After last month's heavy rain this month has been dry with only 28mm falling. This has meant that spring field work has begun with the slurry store now empty and some fertilizer sown on the Key field, Left hand meadow and ½ of the Middle meadow.

This has been sown at 125kgs/ha and now the weather is warmer the grass should begin to grow. I certainly hope so as the winter's extra stock due to Foot and Mouth have left our silage stocks low.

The low rainfall has allowed the river level to fall, and these pictures show just how much land we have been losing to the river due to the last 2 years of exceptionally wet weather. The picture on the right shows a large piece of land that has slumped into the river, on the left you can see Andrew our Webby,inspecting the damage, he is 183cm tall just to give you an idea of the depth.

This picture shows me in the muckspreader doing the dirty job of shortening the spreading chains. This has to be done to reduce wear and is done by inserting a bolt between the chain links all 28 of them.

Working on the machine made me think of the visit by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) official. We discussed farm safety (farming is the most dangerous job in the UK according to accident figures) and he inspected our machines.

Most of ours are OK but the Haybob and concrete mixer both need new parts before we next use them. As both won't work without them anyway we agreed.

We also discussed the safe handling of chemicals such as sprays as these can be dangerous to both the farmer and the animals if not used according to makers instructions.

We have had 3 calves born this month 1 Angus bull 1 Black and White bull and 1 Black and White heifer (our first this year!) all are doing well proving the vaccination works.

Given the dry March we would normally have been sowing some cereals but this year we are not and for the first time at Greenheyes we are going to grow forage Maize. This will be planted next month on ½ of the Drive field and we will show the crop as it grows.

This month has seen us buying some extra straw as this too is in short supply due to the extra mouths to feed .

Although it has been dry enough to spread muck and fertilizer it is still too wet on the land for rolling the fields so April is going to be busy.

Click here for the nature report with news of a "missed opportunity" last year.

See you next month Phil

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