HERE on Manor farm the threat of thunder, lightning and flash flooding did not turn into reality, with a mere 14mm rain falling in 24 hours.

It was, however, enough rain to halt field work for a while, but much needed on our dry ground.

At the beginning of the week the priority was wheat harvest. Fortunately the weather was hot and sunny, ideal conditions to start up the combine harvester.

First of all Richard took a sample of grain to our local storage facility to check the moisture, as our meter had been giving a variety of readings. We discovered that our meter was reading a little high, so it was a relief to discover the moisture content of our winter wheat was below the 15% required for sale, without incurring a drying charge.

Richard then started up the combine, managing to complete our winter wheat harvest over two days, without interruption caused by the weather or mechanical failure. The trailers of grain were taken straight from the combine to the local store, where it was weighed and sampled. The bushel weight, a unit of weight based on a measure of dry capacity, (which used to be eight pints) was good and the crop yielded 3.6 tonnes per acre. Max, our farming neighbour, has bought most of our wheat straw, which he has baled and taken back to his farm for use over the winter.

Now the ground is being prepared for next year's crops. Ryan and Richard have continued to rotovate some of the stubble fields, but our old rotovator, after several repairs, decided that it was too old to work any more!

Richard decided that the sight of flames coming from part of the mechanism meant that the only route was to the scrapyard, where it was then taken. Following the departure of our rotovator, we have borrowed a cultivator from Stowell Farm, which will disturb the top layer of soil in our stubble fields.

Another job undertaken was the spreading of some slurry onto stubble fields, before they are prepared for planting in the autumn.

For three days midweek our grandson, Dominic, came to stay. On one of the days he accompanied Richard and I to one of our furthest fields from the farm buildings, which is currently pasture, but will be planted with winter barley in the autumn.

We went to the field to pick up an electric fence, used to keep the cattle which had grazed there, away from a stone wall boundary. Whilst in the field we saw buzzards circling high above us on some warm thermals, five different species of butterflies and heard a pair of ravens making their characteristic "croaking" sound.

On Stowell Farm, Kevin has been busy spreading manure onto oilseed rape stubble ground, which will be planted with wheat.

All his oilseed rape has been sold, so Kevin has spent quite a lot of time loading lorries. One morning Melissa helped load some large bales of straw onto trailers, before they were taken to the farm.

The shearlings (two-year-old lambs due to give birth for the first time next spring), were vaccinated against a parasite, which causes infectious abortions and other fertility problems.

Vaccinating the sheep three weeks before mating helps prevent losses caused by the disease. A second vaccination was given to reduce abortions caused by chlamydophilia. This year's lambs were then wormed.

On the last day of the week, Charlotte, a student I met at Roves Farm, came to spend the day on our farm. The first thing we did was to check the herd of dry cows and in-calf heifers for any signs of illness, especially mastitis. Charlotte then joined Richard in the combine, whilst he harvested some of our winter wheat, before she accompanied Ian taking a load of grain to the local grain store. Here she was told about the tests done on a sample of wheat taken from the trailer. The highlight of her day was to help Ian with afternoon milking, gaining some hands-on experience.