THE weather still seems to be a mixture of everything, mid-week we woke up to a dark sky that did not look too friendly. Soon the storm arrived in full force, with rain, sleet, wind, even some thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure.

To return to the recent NFU conference, with a focus on politics and markets, we were told some quite interesting facts and figures by the speakers. Mark Berrisford-Smith, head of economics, HSBC, opened his presentation with this quote about global markets: "Am I going to cheer you up? No". He said that supply needs to adjust to solve our problems, but in reality if prices rise, so does supply.

Jean-Marc Trarieux, head of unit for the Americas, European Commission, said that the EU has an export market worth £129 billion with an import market of £213 billion. There is a growing demand for added value products, such as our fine foods and drinks. The Commission is also looking for new global markets.

David Hughes, professor of food marketing, Imperial College London told us there has been an increase in the sale of fruit and vegetable drinks, with particular emphasis on the consumption of berries, up from 12 per cent to 21 per cent over the last year. He also said that the advertising of foods has moved away from nouns to adjectives, eg, do not say 'beef' but 'grass fed', 'well matured' is now the way food is advertised. The changing world often heralds the downfall of what seemed well-established businesses, so we must always be looking for opportunities to keep them going forward.

Here on Manor Farm, moving manure and slurry has been a continuing task. I am pleased to be able to report that the level of slurry in our large store has now dropped by a noticeable amount, as it was previously quite near the top. The frosty, drier ground at the start of the week was a great help, enabling our student Matt to remove many tanker loads.

It has also been a week of tractor breakdowns, with three tractors needing some attention. Maybe this is a case of 'things always happen in threes'.

On one tractor the power take-off switch broke, so that the gear could not be engaged. Then on the second tractor the steering orbital had to be replaced, replacing a new one recently fitted which was found to be faulty. A noisy oil pump on our loader tractor prompted another engineer visit. Meanwhile, the tractor-powered slurry scraper was in need of some remedial welding, a good job for Richard!

This week it was time for our heifer calves, born last autumn, to be be given the first of two oral vaccinations to immunise them against parasitic bronchitis or Husk prior to turnout. Husk is an infection of the bovine respiratory tract by the nematode Dictyocaulus viviparus (lung worm). The larvae are ingested from pasture, with symptoms most commonly seen in first year grazing cattle.

After ingestion the larvae travel to the lungs producing eggs containing first stage larvae. These are coughed up, swallowed, then hatch as they pass through the digestive tract to be passed out onto the pasture via the faeces to be ingested by other cattle, which completes the life cycle of this parasite. Therefore immunisation of our calves is the best way to prevent permanent lung damage or death.

On Chuggaton Farm in North Devon, our granddaughter Bethany has been rather excited. She had to phone to tell us that their oldest cow, Granny Doris, has just given birth to an Aberdeen Angus x calf. Granny Doris, now going a little grey, was born here on Manor Farm in 1999 and was sold to Adele and Steve when they restocked after losing all their herd in the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

She has been a good, trouble-free cow, although her milk yield would not be particularly high for a modern dairy cow. This lactation however she could reach a lifetime milk yield of 100,000 litres, and receive a certificate from National Milk Records.

Just to say that Granny Doris has 18-month-old heifer twin daughters due to calve this autumn.

On Stowell Farm lambing of the main flock is now well underway.