THE week began with some more dull, wet and windy weather, but it has in the main been rather chilly with some prolonged spells of sunshine.

Life on Stowell Farm has certainly gained pace. The majority of the 100 ewes artificially inseminated have given birth to their lambs, with only 15 ewes still waiting.

Lambing for these ewes has gone well, with good, strong lambs resulting. They include two sets of quads (the second set all survived and are doing well), a few sets of triplets, but most were twins, with some singles.

All these lambs have been given two tags, one is an electronic identification tag (EID tag), whilst the other is an ordinary tag. The ewe lambs always have these two tags, but castrated male lambs do not.

In this case all the ram lambs will be left entire to be used for breeding, either within the flock or sold to other sheep farmers. As the lambs are tagged Melissa has been recording all the details, such as dams, sires and birth dates onto a computer programme. All the lambs that need bottle feeding, such as the extras in multiple births, will be put into a pen in a barn at Melissa's home so that she can bottle feed them until they are weaned.

The first 15 ewes to lamb have been transported to a field of grass, which will help the production of plenty of good quality milk. Last year's ewe lambs have also been moved to fresh pasture and the last of the wethers (castrated ram lambs) have been sold for meat. When Kevin has had a few moments to spare, he has been catching up with some hedge-cutting.

Could I just remind anyone walking dogs, that there will be lots of ewes and lambs in fields for the next few months, so please keep dogs on a leads. Over the last few years there has been an increase in sheep attacks with horrific injuries resulting. Lambs tend to gather together in 'creches', whilst the ewes graze some distance away, but every one recognising the call of its mother and vice versa, but if they are chased lambs and ewes can become separated and stressed, taking a long time for them to be reunited and settle down.

In December 2014, Kevin bought some of our Aberdeen Angus x heifer calves, which he has just sold to a neighbouring farmer to be reared on as suckler beef cows.

This means they will, when old enough, be put in-calf to a beef bull and the calves born to them will remain with them until they are weaned, after which they will be reared on for beef.

Recently Chippenham Young Farmers visited the Doncombe Blonde herd of pedigree Blonde d' Aquitaine cattle based at Portbury, Bristol.

These cattle originate from the Aquitaine district of France, an area including the Pyrenees.

They are a mixture of three strains of predominately draught animal, which resulted in their muscle development, hardiness and docility. Later in the 20th century they spread to other parts of the world, becoming very popular in Canada, USA and Australia. They now have strong bone, are lean and hardy and the third most popular breed in France following the Charolais and Limousin.

Blonde d' Aquitaines have been established in the UK for about 40 years. They have many desirable attributes including their ease of calving and excellent growth rates, giving high quality carcasses with a high ratio of lean meat to bone.

Mid-week Richard and I attended the annual NFU conference held in Birmingham. The agenda was set around politics, particularly relevant with the EU Referendum looming, with another large section focusing on markets.

The NFU president, Meurig Raymond, opened the conference with an overview of the state of UK agriculture, with most commodity prices currently depressed. He told us how the rise of the supermarket discounters was a factor exerting downward pressure on farmgate prices, with continuing volatility and flooding also blighting our lives. Liz Truss, Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra, spoke of the strong pound making it difficult to export, a 25-year plan for farming and how more young people are studying agriculture at university, so they must be confident of a future for the UK farming industry. More from the conference next week.