Farming

Looking back, some of my last posts seem to have very little to do with farming, but rest assured farming is always with us. Some days nothing out of the ordinary happens - we (or rather Henry and James) get up early, milk and muck out, and feed the milking cows. Then it's in for breakfast and back out again to feed the young stock and dry cows. If there's nothing untoward they may have time for some other work before dinner. This week they've been replacing gate stoups and hanging wooden gates in some of the gateways that were used by National Grid when they came through a couple of years ago. If you're driving along the road, glance towards the hedges to see how good they look. We've also had meetings with our new bank manager ("the bank is supporting agriculture for the long term") and Friends of the Lake District who will be holding their annual Hedge Laying Competition at Strickley on 5th February. We've sent some cows off on their final journey (nothing lives for ever) and got up in the night to check calving cows (well, by "we" I mean Henry). And every day about half past three, it all starts again - milking and feeding etc. Followed by a final check of the stock just before we go to bed.