Village Voice October/November 2013 | Page 16

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 14 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