Most of July has been spent waiting for it to stop raining! We had to bring all the cows inside as they were poaching the field (meaning that it was getting very muddy!). They have been in for most of July eating all the winter food rations.
We cut grass to make hay and this has been spoilt and lost some of its nutrient content so the cattle will need more of it in the winter to be satisfied. Hopefully we will be able to bale the hay soon!
The rain has precluded us from working on the farm and has been slowly turning the corn a nice light brown colour than a golden colour!
Hopefully we will be able to get the hay baled and start the harvest!
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Sunday, 24 June 2007
June
June has come bringing with it an awful ot of rain! On the 22nd we had about 57mm on top of the many centimetres that had already rained down upon us! There has been so much rain that also on the 22nd we had to bring one lot of cattle inside, as they were poaching the ground so much. They however are disgruntled as they think they should be outside at this time of year! On the 25th, Jordan Castle experienced rivers forming in new places around the farm and most of our drive being washed away. More cows were brought in, although difficult as the cows are a bit perplexed about this weather!
Sydney mowed a field of hay about 2 weeks ago and since then has been rained on so much that we think that it wont be able to be saved, although he says that early hay is difficult to spoil. This means that there has been not much progress on the arable side as the rain has precluded anyone going on the land as it is so wet!
We did however have two visits from our local school, Wellow House, who brought their Year 8 and Year 5 geographers along to see our farm. They seemed very interested in the farm and the processes that we were describing. These were our youngest visitors as we had thought that we were going to cater for older secondary school students. The year 5s especially were vey responsive to what we were talking to them about and learned an awful lot about where their food comes from.
Our most exciting event this June was Open Farm Sunday on June 10th. We had decided to do two pre-booked farmer led walks on the day, however we ended up splitting the afternoon walk due to popular demand! During the day we had about 80 people visit our farm, and it seemed like it was a success. Most of our visitors knew a little about the countryside but were interested in finding out more about how a farm works. We had very good coverage in the local newspaper, which encouraged people from Newark to make the journey to see us. People did seem genuinely interested and asked some really good questions, which made us feel satisfied that communication with the public was the way to go!
Let's hope that the weather clears up soon and we can proceed with making some kind of hay.
Sydney mowed a field of hay about 2 weeks ago and since then has been rained on so much that we think that it wont be able to be saved, although he says that early hay is difficult to spoil. This means that there has been not much progress on the arable side as the rain has precluded anyone going on the land as it is so wet!
We did however have two visits from our local school, Wellow House, who brought their Year 8 and Year 5 geographers along to see our farm. They seemed very interested in the farm and the processes that we were describing. These were our youngest visitors as we had thought that we were going to cater for older secondary school students. The year 5s especially were vey responsive to what we were talking to them about and learned an awful lot about where their food comes from.
Our most exciting event this June was Open Farm Sunday on June 10th. We had decided to do two pre-booked farmer led walks on the day, however we ended up splitting the afternoon walk due to popular demand! During the day we had about 80 people visit our farm, and it seemed like it was a success. Most of our visitors knew a little about the countryside but were interested in finding out more about how a farm works. We had very good coverage in the local newspaper, which encouraged people from Newark to make the journey to see us. People did seem genuinely interested and asked some really good questions, which made us feel satisfied that communication with the public was the way to go!
Let's hope that the weather clears up soon and we can proceed with making some kind of hay.
Thursday, 17 May 2007
May on the farm
May is here and the farm looks lovely now after we received the much needed rain. If the rain hadn't had come when it did, things would have been very serious. Already we've had to take hay fields for grazing. It seems unbelievable to be worrying about water so early in the year. Luckily the rain will have saved our wheat.
The cows have finished calving, so all the calves are happily living in the fields. This is the nicest part of the year , when we are able to leave the cows in the fields and they are not needing as much attention! On an exciting note, we have just purchased a bull and six heifers (teenage cows!) from another polled breeder in Wiltshire. These have to have a pre-movement TB test before coming here as they are in a more frequent TB testing zone. Hopefully these will arrive sometime next week to join our herd!
