A “Superabundance” of Crab Apples. Photo: Colin Wootton
Richard Fonge writes:
Much needed rain as summer ends and autumn arrives. Much needed because after a spring and summer of near continuous sun, resulting in a poorer harvest of all crops, it was vital that we had rain to help establish next year’s crops. Oilseed rape, needs to be sown by the end of August and grass seeds also to get good growth before winter. With a warm soil to be planted in, germination of any seed will be very quick.
I mentioned the mule ewe in last month’s notes and a good example of the breed can be seen in the field on the footpath to Stuchbury, where further on, on the parish boundary is a crab apple tree laden with a density of fruit which is quite amazing. Hedgerow fruit of all kinds are very abundant this year.
Also on that path farm yard manure has been spread over the phacelia, as it has been on the Stuchbury field over the hedge . A good healthy smell for a few days!This manure will be incorporated into the soil and along with the green manure will enrich that soil for the following crops. Manure from livestock was once an integral part of the farming year rotation, but as specialising of agriculture advanced from the mid sixties onwards, the mixed enterprise farms disappeared with many farms becoming arable only. In our area we have farms with arable, sheep and beef enterprises, but dairy farms are scarce. Most of our daily pinta is produced in the western half of the country.
We take for granted the ready availability of milk, but to produce that food, there is a lot of science, genetics and hard work. The breeding is the basis for a healthy herd to produce a quality product, with then the feeding of the cow with a balanced diet. All that is fed to the cow is analysed to meet the requirements of a healthy animal and the quantity of milk she is producing during her lactation of ten months. Milking is a twice a day task, except for those using robots, where a transponder round the cow’s neck allows her to enter the robot milker, and it is then found they get themselves milked four or more times a day.
Technology runs our lives, with G.P.S. to guide us to our destinations. But here’s a thought. The swallows leaving our telegraph lines will migrate to Africa and return next April to nest in the same place. Are we as clever as we think??
Richard Fonge