Apologies for the lateness of this month’s blog, it has been a funny old month; what with Martin and Judith catching a nasty flu bug and then Tanza having gallbladder surgery, all duties fell onto Richard, and certain things like the farm blog were just abandoned! Thankfully everyone is fighting fit again and it is back to business as usual.
There have been some changes this month at the farm, with Martin and Judith taking a step back, and Richard and Tanza stepping up and moving into the farmhouse. I’m sure we could have chosen a much better time to do a house move with everyone being poorly, but we are all settled in and thoroughly enjoying our new homes and roles alike!
Back to the farming side of it, we started March with quite a gloomy outlook due to the relentless rain and challenging ground conditions. We have not been unable to sow the last of our crops, but also, we have been unable to get on the land to apply fertiliser or crop protection products. This has sadly resulted in more of our Oilseed rape crop failing. These fields have had to be ploughed for a third time this season and we are hoping to re seed them with Spring beans when the ground dries out. There is still spring barely sowing to be done too but again, the fields are just too wet so we have everything crossed for warmer drier weather ahead!
Writing about the weather seems to be a reoccurring theme with this years blogs, but it feels like we have had an unprecedented level of rain over the last 6 months. Farming this year has been tough to say the least. It is very worrying to see how many farmers UK wide have either suffered with failing crops, or still have fields in last year’s stubble due to the ground becoming water logged in the Autumn. There is a lot of concern amongst the farming community as we head into the spring months, with everyone wondering what harvest 2024 will hold. No crop means no income, and we can only hope that what has been a disastrous year to date, does not lead to some farmers hanging up their tractor keys and ‘packing in’ due to the irrecoverable financial losses.
Onto a brighter subject, lambing has started!! Judith has had a very busy month being number 1 midwife to her flock of Suffolk ewes, and has lots of beautiful bouncy lambs. Thankfully it has been a relatively trouble-free lambing season for her, with only one ewe needing an emergency vet trip for a difficult birth, and Judith having just one lamb to hand rear. This little lamb spent the first few days of her life living in front of the aga, under the watchful eye of Molly, the black labrador, who thought she was wonderful and licked and kissed her endlessly!! All the TLC must have done her the world of good, as she is thriving and now living back outside and is full of mischief!
Back to the boys; Richard and Jake have continued working on our new grain shed, with all ground works now complete and poles ready to go up! We were hoping to have it up by now, but like with all best laid plans, something always comes along and gets in the way! But hopefully next week we will start making headway. Alongside working on the shed, they have spent several days working at Sunderland Docks. They have had various cargos to haul this month, ash, steel, and paper, and have enjoyed the variety as well as being cosy in their tractors and out of the wet weather.
It has been all go in the workshop the last few weeks, with silage preparation underway; The forager has been in having its annual service, the trailers have been washed and serviced, and the rake has also been in this week having pre-season checks and maintenance. It is always exciting when the silage machinery comes back out of the shed, as it is a sign that summer is coming. We are certainly enjoying the longer days and having brighter evenings. Now we just need to weather to play ball!!!
Thank you to all of our lovely customers who came to see us before Easter to collect Lamb boxes and turkeys. It was so nice to see you all and to have the time to chat. For anyone who didn’t get their order in, we have got 3 frozen half lamb boxes remaining (£85 per box), and 4 frozen 3kg turkeys crowns (£50 each), so please do get in touch with Tanza if you wish to reserve one before they are all sold out: Tel: 07736 018822 or email: tanza@drydenfarms.co.uk
Until next month…
Wishing everyone all the best,
Martin, Judith, Richard, Tanza & George