THE weather continues to make the fields wetter and wetter, with unseasonal temperatures making the grass grow, flowers bloom and autumn planted crops, especially the oilseed rape, produce far too much leaf canopy. This canopy will have a smothering effect, which could result in lower yields of seeds at harvest. We have primroses and celandines in flower along some of the hedgerows and we are still in January.

Over the last week the cows continue to give birth to more Angus x calves, including another set of twins. During the week a batch of slightly older calves were collected by Matt, a neighbouring farmer who will rear them on.

One evening over the weekend Richard did the late evening check of all the cattle. He helped deliver a calf, before going to the milking cow cubicle barn, where he spotted an owl. He then came back to collect me, so that I could see it as well. Fortunately, it was still sitting on a metal gate at the far end of the barn, which is where it remained as we walked slowly towards it to get a better look. As we got closer we could see it was a very large barn owl, which we have seen around the barns on several occasions.

Later in the week we had a visit from Rex, our agronomist, to select the variety of forage maize we would be planting this year. We always choose an early maturing variety, giving us more chance to plant our autumn cereal crops on time.

The forage maize we have grown for the last two years had more feed value in the stalks and leaves than other varieties, but it has now been removed from the recommended list. We are also looking for a high starch content and high rumen fermentable energy, as well as a maize that will have early vigour and remain standing til harvest, given the challenging weather conditions we have in the UK. Taking all these factors into account we have opted for an early variety called Rubiera, which has done well in trials, even though the yield at harvest will be slightly lower.

On Stowell Farm, ewe lambs have been moved to fresh pasture and the wethers (castrated ram lambs) onto some stubble turnips. Stubble turnips are relatively cheap to grow, having a fast growth rate and give a high yield, and are a good feed for the wethers.

All the sheep fencing has been removed from fields sheep have recently been grazing here, also from fields on other farms where Stowell Farm sheep have been on tack.

The rams, having been taken from the ewes, are now spending the rest of the winter under cover and given some TLC. The ewes, pregnant following artificial insemination, have just been given their booster vaccination, to protect them against a range of clostridial diseases caused by clostridial bacteria.

This booster is given four to six weeks prior to lambing in order to give some passive immunity to the newborn lambs via the colostrum (the first milk after birth).

The vaccine also gives some protection against pasteurellosis, a respiratory disease which causes pneumonia in older sheep and septicaemia in young lambs.

Once the lambs are more than four weeks old they will be vaccinated to give them active, so longer lasting, immunity to the clostridial diseases and pasteurellosis, with an annual booster thereafter.

I have recently attended a meeting with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust in Devizes. We were told about 'Wild Connections' a project running at the moment, on any one of 15 of the 37 nature reserves in Wiltshire. A large number of free events including building bird boxes, sustainable foraging, searching for the eggs of a butterfly and a botanical illustration day with local artist Wendy Trinder will betaking place throughout the year. To attend any of these uplifting events just book a place.