FARM DIARY
Goscombe Farm, Gundleton 2013
July was a month full of new life, starting with
a homebred; Gilt produced her first litter of
piglets all on her own, a first for my pigs and
she is proving to be a natural mother. Two /
three calves arriving weekly, the majority
without assistance which is always an added
bonus. Also three nieces in three weeks
extended the family, all producing boys, Plus
the birth of the new Royal baby, what a
month!
The fantastic warm weather allowed for the
silage to be cut, baled and wrapped and of a
much higher quality than last year. Due to
the continual wet weather in 2012 a portion
of the silage and straw was baled damp
causing the straw to bind together like
cardboard thus making the daily bedding
more difficult and requiring twice as much to
cover the same area. Unfortunately I had
breathed in some of the spores that had
grown on the damp bales, which caused a
snow storm in my lungs diagnosed as
‘Farmer’s Lung’, very debilitating at times
and requires a course of steroids to aid
recovery, so I must wear a mask for dusty
work in future.
As July turned to August the harvest began;
a wonderful sight to see the combines at
work. Harvest only happens once a year so
please be patient when driving behind slowmoving farm machinery, as farmers are
working round the clock to deliver your daily
bread and it is worth remembering with the
trailers attached, rear visibility is limited, so
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it is always best to keep a safe distance.
Unfortunately, there are a small minority of
road users, who quite clearly by their
manner do not think tractors should be on
country lanes, Ummmm!!
The evidence of straw cart is clear to see,
the overgrown hedges ripping at the bales
creating a yellow brick road of straw. In
recent years some hedgerows are
increasingly overshadowing the already
narrow lanes, restricting visibility and really
rather dangerous in places.
A heifer started showing signs of calving but
just would not settle down to it and after a
restless night, holding her tail up, pushing at
regular intervals, still nothing was
happening; I gave an internal inspection but
it all felt very odd and as I had not
experienced this previously I phoned the vet,
Graham who arrived shortly afterwards and
diagnosed a twisted uterus which is like
folding a tube in half, cutting off the exit
route. The only option was to give the heifer
a caesarean section and take the calf out
through the side. Graham quickly donned
his surgical outfit, prepared his medical
instruments on a makeshift operation table,
the wheelbarrow and set to work. The heifer
while standing is shaved, thoroughly
disinfected
and
local
anesthetic
administered on the cut area situated on her
left side behind the ribs. The incision is
around 12” long and needs to cut through
several layers of muscle after which he