Things are still busy here though! Tomorrow we have the official opening for our new meeting room. This was part funded by Higher Level Stewardship and the Rural Enterprise Scheme and now has finally come to fruition. With a fully kitted out room for thirty people, including tables, chairs and projector, we are able to entertain visitors after a farm walk and show people our farm whatever the weather! The local MP, Paddy Tipping, is coming to do the official opening part and lots of other people, who have helped us along the way or are influential in farming and environmental areas, have been invited as well.
Some of this year's calves in the field!Tuesday, 10 April 2007
April 2007
Easter is now over, and unusually brought beautiful fine weather. This enticed many ramblers out into the countryside, especially through our farm it seemed! The glossy magazine for the county recently featured the very pleasant circular walk around Wellow Park Wood adjacent to the farm, with the bridleway bisecting the farm, so this perhaps accounted for the extra numbers. As part of our Stewardship scheme we have recently completed a 'permissive' path on the farm that allows this walk to be completed without having to walk along the side of the very busy section of main road approaching the village. After the effort of installing a footbridge over a dyke and two kissing gates, we have been pleased to see this well used already.
The path follows two sides of a small field which we have established as a wildflower meadow under Stewardship. It is an awkward field to cultivate (small, with lots of corners) and caused complaints from our combining contractors because of difficult access, so it seemed obvious to remove it from the arable rotation. The field was drilled with 'pollen and nectar' mix to attract insects, and 'field corner' mix for a range of wild flowers and grasses. This year will be its first full season and we are looking forward to these plants appearing. Unfortunately, most of our walkers decided to shortcut across the field so it looks like we will need some notices to explain and dissuade them!
Spring calving is now in full swing. Our two bulls were obviously very quick off the mark when they were put in with the cows last year! Three sets of twins resulted in the inevitable problems, and time has been spent with some calves to get them sucking properly. Heifers often pose the biggest problem when they first calve, with one at present very proud of her calf but also reluctant to allow it to suck. Post natal confusion!
The best news is that the first group of cows were let out yesterday in unseasonably warm sunshine. The end of winter feeding is in sight!
The path follows two sides of a small field which we have established as a wildflower meadow under Stewardship. It is an awkward field to cultivate (small, with lots of corners) and caused complaints from our combining contractors because of difficult access, so it seemed obvious to remove it from the arable rotation. The field was drilled with 'pollen and nectar' mix to attract insects, and 'field corner' mix for a range of wild flowers and grasses. This year will be its first full season and we are looking forward to these plants appearing. Unfortunately, most of our walkers decided to shortcut across the field so it looks like we will need some notices to explain and dissuade them!
Spring calving is now in full swing. Our two bulls were obviously very quick off the mark when they were put in with the cows last year! Three sets of twins resulted in the inevitable problems, and time has been spent with some calves to get them sucking properly. Heifers often pose the biggest problem when they first calve, with one at present very proud of her calf but also reluctant to allow it to suck. Post natal confusion!
The best news is that the first group of cows were let out yesterday in unseasonably warm sunshine. The end of winter feeding is in sight!
One of our bulls, Jordan Castle Uriah, with two of the new calves!
Jordan Castle Farm blog
This blog has been set up for you to find out and understand our farm, above.
Jordan Castle Farm is an award-winning farm in the village of Wellow in the centre of Nottinghamshire. We have 285 acres (113 hectares) and are a mixed farm. We have a herd of 200 polled Charolais cattle and we pride ourselves on farming with the environment, a technique called 'integrated farm management'. This means that we try to combine modern techniques with an age-old love of the countryside. We also have 2 holiday cottages which are open all year.
(for more information visit our website http://www.sherwoodforestholidaycottages.com)
To aid our environmentally friendly farming, we have been a part of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme, which is a government scheme to encourage conservation and help the environment, since 1992. In September 2005 the farm was entered into Entry Level Environmental Stewardship, which is the 'new' form of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme. In February 2006 we successfully bid for entry into the Higher Level Scheme which covers the entire farm. Under this scheme we are creating permissive access, replanting the orchard, establishing pollen/nectar mix planting and some new hedgerows. It has also enabled us to renovate the old stable as a meeting room for educational access visits.
We now feel that we need to communicate our desire for working with the environment to a larger audience. This has been aided by the introduction of educational access visits, but we hope to achieve this even further with the creation of this blog. We hope to keep you posted on developments on the farm so that you can learn a little more!
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