The Offley Tundra

The ram lambs having some hay this morning after further snow last night. We are preparing ourselves and the animals for the long winter ahead and planning for contingencies.

At least, thanks to Jon's careful planning, we do have plenty of feed stocks. However winter has started early and we do not want another slow cold spring as it is hard on the animals and also on the people looking after them.

The TV says Luton airport is having delays. When the airport has delays, or is shut, you know that means life at Offley Hoo is a bit more challenging than usual. However Scotland and the North East have had a lot more snow and once upon a time that was normal, even for this time of the year. So perhaps the climate is changing back to colder winters? Who knows. It certainly makes for lots of news coverage and column inches!

Back to reality

Back to real farming! Today's cold and snowy Saturday morning requires two men to see to the stock instead of the usual one. Jon has got the water bowser out of the shed to take water down to the outdoor pigs as the freezing temperatures have played havoc with the water supply.

The trip to the NEC @ Birmingham was a tale in itself - the traffic was so terrible on Wednesday it took us 2 hours to get as far as Milton Keynes where we eventually abandoned the truck and had to run for a train. We arrived at the reception in bay 17 on time with no margin to spare. Many of those attending had terrible journeys, and I am not even sure that everyone who should have been there actually arrived!

It has also been a busy week on the farm with all the Wiltshire Horn ewes sorted into groups and the rams let out. As a pedigree flock it is a very complex business making sure the sheep are correctly sorted and the appropriate rams used on each group. Our outdoor lambing will start on April 20th, 2011 and should utilize the best of the spring grass growth.

The other big sheep task has been to check the pedigree and ear tag of every ewe lamb and potential ram lamb in the flock for registration with the Wiltshire Horn Society. We only register the very best ram lambs and out of the seven registered this year probably only 3 or 4 will make the grade as rams for breeding in due course.
Four beef cattle, six lambs and three pigs have also been sold.