ANOTHER topsy-turvy week, with all sorts of weather, especially the variation in temperature.We have only measured about 11mm rain, but the days have been predominantly damp and dismal, so I have been checking the sheep here on Manor Farm during the brighter spells.

Fortunately there have been no broken fences but one of the rams became rather lame. Kevin came over to have a closer look at the ram's hooves and, after a thorough check, could not find anything too serious. After cleaning the hooves he treated one with an antimicrobial spray. Hopefully when I see him today he will look better.

On Stowell Farm, several groups of sheep have been moved to fresh pasture, which has involved taking down and putting up of hundreds of metres of sheep fencing.

Kevin was helped by his daughters Natasha and Annabel, as their school was closed on Friday. Both our granddaughters enjoy helping on the farm and seeing the collies working the sheep is a bonus.

We are expecting a few more groups of sheep to arrive here as we still have plenty of grass that needs grazing before the winter properly sets in.

Ian and Richard are spending most of their time looking after all the cattle on the farm, with Ruth doing most of the milking. Since Ryan left to go north with his parents we have not managed to find anyone to replace him, which means that Richard and more so Ian are working very long hours.

There are lots of routine jobs to do, which take up most of the day, not helped by the occasional breakdown. Last week it was one of the automatic slurry scrapers that stopped working. These scrapers keep the passages in the cubicle barn clean, but having to repair them is not a pleasant task! Richard has also turned off water supplies to further areas of the farm in case we get any severe cold weather.

During the week one of our cows, Jannie, gave birth to Aberdeen Angus x twins, one a bull, the other a heifer. Jannie was born in Holland on the July 14, 2008 and arrived on Manor farm in 2010.

She had her first calf on October 5 in that year and has now had five lactations, giving a total of 12,546 litres of milk in her last one. The fat and protein content of her milk has been slightly lower than average, probably due to the high yields of milk she has produced.

Jannie has only given birth to one dairy daughter, from her previous five calvings, which is no longer in the herd but she does have a granddaughter.

Her twin Angus calves are still suckling from her to give them a good start in life. The first milk produced by a cow after calving is called colostrum. It is essential that a calf receives adequate colostrum as soon as it is born, as this will protect it against infection, poor health and mortality.

The composition of colostrum is very different from whole milk. There are much higher levels of solids, fat, protein and immunoglobulins (antibodies). For example, in whole milk the average fat content is about 3.6 per cent, but in colostrum it is about 6.7 per cent. It is, however, the immunoglobulins that are important, with an increase from 0.09 per cent to six per cent, which will give the calf protection in its first three to four weeks of life, during which time it will develop the ability to produce its own antibodies.

This is made possible by the fact that large protein molecules are allowed to pass through the gut wall from the intestine into the bloodstream for the first 24 hours after birth, but best within the first six hours as the quality of colostrum quickly decreases. It takes about 20 minutes for a calf to suckle the necessary three litres from the cow. If calves are unable to suckle, soon after birth, some colostrum can be milked from the cow and fed using a bottle.

The poor weather has kept much of the wildlife out of sight, although I have recently seen a great spotted woodpecker, a barn owl and fieldfares on the farm.