Farming Friends

Jobs on a cattle and arable farm in March can include;

• Spring ploughing.
• Selling surplus grain.
• Muck spreading on fodder beet land.
• Bedding up cattle once a day.
• Feeding cattle twice a daily.
• Milling and mixing animal feed.
• Calving cows.
• Disbudding (dehorning) calves.
• Feeding poultry twice daily.
• Letting poultry out to free range in a morning.
• Locking up the poultry huts on a night.
• Cleaning out the poultry huts.
• Servicing the crop sprayer.
• Selling potatoes to the crisp factory.
• Potatoes are washed and loaded into lorries.
• Potatoes are sent to the crisp factory.
• Rolling mole hills down and catching moles in grass fields.
• Apply pot ash fertilizer to potato fields (should have been done in February but too wet this year).
• Apply compound fertilizer to wheat and barley crops ( a February job, but too wet this year).
• Top dressing applied to oilseed rape.
• Nitrogen fertilizer applied to Winter wheat and Winter barley.
• Sow Spring barley.
• Apply fertilizer to Spring barley.
• Apply fertilizer to potato seed bed.
• Plant potatoes at the end of the month.
• Start crop spraying on cereals.

As a part-time teacher and farmer’s wife I have a great interest in this initiative. I am very keen to educate children in where their food comes from and to share my knowledge of farming and the countryside. As the Science Co-ordinator at a local Primary school, I am keen to develop the curriculum to include more opportunities for children to visit local farms, grow their own produce and prepare their own food. My school has just registered to take part in the 2007 Grow Your Own Potatoes project run by the British Potato Council. So I am looking forward to sampling the potatoes when we harvest them in June. Watch out for more information about the spuds on this site.

This website aims to provide information about farming and farm related food produce which can be used by schools to increase children’s awareness of food and farming.

The Year Of Food And Farming scheme is looking for individuals or organisations to give their support. If you are involved in teaching, farming, catering, food production, or horticulture, then you may be able to offer support. I aim to give my support and hope that you can too.

More information can be found on the Year Of Food And Farming website and the Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) website in the Links section of this website.

February’s jobs on a cattle and arable farm can include;

• Winter/Spring ploughing.
• Selling surplus grain.
• Muck spreading.
• Bedding up cattle once a day.
• Feeding cattle twice daily.
• Milling and mixing animal feed.
• Calving cows.
• Disbudding (dehorning) calves.
• Feeding poultry twice a day.
• Letting poultry out to free range in a morning.
• Locking up the poultry huts on a night.
• Cleaning out the poultry huts.
• Building & machinery maintenance.
• Selling potatoes to crisp factory.
• Potatoes washed and loaded into lorries.
• Potatoes sent to crisp factory.
• Applying pot ash fertilizer to potato fields.
• Applying compound fertilizer to wheat and barley crops.
• Harvesting fodder beet.
• Rolling mole hills down and catching moles in grass fields.

January’s jobs on a cattle and arable farm can include;

• Harvesting sugar beet.
• Winter ploughing.
• Testing soil for nutrients.
• Selling surplus grain.
• Cleaning out cattle sheds.
• Muck spreading.
• Bedding up cattle once a day.
• Feeding cattle twice daily.
• Milling and mixing animal feed.
• Disbudding (dehorning) calves.
• Calving cows.
• Feeding poultry twice a day.
• Letting poultry out to free range in a morning.
• Locking up the poultry huts on a night.
• Cleaning out poultry huts.
• Hedge cutting and maintenance.
• Building and machinery maintenance.