Still Lambing

A hardcore bunch of ewes have still to produce their wares. It's been nearly a month now and we still have 16 left to lamb down. The grass still isn't really growing yet especially with the very cold nights so we are having to feed some groups hay out in the field. Hopefully the warm weather will be here soon and some well timed fertiliser will give the grass a nice boost in time for the main lambing flock which starts about the 1st April. If you are interesting and want to come and see for yourselves what happens at this time of year at Overbury we are hosting our annual Farm Lambing Day on Sunday the 11th April. Trailer rides will be leaving from the village hall between 10 am and 3pm to ferry people to the lambing sheds. No need to book, just turn up but bear in mind the lunchtime trailers can get a bit full. There will be food and refreshments in the Village Hall as well. Please see our website for more details www.overburyfarms.co.uk

Late Arrivals

At long last the ewes have started lambing. They were due to start lambing on the 8th February and usually there would have been a few early starters but not this year.

Hopefully now they will be in full swing. If only the weather was a bit warmer then the grass would be growing and the ewes could be turned out onto lush green pasture, but as it is at the moment they will need to stay indoors for a few days longer than normal. This will make the lambs stronger and able to keep themselves warmer during the cold nights. If you want to come and see what happens in the lambing sheds we have arranged our lambing day again this year. Tractor and trailer rides will be leaving the village hall in Overbury on the 11th April 2010, between 10 am and 3pm. Adults will need to pay £5 but all the children get in for free. Billy and Michaela will be serving up delicious Overbury lamb Casserole in the village hall from about 12. Get there early before it all goes! Check out the farm website http://www.overburyfarms.co.uk for up to date details. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Oh Dear!

Whilst driving across a field, destined for salad onions, my faithful Ford Ranger, had that sinking feeling much to my annoyance and of course embarrassment! Derek had to come down and pull me out! We knew the field would be wet and this was all the confirmation we needed.

Cultivations are still on hold at the moment as there are wet areas in the fields that we need to drill (plant) with Spring Malting Barley. Spraying herbicides and putting fertiliser on the wheat crops is continuing well where autumns sown crops were planted.

The second ewe flock is due to start lambing next week and will be in full flow by the time our 'Farm Open Day' arrives on the 15th April. We managed to get a good article about it in the Evesham Journal, although the phone number left off an extra 1, and we should have some more advertising in the Vale Magazine due out on the 30th March.

Swimming is progressing very well at the moment, a hard week training this week, aiming for 2 3 replications of 4km, before an easier week next week before the big day on the 25th March.

Swimathon 2007

Right here we go, the challenge I have decided to undertake is to swim for charity! The target is to raise valuable funds for Marie Curie, who nurse terminally ill cancer patients at home. The financial target is to raise £1,000 although I will reserve the right to up the target as donations flood in! The physical challenge is to swim 5km at Gloucester Leisure Centre on the 25th March in a 3 hour period. Training will begin in earnest on the 1st February when alcohol consumption will cease, perhaps the hardest challenge? You can read more about the national challenge on http://www.swimathon.org/

If you feel the need to help me raise these funds you can do so on-line, (just click on the above) or if you are passing the office then do call in where there is a sponsorship form! Thank you in advance.

On a different tack another date for your diary, the 15th APRIL, is our next lambing day! It was a great success last year so book early as places will be reserved on a first come basis!

MOT's

Next week will be putting our two crops sprayers through their annual MOT for the NSTS (National Sprayer Testing Scheme). This involves checking for leaks, drips, corroding pipes, lights, accuracy of application and 3 A4 pages of other checks and boxes to tick. This annual MOT is part of the Voluntary Initiative (VI), an industry led scheme to improve the environmental impact of spraying activities and to therefore avoid a pesticide tax, (which would cripple the arable enterprise). It also enables the farm to be crop assured, another scheme demonstrating our commitment to providing safe, traceable food. Finally it means that we can demonstrate our professionalism as we know our machinery is ready to swing into action in the early spring.

In order to cut the costs down, 4 other neighbouring farmers all bring their sprayer to our farm so that the engineer can complete more tests in a day, thus reducing the cost, both to the engineer and to us. The Bateman RB25 shown here is fertilising Naked Oats in early spring last year.

LEAF Farmers in Full Voice

Well, where do I start! A big thank you to Heather and Phil Gorringe of Wiggly Wigglers http://wigglywigglers.co.uk who hosted a group of LEAF Farmers on their farm on the 5th Dec. The passion for demonstrating to the general public and the love of their farm and business was SO refreshing! Here we all are looking at the sunflowers that Phil grew this harvest. These are now for sale and garden birds will love 'em!

LEAF farmers are different in that we welcome people onto our farms in organised groups, to show and tell people how farms work, how our countryside works and how to communicate with the general public, hence my inspiration from Heather to start this blog. You can find out more about LEAF on http://www.leafuk.org/leaf E-mail Roly he's a star! Don't forget 'Farm Sunday' on the 10th June 2007, check out the website to find your nearest 'open farm'