Another very wet and windy week. There were a couple of better days with some sunshine but it has generally been rather unpleasant. Temperatures have not been that low remaining slightly above or below single figures, with a high of 11.7 C and low of 6.1 C on Manor Farm. Rainfall over the week amounted to 72.5 mm, which is in excess of 3ins, which has made our fields increasingly soggy.

When water starts to lie on the surface of our arable fields the young plants soon begin to suffer with their roots drowning in water. After adding up the 12 months rainfall I arrived at a figure of 784.5mm. This is still below the highest annual Wiltshire average of 800mm .

Sheep work over the past week has involved a great deal of fencing as half the total flock remain in fields grazing, who will lamb in March. These having to be moved more frequently than usual due to the weather. The 622 ewes who will lamb in March are made up of two groups, the main 504 ewes and the Elite flock of 118, from which future breeding rams are selected. One of the sires of the elite lambs is the newly purchased ram called Ross, who was put with half of the elite ewes. Being a high grade ram he will bring new and hopefully better genes into the flock. The other half were put with Ed, a previously bought ram.

Ian and Marcus have been working with Kevin for the whole week as final preparations for the early lambing flock have continued. As of the end of the week, three sets of twins had been born, which Kevin told me are strong and healthy. It should not be long now before lambing begins in earnest.

Another job was to pregnancy scan the late lambing flock. The ewes were already back on Manor Farm, after grazing pasture near Royal Wootton Bassett. However in order to be able to see the unborn lambs properly the pregnant ewes need to have empty stomachs. They were brought in from the fields the night before and housed overnight without receiving any more food. Scanning showed that in the group of 504 there are 10 empty, 222 carrying singles, 240 twins, 30 triplets and two sets of quads. This gives a lambing percentage of 159 per cent. In the Elite Flock of 118 there are three empty, 42 carrying singles 65 twins, seven triplets and one set of quads. This gives a percentage of 167 per cent, so the overall percentage for the two groups is 160. This is not bad but could be expected to be a little higher. The target at scanning for pregnant ewes in a lowland system such as Kevin’s would be expected to have a lambing percentage from 170 - 200 per cent. It is probable that the drought in 2022 had some effect. A lambing percentage is “ percentage of lambs born per ewe lambing = lambs born ÷ ewes lambing × 100.”

Our older Angus cattle have recently been weighed and checked for condition to establish if any were finished and ready for sale. It was found that a mixture of 10 steers (castrated bulls) and heifers were ready two weeks ago, to be followed by a further mixture of 26 last week. This means that we only have 26 older steers left to finish and 100 calves, bought last autumn.

On a walk around a grass field near Wootton Bassett, which Kevin’s sheep had grazed, I spotted a lone Lapwing. These birds are, at this time, normally seen in flocks on fields. It is a bird easily recognised. The first thing that alerted me to its presence was its voice,which almost sounds like the other name it can be called “pee- wit.” Other easily recognisable features are its long wispy crest and flappy, rounded wing flight style. From a distance it looks black and white,but on close inspection the upper part of its body is glossy green. It nests on undisturbed ground which makes it vulnerable to predators and feeds on insects, spiders and worms.