At the beginning of the week I looked out of the window to what can only be described as a Christmas card scene, which was further enhanced with more snow falling throughout the day. At last some seasonal weather, with several centimetres of snow covering fields and trees. The warmest temperature recorded was 0.7 C during that weekend, but as the week progressed the temperature fell into minus figures. On Wednesday night the cloudy sky cleared, with a sunny day to follow, but as the temperature kept falling a low of - 6.2 C was recorded on Friday morning.

Although the countryside looked beautiful dressed in a white cloak, farmers were kept very busy making sure water pipes didn't freeze, although I understand that on Manor Farm we did have a minor incident with frozen pipes. Apart from water supplies for our animals other elements on a working farm can freeze ,including tractors that won't start.

During the week Kevin, Francis, Melissa, Ian and collies had a full day on the farm near Wootton Bassett, where the ewes due to lamb next March are grazing. It was time to take the rams back to Manor Farm and move the ewes onto more fresh grass. First of all, electric sheep fencing had to be put up around two new areas. Then a temporary holding pen and race were put in place before the flock was gathered by the collies. Once in the pen the sheep were guided steadily through the race to a holding pen from where the rams could be directed to one holding area and the ewes to another. The ewes were then split into two groups of about 350 and 150 sheep in each. It was then time to move them into the two fenced fresh fields after which all the electric fencing around the 30 acre grazed field had to be collected. After an exhausting day for everyone in the very cold, but sunny conditions, the rams were loaded into the stock trailer and transported back to Manor Farm. On checking the two groups of ewes the following day I found them happily settled and the electric fence working well.

Another job was to take a small group of cull ewes to a collection centre. Cull ewes are those sheep that have persistent health problems or are becoming broken mouthed. A broken mouth sheep is a sheep that loses its incisor teeth as it ages. Grazing herbivores have no upper incisors, only a hard dental pad ,which acts like a pair of serrated scissors. Herbivores spend much of their time grazing and chewing their cud, which can make their teeth wear down, spread and fall out. Affected sheep will be malnourished and lose weight. Barren ewes will also be culled, but Kevin will give these sheep a second chance to become pregnant before making a decision.

Ian helped Kevin and Francis to vaccinate all the ewes due to give birth in January to reduce the incidents of foot rot. Lameness concerns all farmers with livestock. The trouble with foot rot in sheep is that it is caused by bacteria and is an infectious disease, so if not controlled will spread rapidly through the flock. You may remember we had to have two of our recently purchased Aberdeen Angus x calves tested for TB, as their mothers had recently had positive test results, so their offspring were traced for test also. Fortunately both calves had a negative result.

All other work on the farm has been routine feeding, mucking out and bedding up. This will still have to be done over Christmas and the New Year holiday, but with preparations during the week and everyone giving a hand on Christmas morning there should be plenty of family time.

I have recently been making and decorating cakes for the family, and also making mince pies and Christmas puddings. Mustn't forget brandy butter, which adds a bit of extra deliciousness. I recently attended Gloucestershire RABI carol service held at the Royal Agricultural University. We had a wonderful evening singing carols,with some Gloucester YFC members taking part in the nativity scene, with a live donkey joining them.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year.