THERE has been little change in the weather. Most of the time the motorway is silent, so the winds, often strong and blustery, continue to prevail from a northerly direction. The air pressure for the week, shown by the line drawn on our barograph, has remained almost flat.

We have celebrated the summer solstice, so from now on the days will become shorter. Nevertheless the trees on Manor, Stowell and Chuggaton Farms are looking resplendent decked in there cloaks of leaves, which are manifest in a large variety of greens through to the red of the copper beeches.

The wildlife is also evident with an increasing array of wild flowers, insects and animals. The highlight for Richard was the sighting of a roe deer with twin fawns.

The predominantly dry conditions, with lots of sunshine, have been ideal for conserving second cuts of grass. Making hay has dominated the week here and on Stowell Farm the grass was cut at the beginning of the week, spread to help drying, before being rowed up prior to baling at the end of the week.

Here Richard baled ours into small bales, which are useful feed for calves and the odd cow which may become unwell. Kevin used his baler to make large round bales of hay, but he will also be making some small ones.

We have also ensiled some second cut grass, which was interrupted when the contractor's forage harvester sprang an oil leak, soon fixed, but a little later an engineer had to be called to replace a bearing. Fortunately all the grass was in the silage clamp by late evening and has since been rolled and sealed with a plastic sheet, to make sure that all the air has been expelled from the wedge.

Now 'pickling' of the crop will begin, with lactobacilli, a strain of bacteria naturally present in the chopped grass, converting carbohydrate to lactic acid in anaerobic conditions until the pH is lowered to about 4. At this point the lactic acid producing bacteria will be inhibited, as will all the other bacteria. Hopefully the ensiled crop will then be good quality grass silage.

During the week we moved both groups of young cattle, as they had eaten all the grass in the fields they were in. Both moves included a short walk down the road, but there were plenty of us to help drive the animals to fresh pasture, with electric fences and barriers erected where needed to try and prevent either move getting out of control.

Fortunately all went smoothly, after which we left the young and in-calf heifers grazing contentedly in their fresh surroundings.

At the end of the week the loader tractor broke down. Richard said that something in the front axle was making a banging noise when the steering wheel was turned to full lock, not a good sign! An engineer was called but after a preliminary examination decided that the tractor would need extensive repairs. He then began the work of stripping down the front axle, to identify the parts that would have to be replaced. It will take a few days for the parts to arrive, so we have been loaned a replacement loader tractor enabling us to give the milking cows their supplementary feed.

Smudge, Melissa and Kevin's blue merle border collie puppy is now eight months old and Melissa has been doing some basic training with her. She has learned how to sit, lie down and stay to command. She is a kind intelligent dog, leaning how to obey different commands very quickly. Melissa also takes her on a lead among the sheep in the fields, training her to walk quietly to heel, progressing her training little by little. Hopefully she will make a good working sheepdog.

Smudge also gets to meet Melissa's Nursery of bottle-fed lambs, most of which are well on the way to being weaned, being given just one feed of milk a day as they are now eating plenty of hay and lamb weaner food pellets.