Farming Friends

As a school teacher and a farmer’s wife, I often have to contemplate the meaning of harvest festival, as the Autumn approaches. The scary thing I have found is that children (at the school I work in at least!) do not understand the meaning of harvest, despite having a harvest festival every year. So I pose the question;
What do you think the true meaning of harvest festival is?
Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts about the true meaning of harvest festival.

Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.

 

 

 

Harvest Harvest Festival

The Foot And Mouth Disease that plagued the UK back in 2001 is back in the UK and with a number of FMD cases identified in the last few months it is important that everyone knows what signs to look out for.

“Foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer.” Defra.

As an owner of pigs, it is very important that I check my pigs regularly for signs of illness.

Signs of Foot And Mouth Disease In Pigs

Sudden lameness.

Prefers to lie down.

Unwilling to move.

When made to move squeals loudly and hobbles painfully.

Blisters form on the upper edge of the hoof, where the skin and horn meet, and on the heels and in the cleft.

Blisters may extend right round the top of the hoof with the result that the horn becomes separated.

Blisters on the snout or tongue.

Reluctant to feed.

Source: Defra.

For more detailed information visit the Defra website.

Defra Foot And Mouth Disease Pig Behaviour Pig Management Pigs

Here is Hatty The Hen, click on the picture to jumble up the jigsaw puzzle.

How long did it take you to solve the jigsaw puzzle? It took me 1 minute and 14 seconds!

Hatty Puzzles

With only a few days til the end of the month, the Farming Friends ‘foto’ of the month competition is still receiving entries. Entry number twelve was sent in by Louise @ This Is My Patch, so thanks Louise.

This photograph of the corn field was taken at the beginning of September from Louise’s dad’s back garden which is in Clapham, West Sussex on the edge of the South Downs.

If you like taking photographs then why not enter our Farming Friends ‘Foto’ Of The Month Competition. (more…)

Photograph of the Month Competition

The potato harvest has begun for our farm this week and so I am now grading potatoes. This means that once the potatoes are lifted from the field, they are then tipped from the trailer onto a conveyor belt that allows us to grade the potatoes by picking out the following items;

• Stones,
• Mud,
• Weeds,
• Grass,
• Foreign objects,
• Rotten potatoes,
• Green potatoes,
• Mis-shaped potatoes,
• Largest potatoes,
• Smallest potatoes.

Although grading potatoes can be a little bit monotonous for some people, the conversation at our grader is certainly entertaining. I suggested that I tape the conversations and include them on my website as a podcast or should I say “potato-cast”!!!

Potatoes

The Foot And Mouth Disease that plagued the UK back in 2001 is back in the UK and with a number of FMD cases identified in the last few months it is important that everyone knows what signs to look out for.

“Foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer.” Defra.

As cattle farmer’s it is very important that we check our livestock regularly for signs of illness.

Signs of Foot And Mouth Disease In Cattle

• Slobbering and smacking lips.
• Shivering.
• Tender and sore feet.
• Lameness.
• Reduced milk yield.
• Sores and blisters on feet, mouth or tongue.
• Raised temperature.

Source: Defra.

For more detailed information visit the Defra website.

Cattle Cattle Illness Defra Foot And Mouth Disease

Hatty The Hen is moulting at the moment. She started to lose some of her feathers back in August and it was a little worrying when there was no sign of Hatty just a pile of white feathers. Had a fox or dog got her? No thank goodness. Then I worried that Hatty was ill but I soon realised that she was just moulting. It did look a bit scary when her tail feathers disappeared but they are growing back now.

Here is Hatty a few days ago and if you look carefully at her feathers you will see that the new feathers have a slight yellow tinge to them.

Feathers Hatty Moult Moulting