I HAVE just looked back at what the weather was doing this time last year, to find it was not a great deal different to that of the past week. The flat line being drawn on our barograph has shown air pressure has remained constant, about mid-way between high and low.

After a clear frosty start, foggy, damp but very mild weather followed, but the change to a more southerly air stream has once again brought the roar of the motorway towards our home.

Here on Manor Farm most of the workload is routine. All the cattle are under cover, except for our bull Faithful and three heifers, who are still in a paddock next to the buildings, so there is always plenty of feeding, mucking out and bedding up to do.

A routine vet visit to do mainly postnatal checks on recently calved cows revealed that the cows were in good health.

Our nutritionist was also happy that the rations did not need to be adjusted. The cows are milking a little better than the same time last year with an average of three litres per cow per day being produced.

We are members of a milk group supplying milk for Cadbury's chocolate. In order to do this we are obliged to fulfill certain obligations, one of which is to produce a quarterly milk forecast detailing the amount of milk we expect send for each of the following 12 months.

This forecast has to be within plus or minus five per cent of the amount we actually send or we will incur a penalty. Unfortunately this has been triggered so we have to try and produce a more accurate forecast for the next 12 months. This is not easy with all the unknown variables such as weather, feed value, possible illness or injuries, a possible TB breakdown and barren cows.

Our refrigerated bulk milk tank is sampled daily by the tanker driver. When the lorry arrives at the processing plant a sample is taken from the tanker, which is tested before the milk can be unloaded. If the tanker sample shows a problem, such as an antibiotic failure, every individual sample taken on the collection will be tested to find out which farm is to blame.

If the tanker sample is clear the milk will be unloaded into a vat from where it will be processed. However, on a random day each week, every farm will have a bulk milk sample tested. The results of the test are then communicated to the farmer so that he can analyse them for his own use. The readings for our last bulk milk sample were 3.93 per cent fat and 3.37 per cent protein, which are both above the minimum standard. The somatic cell count was 94,000 /ml (must not be above 200,000 /ml) and a bacteria count of 15,000/ml (must not be above 100,000 /ml) . These results showed that at the moment everything is fine.

On Chuggaton Farm, in North Devon son-in-law Steve has been doing some routine treatment on the hooves of his milking cows. The hooves were cleaned and sprayed to protect them against digital dermatitis, an infectious condition of the foot caused by a bacteria.

Maize silage, ensiled a few months ago, is now being included in the diet for the cows as the wholecrop wheat silage has all been fed. The cows are milking well, so Steve is once again having to use his second bulk milk tank.

There are about 20 cows still to calve, the latest in March next year and the bull, like ours, is in a paddock with six heifers until Christmas Eve, when he will be used on the cows not in calf after using artificial insemination.