OVER the past week there has been some rain. The quantity, however, has been rather insignificant, with a total of 11mm (less than ½ inch). It has fallen in short bursts or drizzly showers, the ground drying quickly in the breezy conditions we have been experiencing for some time now. Due to the dampness, baling the straw produced from our first field of winter barley to be harvested was not possible, but hopefully it will soon be dry enough.

The combine harvester also remains in the barn until some prolonged sunshine ripens the grain, so that harvesting can begin again.

There have been plenty of jobs to do during the week. Rex, our agronomist has been to help sort out the crop plan for next season. It was decided that 15 hectares of grassland will be ploughed up and planted with a cereal crop. The arable area will have an altered rotation, including some new grass leys.

After some discussion about the varieties that would be grown, the decision was made to try a fairly new variety of winter barley, only recently put on the approved list. Richard has done some welding to the hinges of a gate so that it can be used more easily to direct our cows to different locations.

Recently an employee from Wessex Water called to inspect the farm's water supply. She was shown a number of our water troughs to check that all the fittings were correct and that there is no chance that the water could flow back into the main supply.

Another inspection was for our Red Tractor Dairy and Beef Farm Assurance.

The inspector first noted the registration number relating to our recent Crop Assurance inspection.The inspection continued, including a look at the milking cows in the field, where he randomly selected 10, scoring them for general health, mobility and cleanliness. He then looked at our records, making sure that all regulations have been followed, including our manure management plan, to ensure we have not applied too much to any of the fields.

Our animal movement records were examined, as were our cattle passports, medicine records and medicine cabinet to ensure all the contents were in date. The livestock buildings were checked for cleanliness, especially the milking parlour and all the results of regular milking machine tests to make sure all the equipment is being properly maintained. The whole inspection took about three hours to complete and was very thorough. We were pleased to be told we had passed.

Kevin and family have been busy on Stowell Farm. At the end of the first day of the week, all the shearing had been completed. This year the shearers all came from the UK, one from Wiltshire and the other two from Cornwall. Two of the men were experienced shearers and one was quite novice, but it is only with practice that he will be able to increase the number of sheep he can clip in a day.

The more experienced shearers managed to shear between 300 and 400 sheep a day. Once the fleeces have been removed they are rolled and tied with their own wool before being placed in a wool sack belonging to the British Wool Board, which then collects and sells the wool for the producers.

Also on Stowell Farm some of this year's lambs have been sorted, graded well, and are now ready for sale. The lighter lambs will go into the European export market and the heavier ones will be sold into the UK premium market.

During the week Kevin cut some grass which was left to dry for a few days before being made into large round bales of haylage. Haylage is much like silage but drier, so must be wrapped in plastic to keep out the air, thus ensuring the conserved grass does not spoil.