117mm of rain and until the last three days of the month it rained at least once during the day.

We are actually lucky in comparison to other parts of the UK which have seen horrendous floods.

The cattle drive has been our big saviour as it gives access to the grazing fields through a variety of gates so the gateways didn’t get too trampled and muddy for the cows.

Many of our neighbours haven’t been so lucky and were forced to keep their cattle inside.

Fieldwork has been at a standstill but we have been able to carry on with the brickwork on the shed aided by this ebay purchase of 1000 bricks.

As I said last month Nat is back with us and we attended a sale at Plumley and I was able to buy (£3) another vintage piece for my collection.

Nat is also very proud of herself having done some dehorning and castrated a bull calf while supervised by our vet.

Our roadshow has been hit by the weather Romiley Show was forced to cancel as was Wimboldsley school  due to waterlogged fields as I said and I repeat from last month I feel so sorry for the hardworking organizers of these events.

These were smaller events compared to the fact that such as the Royal Lancashire Show and the Nantwich show were also cancelled.

As we drove to the Poynton school event we spotted two school event notices with cancelled due to weather across them. However as I write we have had 3 dry days and Peover Game fair and the Country Fayre are both ON for August.

Back on the farm and we have had one calf this month an Angus bull doing well on the orchard with mum. Despite the weather our spring oat crop looks really well and I am just hoping for enough dry weather come harvest time.

This month sees us make a farewell to Paul. Regular site visitors my have noticed his absence from the pages in recent years.

He is now following a new path with his life and has sent message that he is no longer interested in the project.

I would like to thank him for his help and to wish him well for the future.

Now we are all often stunned by Webby’s nature reports and his photographs well this month he has taken a back seat to Simon whose nature report has been written in a hotter drier climate than here with familiar and more exotic animals.

Here’s just one as a sampler click here for more. (actually it's one of mine, I am still waiting for Simons report as I write this. I needed to put it in as a place holder)

Now the weather has been dry for two days mowers are moving around fields everywhere for second cut silage.

I feel August is going to be a busy one as we have Norcroft’s silage our own second cut and the heifer meadow to make hay on. August also sees birthdays for Simon ,Margot and Sarah who is 18 this year.

See you next month PHIL

HOME PAGE

e-mail