IT does not seem possible that day length is getting shorter and we do not seem to be getting any prolonged periods of warm summer weather. Over the last week the weather has continued to be mixed, rather humid at times with plenty of cloud, periods of warm sunshine but often interspersed with violent storms.

Some of the storms gave deluges of rain sometimes accompanied with thunder and lightning, which is making it impossible to cut our grass for second-cut silage and it is certainly not hay-making weather.

At the beginning of the week Richard and I were stewards in a horse ring at the Royal Three Counties Show, where we were fortunate not to be rained on, with threatening clouds appearing quite often.

On the Friday, the first day of the show, classes of invited school children arrived to enjoy the day. There was sometimes three or four classes around our ring, so when I had a spare moment I told them what was going on in our ring which was the showing and judging of mountain and moorland ponies starting with the small breeds, Shetlands, Exmoors and Dartmoors, finishing with large breeds, such as Highlands and Welsh D cobs.

On Monday Ian and Richard decided that it was time to take Faithful, our Aberdeen Angus bull, from the milking herd and put him back with the in-calf heifers for the remainder of the summer. He has been with the cows to try and make sure that they are all in-calf, but we do not want any calves born after the end of March.

However, the first attempt to move him was aborted when he refused to be loaded into our stock trailer and it is not wise to try to take a bull from his "ladies" if he decides he does not want to go!

Fortunately, there were three cows due to be dried off for their summer holiday, which is the time when they have two months' rest, prior to calving, when they are not milked. So the following day the cows' hooves were trimmed, before they were walked with the bull to join the heifers in a field some distance away. I am able to report that this journey went very smoothly.

In between the two daily milking sessions, Ian, Richard and Nathan have been doing some maintenance work in the milking parlour. The green fibreglass coating that covers the lower part of the wall was becoming detached along the top edge. This has been remedied by securing this edge with aluminium strips. Before the strips were screwed into place a waterproof sealant was applied to the perimeter of each piece to ensure the seal was complete.

On Stowell Farm, the lambs born to the ewes in the main flock have recently been weaned. All the ewe lambs were separated from their mothers and weighed, as they will be used for breeding. The wethers (castrated ram lambs) and ewe lambs were then transported to Corsham Park, whilst the ewes remained at Bowood.

Then all the lambs born to the artificially inseminated ewes were weighed and all the weights recorded. The Stowell Farm Sheep are registered with the Lleyn Society and during the last week the two-year-old ram lambs, born to artificially inseminated ewes, were assessed starting with their overall conformation, paying particular attention to their jaws, teeth and the angle of the pasterns (the part of the lower leg between the hoof and the fetlock). Lleyn sheep should be white with no discoloured wool, but black dots no bigger than a 50 pence piece are allowed.

On one of my Manor Farm rambles during the last week, I noticed that the hawthorn blossom in the hedgerows has been replaced by field and dog roses. Field roses are white, whilst dog roses are pink and have been a symbol of the British monarchy since Tudor times. Apart from its royal connections, generations of children have been brought up on the syrup, rich in vitamin C, made from rose hips. I thought it was delicious!