Mrs Down's Diary

That's the theory anyway. John has managed to sneak a field of winter beans in but with the last field ploughed and due to stand fallow over the winter, I just know that a really dry spell that might enable him to work the land down, will still tempt him to think about getting a few more acres drilled.

For now though the combi-drill has been hosed down, cleaned out and put back under cover in the big shed. And he is only thinking.

Next job is bringing the herd back inside. The cows and their calves have gradually started collecting by the field gate that is opposite the farm entrance. Their grass fields stretch over about seventy or eighty acres, but the cows all now seem to hang about in the twenty acre field closest to the farm.

John has been feeding them big round bales of haylage over the last few weeks as the goodness goes out of the grass, and I think they must associate this with time to come back inside.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette November 19