First Notes written:
Simon’s Farming Notes
December 2008
These notes are about what has happened on our mixed farm in Kersey. We farm 500 acres of arable land on which we grow mostly wheat, barley, sugar beet and fodder beet. We have 150 acres of grass on which we keep about 200 beef cattle and 100 pedigree Suffolk breeding ewes.
This year we have had one of the wettest harvests in recent memory. Hardly any grain was harvested at the required 15% moisture level meaning that lots of expensive energy has been needed to dry it. After harvest it is always a rush to get the fields ploughed, cultivated and drilled so the crops can establish before winter. This has now nearly been completed. You will notice the early shoots of winter barley and winter wheat coming up from the soil.
Another autumn task is to lift the sugar beet, which as you might have noticed are stored on concrete pads prior to being taken to the sugar factory at Bury St Edmunds. Unfortunately during this process sometimes mud gets on the road this is unavoidable and we try to clear it up afterwards!
All of the cattle have been housed for the winter and the calves have all been weaned (taken away from their mothers). I will write more about the livestock in the next instalment.
Written by Simon Partridge age 12