THE week was not too bad, with periods of warm sunshine, chilly breezes, plenty of clouds and occasionally a little damp.

Although the air has an autumnal feel, the fields of grass and trees continue to look almost spring-like, but the newly planted fields of winter cereals look brown and bare, reminding us that autumn has arrived.

Manor farm cows continue to give birth, although there will soon only be Aberdeen Angus/Friesian /Holstein crosses born to the later calving cows.

The dairy bull calves born since the end of August have been going to Stowell Farm, where they will be reared as bull beef. They are put into pens of 5 calves and fed warm milk from a five-teat feeder, twice a day.

The milk is made up from a specially formulated powder mixed with water. The calves also have access to fresh water, hay and calf weaner pellets. Once they are eating enough solid food, at about six weeks old, they will be weaned.

During the week another set of dairy twins were born, but unfortunately one a heifer, the other a bull. When this happens in cattle the heifer is usually sterile and is known as a free-martin.The reason being that the developing heifer receives cellular material from the male twin via the placenta. The heifer will usually look female when it is born, but may well have no ovaries and will tend to display male characteristics.

We have now finished planting winter barley and winter wheat in all the prepared fields following oilseed rape and cereal harvest.

We chose two varieties of barley Tower and California. These are both grown for animal feed, selected as they are high yielding, with large good quality grain, disease resistant and easy to manage. We are also growing two varieties of winter feed wheat Siskin and Dickens.

These two varieties we believe to be the most suitable for our farm, consistent,with good specific weight and marketability.Kevin has spent a great deal of the week cultivating fields to be planted with wheat following oilseed rape, lucerne and stubble turnips.

On Stowell Farm the flock of 100 ewes, born as a result of artificial insemination, have just been inseminated using semen from selected rams. This flock is always kept separate and is used to breed rams for use on the main flock. by doing this the flock will introduce new genes, but remain closed, nullifying the risk of importing disease.

During the week the shearlings (ewe lambs born March, 2015) were weighed and their weights recorded with Signet, the national genetic evaluation service for cattle and sheep.

This is so that their weights can be monitored to maturity. Finished wethers (castrated ram lambs from spring 2016) are now being sold, with from 50 to 100 ready each week.

The results of Chippenham Young Farmers's Sheep show were announced and our granddaughters Natasha and Annabel came joint first in the young handlers section. Natasha also won a prize for the best ewe.

On the last day of the week the contractors arrived to harvest our forage maize. It took just nine hours to clear 50 acres, and take the cut and chopped maize back to the farm,where it was put into a clamp,consolidated and covered with a plastic sheet.

As the maize passed through the forage harvester an inoculant of lactic acid producing bacteria were added to help fermentation.The forage maize is harvested when the dry matter is about 30 per cent and a heavy crop will give a very large dry matter yield,energy and starch, a valuable feed for cows.

At the end of the week I was invited to the harvest festival celebration at King's Lodge School in Chippenham.

I spoke to the children about what we do on our farm and I took two maize plants to help explain about seeds and how they grow. I think they particularly liked a photograph of a cow with her newborn calf.