Farming Friends

It was very frosty this morning and all taps frozen up.

Cats - Four cats were crowded at the door this morning. Stripe was no where to be seen but when I went to get the poultry out he was walking back up the lane. Phew! I have petteed him quite a bit today and taken some photos.

Cattle - 3 calves have been weaned today so there is alot of beeling going on.

Ducks - The ducks manage to get out of the hut by flapping their wings. They don’t need a ramp for getting out only getting in. There were 5 duck eggs this morning.

Guinea Fowl - Lightening the white guinea fowl has really grown into a beautiful bird and her group are now well intergrated into the main flock. It seems to take a new group of guinea fowl a good year to get established and fully accepted into the group.

Guinea Pig - Guiness has a rug that is placed over the front of the hut each night to keep him warm and well protected.

Hens - All the hens are fine. No eggs in the hut this morning.

Pigs - The young pigs are now 15 weeks old today.

Quail - All quail are fine this morning. They really like the straw on the ground in the hut. Not too many eggs yesterday but this is probably due to the very cold weather.

See you tomorrow.

It had snowed in the night and was white over this morning as it had frozen over the snow and it wasn’t melting. 

Cats - Hurray, I was greeted this morning by the cries of Stripe the cat. I don’t know where he has been but I was delighted to see him. He has had two good feeds today, but Fluffy was trying to chase him away tonight - naughty Fluffy.

Cattle - Steve was up early to help load the two heifers so his dad could take them to market.

Ducks - The ducks have settled into the new hut with the others well and there were 5 duck eggs this morning.

Guinea Fowl - The guinea fowl all look healthy, ssh I didn’t say that really, I don’t want to tempt fate!!!

Guinea Pig - Guiness’ claws are beginning to grow long again and will need to be clipped soon.

Hens - All 14 hens are ok. Two eggs in the hut this morning. Polly who was poorly a few months ago just looks abit steady but she did come out of the hut so that is a good sign.

Pigs - All feeding well and they really enjoy the fooder beet. Will need to mill some more barley in the next day or two.

Quail - One quail had died in the night. There were no outward signs of illness. Had a phone call today from one of Steve’s Auntie’s friends who wanted to bring her Grand-daughter to look at the quail. Georgia wanted to take some quail away to keep at ther Grandparents but we persuaded her that I would hatch some off and then she could have a trio of quail. I have extended the straw litter to the whole barn floor as the quail seem to like the flooring and it isn’t too difficult to spot the eggs. 1 egg in the Japanese quail aviary. Put more straw in their hut as well to keep them warm in the cold weather.

Back tomorrow!

It was very frosty this morning when I got up and it took a long time for the frost to thaw. Frosty morning make changing water drinkers for my poultry difficult as the taps are usually frozen.

Cats - It looks like Stripe has definately gone. My other four cats greet me at the door every morning during the Winter months. Sometimes when I get up they are sitting on the landrover which has just turned up to keep warm, but when they see me through the window they gather at the door. Oh what it is to be cat popular!

Cattle - This morning two heifers where moved to the holding pen ready to be loaded in the trailer in the morning as they are ready to go to market.

Ducks - The ducks have managed their first night in the big poultry barn with the guinea fowl and hens unscaithed. They had laid 4 eggs this morning and they are very clean.

Guinea Fowl - They guinea fowl were quite noisey last night as the ducks were new to the poultry house and obviously disturbed the pecking order.

Guinea Pig - Guiness’ drinker was frozen up this morning and I had to fill it up in the house as all the outside taps were frozen.

Hens - Had to keep the hens inside today as I was out for lunch and wouldn’t be back by 2.30pm to put the hens safely away. Two hen eggs were waiting for me in the hen hut.

Pigs - I have two young boars out of the 9 saddleback weaners I have left. I have noticed that they are hairier than the gilts. Their father is also hairier than my sows. I wonder if saddleback boars are generally hairier or if it is just that Dennis the boar is hairy!

Quail - 1 egg from the japanese quail in the aviary today and lots of eggs from the barn reared quail. The straw on the ground in the barn helps to prevent the quail getting toe balls.

Back tomorrow for another farm update.

An article written by James Gulliver about the Buffaload palletising robots.

Farmers have always suffered from labour problems but some of these issues could be solved by the advances in the field of palletising robots. Buffaload, a company leading the stampede have had many successful palletising robot installations for agricultural use and have big plans for the future.

Any farmer will know the problems associated with sourcing labour for agricultural work. Unreliable, unenthusiastic employees are a real problem for all types of farming and have shaped the way we farm today. In many case Labour is the deciding factor in whether a new agricultural venture is considered and in some cases, is a factor that contributes to the closure of a farm. This cannot be blamed entirely on the work ethic of the average labourer as a lot of farm work is repetitive and conditions are often unpleasant giving them reason to be less than eager. The seasonal nature of the work also makes it impossible to keep good workers all year round. The problem may seem insurmountable but with a bit of lateral thinking solutions are emerging.

