July 2007 - Phil's Farm Diary, as published in the summer edition of Frettenham Village Newsletter
When my last diary was written, at the end of April, we were in the sixth week of a drought. The barley in the Mill Field survived on the winter moisture until the last week of April when it ‘came into ear' (the heads of grain formed), approximately 3 weeks ahead of normal. Along with other farmers who had never seen barley in ear in April, firm predictions were made that the crop would be ready for harvesting by the first week of July. Well, ‘Mother Nature' has made sure that it will not be a record early start to harvest - 6 of the last 8 weeks have been particularly wet (as if you had not noticed!).
In the 2 drier weeks it was possible to make silage (conserved grass for winter feed) for our cows, although we are currently 3 weeks behind with 2 fields of grass now past their best.
Those of you who came to the Farm Open Day on June 10th will have seen the equipment we use for silage making on display at the playing field. We had a very successful day, with over 200 people taken on tours of the farm. Thanks to all those who came along and also those who helped out, particularly Richard Fisher for helping with the farm walk, Ian Howard of Frettenham and Andrew Murdo of Wroxham Farms for bringing equipment, Steve Sayce and Rodney Allen our advisors, and all our family and friends who turned out to support and help us on the day. Congratulations to Terry Asker of Frettenham who guessed the weight of a big bale of straw. It was actually 212kgs. We took him some Nortons Dairy milk to congratulate him - hopefully those of you who have our doorstep deliveries know what a treat this is!
We also had our first ever Norton Family v Frettenham CC cricket match on June 24th. It was great to see many old friends there and our thanks go to those who played. It was a close game, with Frettenham C.C. winning in the last over, with only one ball remaining. We managed to raise £225.00 which has been donated to the Big C Appeal.
The warm wet conditions of the past few weeks have made potato ‘blight' a particular problem and some crops in the county have been ‘burnt off' already to prevent blight spores from the foliage going onto the potatoes in the ground. The 20 acres grown at Church Farm by Heinz Foods are still growing healthily - mostly because the land is light and free draining allowing the spraying contractors to apply blight fungicide at the correct intervals.
As I finish this diary the barley crops are ready to be harvested and I study the weather forecasts in search of some dry, warm days to bring down the grain moisture content sufficiently for harvest to begin.
