IT almost seems impossible, but 2017 has arrived and, as in past years, already seems to be speeding on its way. The weather continues to be variable, with a miserable, wet New Year's Day, chilly frosty days with highs and lows of 7.2C and -3.2C in the late evenings and early mornings. The temperature may have risen slightly at the end of the week, but it has been a wet, cold day.

Richard and I, accompanied by granddaughters Natasha and Annabel, drove to Chuggaton Farm, North Devon, to stay with daughter Adele and her family, for the last two days of 2016.

During our stay we tucked into delicious festive food, also a lunch-time meal of Spanish rice, prepared and cooked by our grandson, Dominic, who seems to have a natural flair for producing tasty dishes.

However, all the routine farm work still had to be done. Fortunately our visit coincided with two milking sessions being done by Jane, the relief milker, which meant that Steve could spend some time with us and his family. On New Year's Eve we went for a cycle ride along the Tarka Trail, which runs from Barnstaple following the estuary of the River Taw. There were a large number of wading birds including redshank, oystercatchers, lapwing and a variety of ducks feeding on the shoreline mud banks of the estuary, together with a host of noisy gulls.

Here on Manor Farm, Ian and Nathan have been checking and repairing fences where necessary, in preparation for turning cattle out in the spring. Ian has also sprayed a cultivated stubble field with a herbicide, as part of a set of measures to help control blackgrass. The field was cultivated several times following harvest last year.

Disturbing the soil encourages the weed seeds to germinate so that they can be more easily destroyed by successive cultivations. When ground conditions allow the field will be spread with manure, ploughed, then planted with spring barley. Eighty per cent of blackgrass emerges in the autumn and it has been shown in trials that effective control can be obtained by cultivating and ploughing. Ploughing will bury shed seeds deep enough that they will not emerge.

Spring crops tend to be much less affected by this persistent and troublesome weed, especially spring barley. Hopefully this change to some spring cropping will reduce our blackgrass problem.

During the week we had a routine vet visit to do some more post-natal checks and pregnancy diagnoses (PDs). It was a successful visit with only three of the 18 cows presented for PDs being found not to be in-calf. The post-natal checks also revealed few problems.

During a sunny day I took a long walk around the farm. It was mid-afternoon with the low sun casting long shadows, frost still apparent along sheltered hedgerows and an air of tranquility with little noise or movement.

I only spotted a buzzard, often seen sitting on a fence post next to the dairy, being mobbed by two very determined crows, a magpie, many wagtails, several robins and a flock of fieldfares noisily chattering in a field of grass as they searched for food.

On Stowell Farm Kevin has looked closely at the wethers (castrated ram lambs born last spring) grazing the stubble turnips and selected 40 that were ready to be sold into the lamb market. These lambs will be delivered direct to an abbatoir.

The ewes brought into the barns recently were scanned at the end of the week to find out how many lambs they were carrying. They were then divided into groups according to whether they are carrying singles, twins or multiples in order that they can be fed appropriate diets. Their basic ration is a mixture of grass and lucerne silages.