Resilience and Renewal: Navigating a Wet January on the Farm

Winter grass means extra hay and big scoops of sheep nuts

There are no two ways about it, but a wet January is a pretty dismal time of year. We keep a blog to share what we are doing and also to help us record the many steps and stages we will go through to set up our dairy flock, but it is a bit difficult to muster the enthusiasm to write when you just want to moan about mud!

Our sheep are the real super troupers, toughing it out in the rain and wind, and despite it all, becoming increasingly friendly and willing. Over the last few weeks, because we have had to move them around the pasture regularly, it is getting much easier to encourage them through the gates and generally herd them in the right direction. Ivy remains the most approachable. At feeding time, she always comes up to me after the initial scramble to have her personal handful of sheep nuts from my glove, and she is a wonderful asset to help lead the flock. She is now normally joined by three little woolly mates, 10, 15, and 8, whom I have called Bluebell, Primrose, and Foxy (for Foxglove), apparently three wildflowers that grow in the same place as Ivy. The other sheep I have named is 68, little Snowdrop. She is more timid but was one of the first to approach us, and it's always a real delight to see her up close.

It is tricky to tell, but pretty sure this is Bluebell with Foxy and Primrose close by

The work on Dandelion's eye continues. We are trying to battle against her developing glaucoma. A trip to the vet last week, eye drops, and now a set of injections over the next two weeks to administer ourselves will hopefully prevent this. Sadly, she will be blind in one eye now, but she is very strong and robust otherwise, as we can testify having to wrestle in these medicines.

The preparations for developing this flock into a working dairy herd have started. We now have planning permission for the new barn, and next week I am going to Leamington Spa to meet milking parlour manufacturers at Dairy Tech. We hope that building work can start this spring. We have checked on the various courses available at Plumpton College, and last week I joined the Pasture for Profit group active in the High Weald area of East Sussex, a mine of information and support that I am so glad I found out about.

We are trying to get them use to be herded up, this was a day it worked!

In the polytunnel, the garlic planted in December is starting to come up nicely, as is our first crop of broad beans. The beds are complete, and the paths nearly finished. Soon we will have our water tap out there, hopefully in time for when everything erupts into life. We have a stack of enticing packets of seeds to grow—peppers, beans, melons, and tomatoes—and the work on this starts from February onwards.

Spending so much time outside is so enjoyable as long as you have good clothes. We agree with the Scandinavians' practical and positive approach to weather and clothing, summarized by the common saying: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing" (Swedish: Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder). Even so, with the bulbs popping up and occasional rays of sunshine, we look forward to the start of Spring!