NOT much has changed regarding the weather. It still feels rather chilly most of the time, with a northerly wind bringing very little except an occasional few spots of rain. When the sun does manage to peep out from behind the clouds the countryside comes to life for a short while, with bees and butterflies making the most of the few warmer spells.

In our garden fledglings including blackbirds, robins, house sparrows and blue tits are constantly being fed by their parents, filling the air with a variety of bird calls as they demand more food.

Whist walking around Manor Farm early in the week I was lucky enough to see a very good-looking red fox, ambling alongside an adjacent wood, probably on the lookout for an easy meal.

On the first day of my week our contractor arrived to start picking up the cut, wilted grass. He had been supplied with a demonstration self-propelled forage harvester to use and give his opinion.

This machine managed to pick up our 100 acres of grass in just one day as it is able to work faster than trailed foragers, although some of these can work almost as quickly.

As the grass was gathered it was chopped and an innoculant added.

This will ensure the right bacteria break down the sugars to produce a delicious sweet-smelling forage for our cattle.

The chopped grass was then taken to our silage clamp where it was tipped, formed into a wedge and rolled using a tractor and buckrake.

The grass has to be rolled well to drive out as much air as possible, as the correct fermentation will only take place in anaerobic conditions.

Once the rolling had been completed the wedge was covered with a thick plastic sheet which was sealed and weighed down with old tyres. Hopefully, following fermentation, the silage produced will be a good quality feed for the cows and youngstock.

During the rest of the week Nathan and James have been busy taking tanker loads of slurry from our large store and spreading it onto the recently cut fields.

This will add valuable nutrients to the soil and just a little much-needed water to enable a second crop of grass to grow.

All the winter cereal crops are looking well, but these could do with a drink of water as well.

Our spring barley, however, is struggling to germinate in some areas of the field in which it was planted, due partly to the variable seed bed and lack of water.

Mid-week Dora, our last heifer to calve, gave birth to an Angus x bull calf. This calf, like the one born the week before, had some white markings and, with its half brother, will be going to a neighbouring farmer to be reared on for beef.

Dora's mother is a good cow, now in her third lactation (annual 305-day milking period).

She produced 7,775 litres of milk with an average fat content of 4.65 per cent, protein 3.43 per cent and somatic cell count of 61 .4 (an indication of udder health) in her first lactation and 10,281 in her second, with an average of 4.25 per cent fat, 3.24 per cent protein and somatic cell count of 87.

Unfortunately Dora's grandmother is no longer with us and was one of the original cows we bought from Holland.

When first turned out the milking cows were stripped grazing, which means they were given access to a fresh strip of grass each day, involving the daily moving of an electric fence. The lack of rain has stopped any regrowth, so we are now just allowing the cows to graze whole fields, whilst at the same time supplementing their diet with some maize silage, mixed with a protein balancer and some minerals. Hopefully it will rain soon, but then it probably won't stop!