The Case for Rain
May 15, 2011
Springtime was busy at the farm with all the holiday cottages full and guests enjoying the superb holiday weather over Easter and the royal wedding weekend. Buckets and spades were out in force while bodies were turning lobster pink on New Quay beach. Ice creams were going down a treat and the smell of fish and chips, sea salt and the sound of seagulls and children playing filled the air. The British seaside at its best. 
If we had weather like that more often, nobody would need to go to Spain and we would have no trouble selling holidays all year round at the farm. However, without the rain, Wales would not be the green and pleasant land it is and we wouldn’t appreciate the sunshine so much when it does arrive. I think I once read somewhere that life is not all about sunshine and we have to learn to appreciate the different shades of grey! Grey adds subtlety to bright colours and mists and rain provide an ever changing veil over the landscape meaning views of the countryside are ever changing and beautiful. Maybe it was homesickness or a peculiarly British thing, but I actually got bored of blue skies and sunshine after 6 months travelling in hot climates.
On the farming side of things we are crying out for more grey weather. It has been unusually dry for the time of year and the grass and crops have not grown as they should. The hay meadows need rain otherwise they won’t produce enough forage to keep the cattle and sheep over the winter. We’ve had showers in May but not enough moisture to really get into the soil.
Calving has gone well with 16 calves born and 5 more due soon. Only one cow has needed assistance giving birth so far. Unfortunately her calf was still born; the vet took samples for analysis but there was no apparent reason for it (e.g. infection). I didn’t want to have to keep a cow for a whole year without her producing anything so the next day I went to a local organic dairy farm and bought 2 young calves to foster onto the cow – the calves were named ‘Susie’ and ‘Orange’ by our daughter. Orange is a Hereford calf, the same colour as all our Hereford cows and Susie is a black Aberdeen Angus calf. By the next day the cow had accepted Orange as her own, but kept headbutting Susie away. Fortunately Susie is a very tenacious calf and so manages to suckle and get milk when Orange is feeding. I have been putting treacle on Susie’s back. The theory is that the cow licks it off and gets used to the smell of the calf and showing affection to it. However the cow seems to be taking the treacle... and then headbutting Susie away. Both calves are thriving and doing well though so we shall persevere.
Farmer Jack, May 2011
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