APART from an often chilly feel to the air , spring has arrived . Many trees and hedgerow shrubs are adorned with leaves in a variety of green shades ,blossom adding more colours . Field margins and roadside verges are bright with wild flowers and the woods carpeted with bluebells. In our garden, birds are busy feeding fledgelings, robins, wrens,bluetits, house-sparrows and blackbirds ,to name a few I have recognised. This frenzy of activity was interrupted on one occasion by a sparrow-hawk,which swooped down from the sky ,grabbing a young ,unwary blackbird in it's talons. Fortunately , on this occasion the blackbird was lucky ,as I walked out into the garden at the same time ,which surprised the hawk enough for it to let go of it's prey. The fledgeling ,unharmed, then hopped under a nearby hedge for safety.

On both Manor and Stowell Farms dressings of fertiliser, fungicides and herbicides are being applied to growing crops as advised by our agronomists and here on Manor Farm we are preparing to harvest our first crop of grass for silage. We are using the same system as last year, we will cut the grass, employ a contractor with a forage harvester , to pick up ,chop the grass and deliver it into our trailers . We will then take the grass to the silage clamp, where we will build it into a compacted wedge.

Our cows are still going out by day , coming back in following afternoon milking. The in-calf heifers are happy grazing a large hilly field , checked every day to make sure they are well.The young calves are still in the barn , as the weather forecast was not good when we were thinking of turning them out for the first time . David , our nutritionist called early in the week, to check if the ration being fed to the cows needed any adjustment. It was decided that we should stop feeding grass silage, as the cows are obtaining enough protein from the grass, which at this time of year is high quality. We are now going to feed a supplementary ration of maize silage mixed with haylage to give the cows longer fibre ,which will maintain their health and prevent a drop in butterfat % in the milk. Unfortunately we had to call a vet during the week as we had a sick cow and another which injured itself when it was in season. Although the vet treated them with appropriate medication he decided on a further visit that neither of them was likely to recover , so we had to have them euthanased.

Lambing continues on Stowell Farm, with a small nursery of lambs from multiple births or those born weak being looked after by Melissa and twins Natasha and Annabel. They are being kept in a corner of a barn , with a heat lamp to keep them warm and are being bottle fed with warm milk several times a day. Ewes that have given birth successfully , with their lambs feeding and growing well are continually being transported to Bowood ,where they are turned out onto fresh pasture.

Recently Richard and I were invited by the " Rural& Industrial Design & Building Association " (Wessex Branch ) to join them on a visit to Bristol University School of Veterinary Sciences.Here we started with a presentation ,given by Dr Becky Whay, entitled " Welfare of Dairy cows when building new facilities, which was very interesting . Then Prof. David Barrett told us about Bristol University's Wyndhurst Farm, telling us how the new dairy complex was built to produce a first class teaching facility,which we were shown round later in the day. I will tell you more about the farm next week.