THE first few days of the past week were rather cool and unsettled, with 20 mm rainfall on the first day followed by another 7mm two days later (over an inch!). Then the warmth began to build to an afternoon high, here on Manor Farm, of 34C on the last day.

Once again there has been plenty to do with cattle and sheep work a priority at the beginning of the week and harvesting on hold, while the grain dried following the rain . Ian and Jenny brought our Angus cattle back to the farm buildings in order to weigh them and apply some fly repellent to each animal before returning them to the field they had been grazing. The weights confirmed that they are growing well on their diet of fresh grass .

Ian and Jenny then helped Kevin and his family sort the lambs into groups. All the wethers (castrated ram lambs) destined for the meat trade were split from the replacement ewe lambs. At the same time all the lambs were wormed and each given an injection of vitamin B12. This vitamin will help prevent cobalt deficiency in the short term, as Kevin's lambs have been blood tested, showing that they were deficient in cobalt. Cattle and sheep require cobalt in their diet for the synthesis of B12, which is essential for energy. The lack of B12 causes poor growth, which Kevin and his father Francis noticed recently. The lambs were also treated with a fly repellent to help prevent fly-strike, caused when blow-flies lay their eggs in damp patches of wool, following which the maggots burrow their way into the sheep's flesh.

The main flock of 1,000 ewes were also split into two equal groups, one group will give birth to their lambs in January, the other at the end of March. Another job done during the week was the purchasing of a new Llyen Gold Plus ram from the Bearwood Flock, in Hereford. The ram is a pedigree Llyen which has been through a number of genomic tests. These tests can be done by taking information from DNA samples, which involves acquiring a small sample of blood. Using the blood sample three main tests are carried out. One is to establish the parentage; another is the poll test and thirdly a genomic test. The poll test is to identify if the ram carries the horn gene, which is not wanted. The genomic test provides information about the breeding value of the ram, by looking for many important traits. Genomics and DNA testing is now routinely carried out by ram breeders.

The new ram will be used as the chosen sire for 50 selected ewes. The ram lambs born as a result of this mating will be used in the future as sires for the 500 ewe flock that will give birth in late March.

Combine harvesting has also continued on suitable days during the week, when the grain was found to have a moisture content below 15 % . All the winter barley on both Manor and Chiverlins Farm has been gathered. The grain on Manor Farm was initially put into our temporary store but has since been moved to a nearby long term storage facility , from where it will be sold . Kevin's barley is in his own long term store. All the winter barley straw has been baled into large rounds and stored under cover ready for winter use.

Kevin grew a small area of oilseed rape , but unfortunately a combination of poor weather , flea beetle damage and an abundance of charlock has caused the crop to fail. The cabbage stem flea beetle is a major pest of oilseed rape and since the banning of neonicotinoid treated seed in 2013, has become very difficult to control. The weather, as in all things agricultural, has a huge effect on crop growth. This means that slow growing oilseed rape is being eaten by flea beetles, quicker than it can grow. The weed charlock is also difficult to control in brassica crops, as they are both broad-leaved and with a lack of selective herbicides soon becomes too competitive for the growing oil-seed rape.