|
January
- General farm maintenance.
- Sheep fed sugar beet daily including sheep nuts and hay fed if frosty or snow cover.
- Sheep brought in for pregnancy scanning and housing
- Calves weaned at end of month and fed on concentrates and sugar beet ration.
- Spread fertiliser if the fields are dry and firm, a good frost is very useful at this time. These are the fields from which hay or silage will be taken later in the year.
February
- General farm maintenance.
- Sheep sorted into lambing groups (according to number of lambs expected) and the feeding of concentrates begins.
- Feed livestock.
- Calving.
March
- Calving.
- Breeding ewes vaccinated
- Ewes feet trimmed against footrot.
- Lambing continues - they receive 24 hour a day attention and give the farmer many sleepless nights.
April
- Calving.
- Lambing mostly completed, but young lambs just turned out are very vulnerable so a close eye is kept on their welfare.
- Fertiliser spread on grazing fields to aid spring growth - the grass will be cut for hay or silage later in the year
May
- Clean out all livestock buildings.
- Fencing and walling repairs.
- All lambs tailed, ear-notched and ear-tagged.
- Fertiliser and muck spreading.
- Stock removed from silage fields and fertiliser is spread to allow six weeks growth before cutting.
- Shear the long tails of the sheep to prevent fly strike.
June
- Hay making.
- Routine sheep work (drenching for worms, footbathing, etc).
- Silaging.
- Spring-born calves de-horned
July
- Lambs given worm dose vaccinations and footbaths.
- Shearing.
- Hay making.
- Silaging.
August
- Silage making.
- Lambs weaned and turned onto the grass left after the hay and silage crops have been taken.
- Begin ploughing and cultivations for next years cereals.
September
- Lambs sold as they finish or as store lambs for further fattening
- Wean lambs
- Ploughing and general cultivations
October
- Ewes dipped and wool clipped around tail, ready for tupping to begin (mating time).
- Unfinished lambs sold as stores or brought inside for further fattening.
- House feeding cattle.
- Wean and house calves.
- Cultivate arable fields.
November
- Feed livestock
- Male calves castrated before the onset of frost
- Grass deteriorates in quality and will stop growing soon.
- House cows
- Ploughing
December
- Feed livestock
- General farm maintenance.
- Get ready for Christmas.
|
