February Blog
Welcome to the Lower Drayton Farm blog and thank you for taking the time to visit our site. Lower Drayton farm is a busy working farm and there has been a lot going on over the past few weeks. At the end of each month we will bring you up to date with all the news from around the farm.
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Whilst the weather is so cold and the days so short, there isn’t much that we can do in the fields, and so it is catch up time, doing all the tidying and repairing in and around buildings that we don’t get much time for during the rest of the year.
However, we have been fleecing up the strawberries, which involves covering up the rows of plants under the polytunnels to help keep the plants warm, to encourage them to grow and produce the beautiful fruits which we all love. Picking could start around the end of March if conditions are right.
The cows are out at grass but having to be fed additionally with silage as there is not sufficient goodness in the grass alone. They have been calving all winter, with two cows giving birth on Christmas Day. We farmers really do work all year round! Many more will be calving around April so hopefully we will be able to provide you with pictures of the baby calves.
The sheep are also due to lamb at the beginning of March, so it is important that we feed them plenty of good food now because the lambs grow most in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy. There is the occasional lamb that can be spotted around the countryside already but this is still very early.
It only seemed like a few days ago when the shooting season had started (1st October 2009), and it’s now due to come to an end on the 1st February 2010. The syndicate has had a reasonable season but has proven difficult to hold the pheasants on the farm. A high number of predators have been spotted recently, like buzzards and foxes and their population seems to be growing, which can be a good sign, because it means that they are finding plenty of their natural food around. Over the next few weeks after the season has finished we will be looking to capture the remainder of the pheasants to start breeding, then we will collect the eggs and put them into an incubator to hatch.
Spring bulbs have been seen, pushing their heads out of the soil (and the snow! ), but haven’t seen any snowdrops yet (perhaps it’s been too cold) There is one spot in Penkridge where daffodils are usually in bloom by the 25th January, but even these are late this year. However, there is nothing better than seeing spring flowers blossoming early, it gives everyone a bit of encouragement that winter is nearly over and spring will be soon here, bringing with it warmer weather.
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You may have seen in the press that Dan and Kate have opened a traditional farm shop which is open 7 days a week. They sell a variety of produce and products, including farm fresh fruit and veg which is grown and sourced locally. They are firm believers in ‘quality produce at competitive prices’ it’s not just supermarkets that give value for money. We will help educate you when you come to the farm as a lot of people, especially the young are not aware of where there food comes from. Children don’t always associate an egg with a chicken or pork with a pig. They also sell horse, pigeon, poultry and game feed, a variety of wild bird seeds, dog and cat foods etc.
For more information phone 07841 289769
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Just opposite the shop we have two wonderful Emus and two Rhea which are very friendly so you can feed them whilst visiting the shop, or just watch them running in the field. They travel at around 35miles an hour and look very comical as they gallop around. They would normally start laying eggs in January, but there’s no sign yet, maybe it is the arctic weather that has put them off for a while!
Our next blog will be available the last Friday in February, so look out for us then for more news from around the farm.