At the end of the week we harvested our maize for silage, much earlier than usual due to the warm conditions. We planted ours early enough for the roots to become well established before the drought set in, with a very good yield of 14 to 15 tonnes per acre.

Harvest on both Manor and Chiverlins Farm has now been completed with the final crop of lupins now gathered.The yield was not as good as it could have been probably due to the planting of the seed being too late. The stalks were chopped by the combine, so will be incorporated into the soil as organic matter.

These lupins will be fed to the sheep as part of their feed ration during the winter months. I am always amazed that sheep can eat whole grain which has not been processed (ie rolled or ground in any way).

Kevin told me that sheep chew their food with their rear molars for a longer period of time than other ruminants, but both cattle and sheep have no teeth in the front part of their upper jaw, which consists of a hard pad. In fact all ruminants have no teeth on the front part of their upper jaws.

As heavier ground is too hard to cultivate both Ian and Kevin have started doing some hedge cutting. Farmers are able to begin trimming their hedges from September 1. Under cross compliance rules, linked to the Basic Payment Scheme ,farmers must not cut hedges between the dates of March 1 and September 1.

There are certain circumstances within this period when farmers are able to apply for a derogation such as if they need to trim a hedge before planting early sown autumn crops, such as grass seed or oilseed rape. Hedges and trees can be trimmed for safety reasons, such as on public rights of way or where vision is obscured when accessing a road from a field.

During the week Kevin has checked and treated, if needed, the feet of his group of cull ewes. He then walked them through a foot bath solution to clean their feet and make them more resistant to infection. These cull ewes will be going straight to an abattoir and. as we have a duty of care, should arrive in good condition.

Some more lambs were graded as finished so will be collected when our agent has arranged transport .

During the week three generations of Kevin's family -. Kevin, his father Francis and his daughter Annabel went to Ross- on- Wye to purchase a new ram. This will introduce new genetics into the flock.

The sale is an annual event held at Ross market, organised by the pedigree Lleyn Society. Sales are at a number of locations around the country including one at Exeter, Welshpool,Skipton and Carlisle. These sales are for breeding stock, so rams, ewe lambs (yearlings ), and shearlings ( two-year-old ewes) are booked in prior to the sales, so that they can be catalogued.

Kevin, Francis and Annabel selected 10 rams from those offered for sale .They then whittled down their selection to the three they preferred the most. Kevin had budgeted for the amount he was prepared to pay, with the first of his choices selling above that figure. There were two bidders after his second choice, with a starting price of 300 guineas (all the rams are sold in guineas), with one guinea equivalent to £1.05 ).

At 600 guineas one of the bidders dropped out and Kevin finally purchased his second choice ram for 850 guineas (£892.50). The highest price achieved for a ram that day was 3,000 guineas, the average 795. The breeding rams sold well, but not the ewes (peculiarly sold in pounds) as due to the hot, dry weather some had suffered from shortage of grass so were not in the very best of condition. Kevin's ram is now settling in at Manor Farm and has been given the name Ross by Annabel.