That was the week that was!

Whoosh! A colourful streak of light rises skyward illuminating the night sky. There are red, green and blue starbursts reminiscent of flashes of glitter. “Oohs” and “aahs” are to be heard from the eager spectators on the ground. Hope the animals nearby are safe and well. What a contrast to the beginning of the day when as the sun was just starting to break into the darkness, there were pink high clouds, Bromlow Callow was silhouetted against the sky. A lone aircraft with a short vapour trail was flying south. It’s been quite a week and the chance to relax with friends is a welcome break. The hospitality of our host in Marton is as usual second to non, starting off with a welcoming drink, followed by soup and hot-dogs. It was difficult to see who was serving our fayre in the half-light in the field where the bonfire was being held. I never imagined that we would be eating ice cream for afters let alone on a balmy night in November.

Last Monday I took an opportunity to move our Hereford stock bull to a friend’s farm for the winter, and in return he lets us have a shed for some of our cattle. We were due to have our annual TB test which had been arranged for Wednesday morning so not having this rather large beast to sort out on the day was welcome. Naturally we try to do as much as possible when they are captive in the holding pens, so after the testing the vet checked the cows as to whether they were incalf. The one I thought was empty proved to be so, the rest safely incalf. Soon we shall decide what to do with her for the future. A trip to ‘Mr Macdonald’s Farm’ is one of the options on the agenda!

Today we collected one of our bullocks, which went for slaughter three weeks ago, from our processor. The meat comes back labelled, weighed and vacuum packed ready for us to put into 10kg packs previously ordered. We managed to get everything sorted out quite quickly, some having to be delivered almost immediately with the help of an invaluable octogenarian pater. The vet was coming to read the TB test at 12.30; thankfully he was on time and fairly quickly declared that the test was negative.

We are expecting the DEFRA lady and her sidekick to appear at any time. It seems so ridiculous that because I lend a bull in return for a shed we are classed as a bull hirer. Two people from the ministry come to inspect one piece of paper pertaining to the bull, just to check that it is filled in properly and look at the movement records since she came six months ago.

Recently I came across the following little rhyme,
When land is office planned
And fed with streams of ink
And ploughed by men with fountain pens
What shall we eat or drink.