CHRISTMAS festivities are over for another year. All that remains is to welcome in the New Year, wondering if it will be quite as eventful as 2016?

Over the last two weeks the line drawn on our barograph has been showing only a slight waver along a position indicating high pressure. The weather has been mainly cloudy, damp, mild and murky, but it has recently become a great deal colder with temperatures falling to minus figures accompanied by frost and fog. Today we have woken to clear sky, a sharp frost and glorious sunshine.

Here on Manor Farm the family have been getting together to enjoy delicious Christmas lunches, with turkey and all the trimmings. However, it seems to have been lashings of brandy butter served with Christmas pudding and mince pies that has been the greatest hit. Each family has hosted a lunch, so we have had days off from cooking making the Christmas season a memorable occasion.

However, there has still been work to do on the farm. Ian, Richard, Ruth, Nathan, James, Charlotte (home on a few days' leave from her job as a vet) and Natalie home from university have all been helping to get all the routine jobs completed as soon as possible each morning and afternoon, as all the cattle have to be checked, fed, mucked out and bedded up, also the cows milked every day.

There were, however, a few problems. On Christmas Day there was an unexpected arrival. When Ian arrived at the farm in the early hours of the morning he noticed that one of the milking cows looked as if she was going to give birth. This cow had been due to be dried off two months ago, according to her records. However, she was still giving a lot of milk each day, so her calving date was questioned.

After consulting our vet it was decided that her calving date was wrong, so she continued to be kept in milk, but kept a close eye on. On Christmas day (her original due date) she gave birth to a healthy Aberdeen Angus x calf and I am pleased to be able to tell you that both mum and baby are doing well.

On Boxing Day two of the milking cows did not look well, so our vet was called. Both animals were examined, given appropriate treatment and are recovering.

Recently two of our cows have given birth to what I can only describe as ginger-coloured Angus x calves, a rather unusual occurrence. On consulting our records it was found that the sire is our chosen Aberdeen Angus bull called Leo used to artificially inseminate some of the cows while Faithful, our own bull, is with the heifers.

We also found that the first of these calves was born to a cow whose mother was one of the original red and white cows bought from Holland, so this could explain the ginger colouration.

On Stowell Farm, the ewes that had been gathered together in Corsham Park have been brought into barns for the remainder of the winter. This involved crossing the A4, so after all the necessary preparations had been completed, and after informing the police, the road crossing was successfully undertaken early one Sunday morning.

The ewes at Bowood have also been brought into the barns, but they had to be transported in trailers. This proved to be a little challenging at times.

On one journey the trailer Kevin was towing managed to sink axle-deep into a patch of wet ground.

Fortunately, with some skilful manoeuvring, he managed to get himself out of a sticky situation. The ewes are now all safely in the barns, the wethers (castrated ram lambs) are grazing stubble turnips and the ewe lambs are grazing fresh pasture. It was also decided that the rams, now separated from the ewes, could be turned out in a nearby field for the next few months.

Now it just remains for me to wish you all a very Happy New Year.