British Farming

it's June already and it was somewhat unorthodox mum hide in professional help twice so naturally we filmed twice well we had to show you sheering do you know what I've shared in my entire life about twenty sheep and let me tell you when you see Shearer's and they sit there and that sheep sits there and it does what I can't tell you how difficult it is I done it at college and oh my god I thought it's been a dog the sweat and sheep trial and escape and they make it look easy let me tell you that is a tough job that really is a tough job I'm so used to growing up with mum trying to do everything possible on her own thank goodness shearing isn't one of those things we needed the professionals we've got the boys coming Dan's coming and Stuart they're going to come and do the show I've been doing the shearing now for me for three if not four years and they're really great lads they both own shoot themselves and I really like the way they do the sharing they're going to the sea I don't want someone that's gonna come here and go 90 mile an hour and think I'm gonna be really pleased that they've done it in two hours I don't that doesn't interest me I want them to treat the sheet nicely only I know they are a pain in the ass and they don't sit still and they wriggle but I want someone that's going to come out do the jobs do it properly and not being too aggressive with them yeah that's number two one well I mean you got two sons and you know three so I say well get going we've got another one next year he's standing here and he don't want lambs flying past him and knocking him over getting in the way basically he just wants to go in get it you drag it out and do it and then you don't want the lamb asleep in through it because I just bash into I have no malice they'll put that special shoes on just shoes you had our special moccasins you can't hear yourself the noise under the shed where those boys are shearing is relentless it's rising it conquers by the end of the day you need a stiff drink yeah getting through that very narrow pushes after like a wheelbarrow it's hot as hell usually because you can't share in the cold brother so it's usually really really hot and the Flies as we're standing there rolling fleas is that the Flies are landed so we're like you know this all the time what two flies are fighting you the reason I we share the Sheep is because they're wool is this long and it's really hot and they get bit of muck on them and then they get fly strike the ones that have had it on their shoulder sometimes if they go around the back of the sheep and if they're a bit monkey the Flies come along oh yeah that's mountain ice so they can't the areas where we're gonna nest in here so they start laying their eggs there pretty sneaky and cunning yeah gross they like dirty fleeces you know mucky vines rotten fie remember the sheep with mastitis from April well the injections worked she's still alive but this is the aftermath it's not very pretty I know the bag was purple when we done inside I knew she was going to lose part of the charm of filming on a farm is the unpredictability of it all June was no different there was a brilliant little surprise hiding right around the corner that's a Bruce Lee bonus that was born [Applause] that's an immaculate conception I said I'll just leave it at that there's no addition I think I call them cooking Lambs I won't upset her you'll find you'll find you know that cuckoo bird that's what farmers call these little light lambs you know these little unexpected skips although the price is rising wool is worth surprisingly little to farmers fleece is from over a hundred sheep just about cover the cost of stew and down it's only really continued by most farmers for the sake of the sheep I was looking at lashes last year's Walczyk was I think three hundred and forty quid I've got a pay down and Stuart obviously a few years ago people were not even bothering to take their wool to the wool staplers because it was worthless but now thank God it's the most wonderful natural product they're now using it you know in the garden centers and things they're using it in hanging baskets and insulation and obviously still use it for the carpet industry and stuff but yeah it's used a lot more now which is excellent yeah she really it's really really hard work but it's such a good thing to get out the way every farmer when they've done their shirts like that go for that another year it's just like when that wool is off they must feel like a million dollars the relief for us is great it must be nice be fantastic for the animals I definitely June also happens to be around nine months before you want paths to be born so we headed over to the yard to catch up with the main man Jonathan Jonathan is going with all the cows and calves up kosta yeah majority people calm in the spring right they carve in a and then they're all in the sheds anyhow and you can keep your eye on them sort them out tag them castrate them do all your treatments on them and then they go out for the summer and how long does it take before they have a car the gestation is nine months nine months nine months oh so they've had child's with them but now they're gonna have Jonathan I gotta have a change so I don't know what they're gonna make of him that's gonna be some weird reactions cuz some of the cows like oh yeah they're gonna be flirty oh yeah excited to see it yes so we want to see how that goes yeah he's a boy when I first got in Italian 12 months now he's just been with small groups and how it's going with a big yeah we gets on oh are you clever thank you jonathan is so big look at the flies on him I love I love his new so much we're gonna get him in yeah I'm gonna get to try it around where we gonna load him up and he can go with a cat he's very soft and me well that trailers struggling under the weight what do you think that Jonathan are they gorgeous they're all bullying so we're gonna have some nice cars Oh girls new fella Jonathan meet John is that guilt what you reckon sandy the other professional help we sought was in the form of really really big and really really cool machinery we have someone in to do our mowing and to do our silage making I don't have a bailer I don't really like sitting on the tractors I can think of nothing was I'd rather muck out a barn to be quite honest with you I could mow fields I've got a mower that I can mow but it's a it's a drum mower and it's a sweet little darling and I use it all the time but you know ok then something that takes him three hours would take me eight yeah and I've never had a tractor with a radio I think they call it or air conditioning no I am in a tractor which I absolutely love but you know my backside gets really really stiff and but I do like go around because when you're sitting there you do a lot of thinking but no I let him do that that's what he does and I don't have to do anything I just have to find the money to pay in June is really not a cheap month and if you thought your dog or your cat was expensive then think about feeding a cow cattle are the most expensive things to Kate they just eat me out of house and home so that's what summer becomes an exercise in harvesting everything available in preparation for another winter so we have made some silage and I have got a contractor in the village that I've known since I was a little girl I just say MIT can you come and he is an absolute angel so he comes he's got a mower that cuts from here to that wall and it's a mile conditioner so it not only cuts it it bruises it as well so that will make quicker because it's been bruised the grass will go up and see the grass up in the field but and then we will leave it to cook on the top and you'll see when you go out there it's really cooked on the top and the smell is just beautiful and what you'll do then it's going to come up later he's going to flick it in two rows and he's got one of these massive blooming grip things I can't tell you the size of this thing and it will put two in two three four rows into one so you're saving on diesel and then he is going to bail it a wrap it hay is dried grass it's bailed so it can be stored easily for winter and silage is essentially pickled hay in which you seal the bales to keep oxygen out which then ferments it's more expensive to produce because there's the additional step of wrapping it's like black cling film it's really fascinating it's fantastic I'll see it now and I think it's amazing how those things work and they scoop them up and they're you know whizzing around then they chuck them down and now the ironic thing is so it's all perfectly beautiful lovely you know and then I come along and I make a whole rim yeah which is pretty rubbish so I've got all my trailers and I've carpeted I keep all the carpet so they're all nice and carpeted and then I have to make a hole in them get them on the trailer and then I have to try and get in the same holes I don't usually make that go in and then I put them on the heat but that's how I do it I will one day perhaps I'll put it on my Christmas unless you boys can all get with all that one of those squeezes Bale squeezes but the minute I've got my double spikes and so that's how I do all these farmers go [] make hay when the Sun shines they say the best fodder is made in June as that's when the grass is it is most nutritious but you need around five consecutive dry days and we live in England when it's like this on a day like this and we got a nice forecast it's beautiful it's not always be thankfully though this June was perfect you