With the recent wintry weather, the animals are all pleased to now be inside for the winter. 

Animals generally are more tolerant of the cold than the wet and from our perspective housing the animals is much more straightforward logistically as it is much easier to keep track of them and check they are all healthy.

Fortunately, as long as we do not endure a long cold winter, we should have enough straw from the harvest here as well as a good hay crop to see us through for forage and bedding requirements. This is of great benefit as this year prices are proving very high and so an added cost we are keen to avoid. We “deep litter” the straw beds, adding clean straw on top daily and this method has great insulating properties.

The lower layers of straw ‘compost’ working like a natural underfloor heating system, whilst the livestock enjoy the clean straw on top. This process goes on until the spring when the cows go out to the fields and we have a big clear out of the barns. This muck then goes onto the field in the autumn to feed the plants, which grow to feed the animals, so we have a full recycling system in operation. 

We are sending logs out as fast as we can keep up with orders. Simultaneously we are undertaking dedicated woodland management with both next and future year’s logs orders in mind and are already selecting the trees for felling for next year.

This is the best time of year for felling whilst the trees are dormant and not carrying the weight of all the leaves and it is also easier to pick out the damaged trees when you can clearly see all the branches. Looking ahead we are planning on planting some beech trees in January to revitalise some of the woodland areas. These will take the best part of 100 years to reach full size so is really for the benefit of the next generation, similarly like my father’s grandfather planted the majority of the current beech trees in 1910.

It’s nearly Christmas and so there’s a big focus on getting our turkeys ready for Christmas lunches. They have been fattening up nicely over the last few months, on a mixture of manufactured feed and home grown cereals. It is all hands on deck at the moment to help out, but will be quite a relief in the new year when the workload should slow down slightly for a period.

Finally, we wish all the readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.