Harvest Time!

Well here we are again, harvest time… While many may think that this only really affects arable farmers, it is actually one of the busiest times of year on a livestock farm as well, as the harvest has to be stored for the winter feeds and bedding. James is currently clearing the barn in preparation for 160 round bales of straw, which must be collected from the fields.

Now if you have never encountered these ‘round’ bales before then you won’t quite realise what a formidable task this actually is. Each one is over six foot in diameter and about five foot in depth and must be collected from fields up to a half-mile away. As a result both tractors are working full time. The trusty John Deere trawling back and forth with the trailer, while the not so trusty front-loading ‘Jinma’ stacks the bales ready to be picked up. Now this may sound like relatively easy work, however when one considers that the geriatric John Deere has a top speed of about walking pace, and only four bales can be taken at a time, it is actually an extremely time-consuming process.

Thankfully there have been no problems with the ‘Jinma’ yet, although judging by previous form it is only a matter of time. The John Deere on the other hand is a stalwart, although missing a door and a couple of window panes, as well as a having a speedometer that would actually make a good metronome, it is probably one of the sturdiest and most reliable tractors you could hope for.

Once the bales have been finished it will be time to take delivery of the animal feed. This job, while not as time-consuming as the bales, is much worse! Four tonnes of feed must be mixed, bagged and stacked in the barn. The mixing process is relatively easy and is all done in the lorry – a monster of a machine that resembles a cement mixer – however the bags are then filled through a chute and must be carried/dragged into the barn. Each bag, of which there are about 60, probably weighs about 12 stone…and to think there are actually people who pay to go and lift weights at the gym…

Other than these two laborious tasks, life continues as usual on the farm. The village youths have been back to swindle whatever isn’t nailed to the floor. Indeed they were almost rumbled the other day when James caught them red-handed. Sadly, a farmer Jim may be; a sprinter he is not! As a result we continue to seek a solution to this problem. The police have been involved and we have been through various options with them. The more extreme of these options, which had both mine and James’ vote and involved leaving a number of planks with nails hammered through them on the path frequented by these unwanted visitors, was not met with much enthusiasm by the officer who visited the farm; “I didn’t hear that, sir.” I believe was his response!

The piglets are growing up fast now and becoming ever more devious in their attempts to escape from the pens. Indeed I believe James is now seriously considering erecting watchtowers and searchlights in order to keep the little buggers from making a bid for freedom – perhaps they could serve two purposes by keeping the piglets in and the pikeys out!

Charlie D-H

Hay bale image provided by http://www.freefoto.com/

Back to the Farm…

It was not without a certain amount of trepidation that I approached the farm down the driveway after a few weeks away. What back-breaking task would my dearest brother be concocting for me I wondered? The clouds were rolling in ominously and I found myself cursing my luck that, after two weeks spent working in a stuffy office while staring out of the window at a blazing sun, the gods had seen fit to darken my first day back with weather more suited to the Outer Hebrides at this time of year. Anyway, such is life!

It was somewhat fitting then, that I was greeted as I got out of the car by a masked figure clad in a boiler-suit with a suspiciously green tinge to it. My sense of foreboding was increased even further when I realised that this storm-trooper from hell was wielding some sort of long motorised device that looked like it could shred me in a matter of minutes. Oh yes, you guessed it… It's strimming season!

Indeed, James has begun the week attacking the undergrowth like some sort of machete-wielding maniac, and what a difference it has made! I was shocked at how well kept the farm was looking. The area around the pig-pens has been levelled so that one can see right across the farm from the house. This of course is all in preparation for when the cattle are herded into their straw-lined barns for the winter. Before this however, the yards and barns must be mucked out and cleaned. Lucky for us the recent addition of a brand new tractor with a front-loading bucket to our arsenal of somewhat antiquated machinery has made this job infinitely easier… Or so we thought…

Yes the tractor… What a travesty! At the slightest sign of hard work the machine packs up quicker than a footballer in a chess game. The clutch is the latest problem and has left my unfortunate brother with the unenviable task of shovelling several tonnes of manure onto a trailer without mechanical aid!

If that wasn’t enough, we have also had round two of the ‘farm invasion’ by the uncouth youths from the village. Having earlier taken it upon themselves to pinch the lead lining from the roof of one of the barns, they have now stolen a cluster of jerry cans and emptied one of the tanks of diesel on the farm. Let us hope then that they attempt to run their own cars on this stuff, after all it has been rotting at the bottom of that particular tank for nigh on eighty years and I can imagine it having much the same effect on an engine as a pound of sugar in the petrol tank! Every cloud, eh?!








Despite all this doom and gloom, we have struggled through and the farm is in spectacular condition. The piglets are as feisty as ever and we have just about managed to contain them in the pens (this is a greater feat than you may expect; most days we half expect them to have stolen a car and be half way to the airport, such is their artistry in escape!). The cows are grazing happily and the sheep are all healthy and no doubt enjoying the lush grass that the recent rain has brought.

Charlie D-H