AT the beginning of week barometric pressure began to fall, which led to a rather unsettled and very stormy week with rainfall amounting to 23mm (almost an inch), not very good weather for harvesting our fields of winter wheat.

However, it has given us time to have our yearling heifers freeze branded. Freeze branding is a process that involves using liquid nitrogen or dry ice and alcohol to cool a branding iron to between -160 C and -250 C, depending on which coolant is used. The cooled iron is then pressed against the animal's skin, which alters the hair follicles in the area covered. The hair in the branded area will fall out and after two or three months will grow back with no pigment (white). Even when the animal sheds its winter coat the new hair will always grow back white. Freeze branding is a very effective way of identifying cattle, with highly visible white numbers on their rumps.

While the heifers were being restrained for branding it was an ideal time to give them their first vaccination to protect them against Leptospirosis, caused by a bacteria.

There are two strains of leptospira which infect the kidneys and genital tract of cattle. It is spread most often when cattle are at pasture causing infertility, abortion and poor milk yield. It can infect humans giving them influenza like symptoms,with dairymen being very susceptible, as the disease is spread via urine, milk and placentas.

Vaccinating is the best way of ensuring our cattle remain free of Leptospirosis. When both freeze-branding and vaccinating had been completed the heifers were moved to fresh pasture.

During the week James ploughed one of our fields of temporary grass. This field had been sown with a two-year ley, which has recently been dessicated, spread with slurry and now ploughed to start preparing a seed bed for the sowing of a crop of winter wheat. This is part of our arable rotation for the coming year. Nathan has cleaned the temporary storage area in one of our barns in readiness for the wheat, which is now ripe and can be harvested when the weather allows.

As we have no drying facility we try to harvest our grain when it is below 15 per cent moisture, so it will not incur a drying charge when it is delivered to a local grain store.

On Stowell Farm Kevin has been separating out ewe lambs that have been sold, which will then be ready to go to their new home this week. Four flocks of between 100 and 200 ewe lambs have been sold recently, some have gone to Staffordshire and the rest to locations in the Bath and Bristol area.

Recently Kevin and Melissa have managed to get 21 of the 26 shearling rams (ram lambs born in 2016 ) registered with the Pedigree Lleyn Society. Shearling rams must be registered in the summer of this year if you wish to breed and register stock from them.The registered rams are rigorously inspected for structure, conformation and type. Llyen rams are an ideal way to inject maternal traits, fertility and hybrid vigour into breeding ewes.

They have also become popular for crossing onto hill and lowland ewes to produce prime lamb or Llyen x female replacements that carry the qualities of the Llyen ewe.

Llyens are durable, docile, easily produce enough milk to rear two lambs, have good carcass quality for both home and export markets. They also have fine, dense, medium length wool, which is water repellent and pure white. Llyen wool grades as medium with the British Wool Board.