BEFORE last week's rain arrived we managed to cultivate all the over-wintered stubble to break up the soil before ploughing.

Richard also managed to plough two of the three fields,which will be planted with maize, before 50.5 mm (2ins) of precipitation, in the form of rain, hail and sleet fell over the first five days of the week, with over an inch falling on one day. Then clear night skies at the end of the week led to some early morning frost. What a mixture.

Calving has now finished until late summer,with our last three Angus x calves picked up and taken to a neighbouring farm to be reared on. A routine vet visit during the week, primarily to do pregnancy diagnoses, revealed that most of the cows forward were in calf, which was good news.

Mid -week Richard and I went to Chuggaton Farm in North Devon to visit our daughter Adele and her family. Adele told us that their last cow had just calved so, like us, there will be no more calves born until late summer. All the grass fields to be harvested for silage or grazed, and a field of winter wheat have been given some nitrogen fertiliser

The slurry store has been emptied and the slurry spread onto grass for silage.

The solid manure has been spread on the fields to be planted with maize. We were also told that their milk price is still falling, with no rise expected in the foreseeable future.

Adele and Steve have recently been told they will be having a Red Tractor Accredited Farm Assurance inspection. It lasts for about three hours, during which time the inspector will inspect all written records, livestock and the farm.

This will include health plans and records for cattle movements, veterinary and medicines, feed and body condition scoring for the cattle. Importantly checking that all the cattle have been correctly ear-tagged with two identification ear-tags, one in each ear, to enable full traceability.

Records kept for the servicing and maintenance of all milking machine equipment and milk storage will be inspected. Checks will be done on all field operations including fertiliser use and storage, also NVZ (Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone ) records which are part of their Manure Management Plan. Information on use and storage of all chemicals, vermin control, risk assessments and training will also be checked.

Then the inspector will look round the farm to make sure that it is clean and tidy, that cattle accommodation is clean and comfortable and that storage of all hazardous materials has been done correctly. Just a snapshot of the total inspection.

Whilst staying on Chuggaton Farm I went for two lovely walks across the fields with our granddaughter Bethany.

We walked across two fields before arriving at a tiny, wooded field called the Fairy Glen. Here there was the most beautiful array of wild daffodils.

Daffodils are now one of the most familiar garden plants and it is difficult to imagine that they were widespread in the 16th century. Decline in the wild has been brought about by the clearance of woodland, improvement of pasture and as a result of people digging up the bulbs for their gardens.

Recently I have been driving a tractor taking visitors around Roves Farm on an Easter Bunny Chase.

I was delighted on a rare day of sunshine and warmth to see several Yellow Brimstone butterflies, which must have been awoken from hibernation by the change in the weather. Unfortunately the change was short lived. Another special moment was the sight of a barn owl in the evening sky over Manor Farm.