Hi Everyone,

It looks like I'm getting the hang of this blogging software now! I feel like it's been my first day at school, as I have had so much to learn that is totally new to me! However, I'm getting there

Today has been a frustrating day for me... Rural World has taken up a lot of time over the last few days and John can't seem to understand that I can't constantly be working on the farm!

It's a busy time for us, what with lambing being three quarters of the way through and we have an awful lot of cattle to sell. Ordinarily, we would keep our cattle until they were between 26 and 30 months old but with the new threat of blue tongue, we are having to sell a lot more at the beginning of the summer.

There are two basic reasons for this:-
1) Blue tongue is a disease carried by midges that are common in the hot summer weather. If our herd becomes infected, our herd would certainly loose condition and some valuable animals might suffer and even die.
2) If Blue tongue comes close to our farm, movement of animals will be restricted. Once cattle become 30 months old, they become less valuable (due to the BSE regulations) as they can enter less areas of the food chain. If movement restrictions prevent us from selling cattle that are approaching 30 months of age, we could lose a lot of income there too

Our flocks and herds are a major investment for us, as is our pasture crop of hay and hayalge(and the arable crops and other crop types farmed elsewhere in the UK). Basically, if we lose any of our crop, either animal or vegetable, we loose that entire investment and our income for that year and possibly for subsequent years. I guess people don't think of farming as being a high risk career but ask any farmer and they will tell you just how scarey investing in farming can be.

The really worrying thing is that we are so incredibly dependent on the weather. If a season is too wet, too dry, too hot or too cold, we can lose in major proportions. I wish that more was known about global warming and the effect that our wasteful life styles has on our environment. So much seems to depend on it! it isn't just the farmers in third world countries who lose crops because of freak weather.

Well there you go - my first proper blog and I am sooo typically British that I end up talk ing about the weather! Best go now, still loads to do! See ya!