Robots have been used in manufacture for many years but the application of this technology in an agricultural setting is very new. Buffaload, a well known supplier of robotic palletisers have been working with farmers to develop solutions for vegetable packaging with great success.

An example application is that of packing and grading potatoes. Potato farmers spend a lot of time packing and grading their potatoes which is a very manually intensive task. This involves sorting and bagging the potatoes and then stacking them on a pallet ready for loading onto a transporter. The packing of the bags onto pallets is the most difficult part, as this requires someone to carry and then stack 25Kg bags continuously the whole time the potatoes are being graded. Working with producers, Buffaload have managed to configure a Robotic Palletiser to do this job. The use of robots for this task has been made possible with the application of a vacuum head to literally grip the bags by creating a vacuum and picking the bags up by suction. The bags are then stacked uniformly onto the pallet at a very high speed in the exact position every time.

The first thought of many farmers would be that the use of a robot would be far too expensive to ever pay for itself in this type of application but the savings made in speed and reliability means payback can be achieved in a very short space of time. A volume of potatoes that would have taken three men two days to complete can be achieved using two men and a robot in just a day saving the equivalent of 4 man days. Taken over a complete season, a saving of labour of more than 50% would be seen. Saving of this magnitude soon compensate for the initial outlay for the robot palletiser itself.

Buffaload, who recently expanded their product range to include, conveyors, bag stitchers and shrink wrappers plan to continue to work with farmer to solve this type of problem and many more. To view Buffaload’s range of products visit their website at www.buffaload.co.uk

For more information, please contact Rod Garnham on 08700 343 343.

Today has been a cold day.

Cats -It looks like Stripe has definately gone. I hope he has found a new home and has not had all his nine lives! He will be sorely missed.

Cattle - During the Winter the cattle are fed fodder beet and silage twice a day.

Ducks - Only got 3 duck eggs this morning. Definately have a problem with vermin. Have decided to try and get the ducks to go in the poultry hut with the guinea fowl and hens as it is large enough. Put a ramp up at the door tonight and Steve and I managed to herd the ducks into the hut. We’ll have to see how they get on with the other poultry.

Guinea Fowl - The 3 younger guinea fowl all have lavender plumage. I think the new guinea fowl are a trio of one male and two females.

Guinea Pig - At this time of year it is important to check Guiness’ drinker to make sure that it asn’t frozen up.

Hens - I think some of the hens are laying eggs on the top of the bales. If I am feeling up to it I may climb on the bales and have a look tomorrow.

Pigs - The pigs needed a fresh bale of straw which I use to bed them up.

Quail - The Japanese quail had 2 eggs in their hut this morning. I have placed another box with straw in for the quail as they like to lay their eggs in the box and it keeps them warmer.

More news tomorrow from the farmingfriends farm.

One of my website readers is looking for a trio of campbell ducklings in France. She says,

“moved to france withsome land 6mths ago been trying ever since to get a trio of white campbell ducks [ducklings] can anyone help please”

Comment by sue hill

I suggested Sue try the River cottage forum? They get members from all over the world and someone may know where to get them from.
I also suggested that she could get hatching eggs on the French ebay?

If anyone know where to get Campbell ducklings in France then please leave a comment.

Thanks

My cold is beginning to clear now and I just seem to have a cough. 

Cats - Stripe has not returned. I have had a look around the farm but can’t find him. I am hoping he has just wandered off for a few days as he is sick of Fluffy chasing him away. I will keep up my search for the lovely ginger cat.

Cattle - My father-in-law resumed cattle duties today as he is feeling better and my husband is clearing ditches out.

Ducks - Only had one duck egg this morning but that wasn’t the amount laid. I seem to have a vermin problem under the duck hut and they have been tried to bite the wood and have knawed quite alot of the door away. I am going to move the hut tomorrow. I would have done it today but it needs two of us and my husband didn’t return until after dark.

Guinea Fowl - I have 3 guinea fowl that hatched off last year and they are not yet fully integrated into the flock. Although all the guinea fowl stay in the same hut when they leave the hut in the morning 26 go one way and the 3 younger ones are left on their own.

Guinea Pig - I bought Guiness a knawing block but he prefers to knaw on the wood of the hutch!

Hens - I hen egg had been laid in the hut this morning. The other hens like to lay their eggs all over the farm.

Pigs - I am not sure if Lacy is ok. She seemed a bit quiet and steady on her feet today although she did get up both times to feed which is a very good sign. All the weaners are fit and growing well.

Quail - Unfortunately the quail that was poorly yesterday had died this morning. All other quail look well. I delivered the quail egg order I had for The Star at Sancton this morning.

Back again tomorrow.