a herbicide pre harvest. It is popular in the UK where we are susceptible to wet summers resulting in uneven crop growth as it promotes more even ripening. The process also reduces green material in the harvest so places less strain on the machinery.

Timing is paramount- if you desiccate too early you will sacrifice yield and quality. The moisture content of the seed should be less than 11 per cent for the oil seed rape and 15 per cent for the wheat and barley, and the crops should be harvested as soon as they are ready after desiccation. 

The herbicides are sun activated so the weather plays a vital part and crops may rot if you have wet weather immediately after desiccation. We also have an added consideration as the arable side of the farm is overseen by one of the family farms based about six miles away at Turnworth which means that the machinery has to travel along the road and so to minimise disruption the aim is to create a harvest window where the whole farm can be completed whilst the machinery is onsite. I anticipate a busy few days ahead.

Finally, we played host to the first weddings in June as part of one the farm diversification plans. All has gone well and we’ve had some great feedback which is encouraging and we look forward to hosting more celebrations as part of Dorset Farm Party over the next couple of months