I've remembered my password and I am back blogging for Windmill Farm.

Much has changed, the cows are all gone replaced with arable and beef so the subject matter will change, but all in all its about the goings on at Windmill Farm.

First of all though history. I have posted a picture of my Grandfather combining back in the day. I remember spending all day riding the footplate of this old combine.

Feeding Cows in Summer

Due to the continual bad weather we have not been able to stop feeding the cow since the winter. They are currently on a mix of formulated caker, molasis (which is a thick treacle as in the photo)and grass silage. This gives them the nutrients they need to stay healthy and produce as much milk as possiable.

Wholecrop Silage

We managed to harvest the wholecrop silage, 17 acres, in a small window of dry weather this week. Wholecrop silage is wheat which is put through a forage harvester chopping it into tiny pieces before being clamped in the silage pit to be fed to the cows in the winter.

Brian French was once again the contractor and was on the farm within hours of the desision to cut.

Waste Recycled

All our waste plastic is collected from the farm for recycling. We have to seperate and keep clean baler twine, silage sheet, bags etc. throughout the year when it is collected and removed for recycling.

Barnaby Bear Visits

Barnaby Bear visited Windmill Farm from All Saints Primary School, Montacute. He visited the cows, calves, wheat and the potatoes before going to play in Montacute Park. A good time was had by all.

TB Testing

This week we have had all our cows tested for TB. A vet visted on Monday June 18th to inject the cows twice with a solution to react with any TB. The vet returned on Thursday June 21st to view all the cows again to see if any had reacted to the solution. If they do a lump comes up where they were injected however thankfully we had a clear bill of health.

First Cut Silage

We have completed the first cut silage after initial rain delays. We harvested 36 hectares of a heavy crop using Brian French contractors.

The grass is first mowed, which due to the heavy crop was a slow task, and it is then raked up so as several mowing lines becomes one to supply sufficent grass for the forager to work efficiently. This is then hauled from the field and tipped into a concrete pit where it is pushed into a heap with a tractor and loader. This process also rolls the grass flat pushing all the air out of the heap before finally a plastic sheet is put over it to seal it so it is preserved for use in the winter. I will include pictures of the silage pit during second cut.