Spring usually starts to arrive in March and the countryside wakes up. New born lambs can be seen running around the fields and in a really dry year dairy cows are let out of their winter homes to graze the new grown grass.
The grass fields to be used for making hay and silage later in the year are chain harrowed and rolled in March. The farmer chain harrows the grass to get rid of any old, dead grass and some of the weeds. He follows this by rolling the field to make sure no stones are sticking out of the ground and to firm up the grass plants root structure.
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April is a really busy month on all farms. On many farms this is the month the maize is planted to be grown for the following winters feed. The land is ploughed and cultivated and then the maize seed is planted. The seed measures about 6mm x 3mm (the size of a little fingernail) and grows into a plant that can reach 3 metres.
Those farms with pigs and poultry have to look after their stock in the same way all year round. They have to feed the stock, make sure they are all clean and comfortable and if it is laying hens - collect the eggs!
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This is the month the farmer starts 'filling the cupboard' for the following winter. It starts off with silage making. This is a method of harvesting grass surplus to spring grazing requirements and kept for winter feed. Silaging starts by mowing the grass with a tractor and big mower pulled behind the tractor. The mowed grass is left on the ground for between 24 and 48 hours and then 'rowed up' into lines using a rake and left ready for picking up by the forage harvester. The forage harvester is a large, self propelled machine that picks up the grass and chops it all into little pieces about 25mm long before blowing it into a big trailer that takes it to the silage pit in the farm for storing.
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Winter feed harvesting continues with making hay from grass. The haymaking process is similar to silage but the grass is dried a lot more and instead of being chopped up is packed into bales. The hay is stored in barns to keep it dry and in good condition for the following winter.
For farms with sheep it's haircut time. All the sheep have their wool shorn off so they stay cool through the summer. The wool is used to make clothes, carpets and many other things we see and use in everyday life.
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When the sun shines the combine harvesters start to work. The first crop to be harvested is oilseed rape which is sold by the farmer and then made into cooking oil. Barley is harvested after oilseed rape and used either for animal feed, making beer or even whisky in Scotland.
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The long hot summer days see all the stock in the fields just eating grass, drinking water and lazing in the shade of trees and hedges. The cows still have to be milked and they enjoy going into the cool of the milking parlour for this.
The combine harvester carries on working, harvesting the main UK cereal crop which is wheat. Wheat is used to feed animals and make bread and biscuits.
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The maize that was planted as little seed in April has grown over the summer into enormous plants each with a cob attached. The cob is shaped like a cucumber and has all the nutrients in it that stock require in their winter diet. The maize is harvested with the same sort of forage harvester used for grass except with a different attachment on the front of the machine. The other difference is that the crop isn't mowed first but cut 'direct' As well as cutting crops for the forthcoming winters feed, seed is sown for the following harvests crop. Oilseed rape is sown first followed by barley and wheat.
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Beans are the last crop to be harvested. Once they have been finished and next years crops sown, the farmer starts to think about keeping his animals inside in their nice warm (and dry) barns.
Dairy cows are waited on, often with their food mixed into a nice mix of grass silage, maize silage and other nutritious foods such as wheat, barley, soya and sugar beet. They even have their beds made for them every day with fresh sawdust or straw spread out. Sheep are more hardy than cattle and often stay out all winter. Sometimes when it snows you can just see them against the white background.
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The winter routine has begun and farm activity revolves around feeding all the stock, bedding them up and maintaining their winter quarters. When you are travelling around you might see a farmer trimming the hedges with his tractor and mechanical hedge trimmer. This is done to make sure the hedges don't become overgrown and spoiled.
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Although December is a busy month, the time is taken up mainly doing routine winter work. On a dairy farm the best place to be is in the milking parlour where the cows make it nice and warm! Christmas Day is no different from all the other days of the month, all the chores have to be done but the farmer can look forward to a new year with all the exciting things happening all over again.
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The start of the year sees some early lambs being born. These early lambs need to be kept warm and dry so often they stay inside with their mums until they are strong enough to withstand the winter weather.
Most dairy cows are housed through the winter so the dairy farmers' day consists mainly of feeding their cows, keeping their houses clean, well bedded and milking. January always seems a long month for farmers. It is nearly always cold and wet; it's dark when they start work and when they finish; and spring seems ages away.
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Hopefully, the weather starts to improve in February and the farmer starts to think about working out in the fields. If the ground is dry enough the farmer can spread dung (phew what a pong!) onto the land to help grow the crops. You might see some fertilising and spraying as well. Organic farms don't use sprays or fertilisers so they don't do this.
Sometimes you might see the farmer 'laying' a hedge. This is a traditional method of maintaining hedges using only hand tools and skills passed down from generation to generation.
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