July’s Heatwave
Young blogger Jack is enjoying the summer holidays at Hill Top Farm. The weather is fine, Jack is in good spirits and the Royal Welsh Show has returned.
The heat is on
On every station the weather forecasters displayed ‘red’ warning signs. A heatwave was coming and we were told that temperatures could hit 40 degrees in some parts of the UK. I didn’t care. We had finished school for the summer, which meant one thing. The return of the Royal Welsh Show – my favourite week of the year. It was the first show in three years and I couldn’t wait. It meant four uninterrupted days of admiring new machinery – pure bliss. Sal just wanted to spend her week collecting stickers and watching the horses. I thought that the Krone Big X 1100 was far more worthy of admiration. We enjoyed seeing the livestock parade in the main ring, Dad managed to catch up with a few sales reps, and I quite enjoyed watching the shearing. It was so hot on Monday and Tuesday, we just tried to stay in some of the more shaded parts of the showground, like the forestry area. (I felt a bit sorry for the competitors in the wood chopping. That’s hard enough to do when in isn’t 35 degrees!) By Wednesday it had started to become a bit cooler. Thank goodness for all of those lovely ice cream stands. Nothing beats an ice cream on a hot day.
In the heat of the moment
We finished the last of the harvest at the weekend. Harvesting is never without stress. The weather was set fair but the machinery certainly didn’t play fair. There were problems with the round baler. A break down. The roller bearing disintegrated and it didn’t take long for Dad’s patience and good temper to disintegrate too. We took out what was left of the old bearing and replaced it with a new one. Our baler is a McHale F550. It’s about ten years old but it was built to last. We were able to get more of the harvest in hay than usual. The fine weather meant that we didn’t have to rely on silage so much this year.
If you can’t take the heat
Dad and I took Meg to check on the sheep in Spring Field. Most of the ewes were clustered in the shade in the woods. The midday heat was strong. We were all finding it a challenge to keep cool, especially Meg. There were bigger problems afoot, though. The well had run dry. It really wasn’t a surprise but Dad was still a bit cross at the extra work that it would create. The well in Spring Field usually provides enough water for the livestock in The Meadow as well. Bottom Field would be fine, with easy access to the river. We had to put the water bowser on the trailer to move some water to the field. It wasn’t a difficult job, just a bit time consuming. We kept an eye on the water levels for the following week or so and had to top up the water bowser again another few times. We shouldn’t complain so much about the weather, really. We like it warm, but this weather, well, it was just too warm.
Jack – Farmer in Training
Jack was born to farm. He just loves helping out his dad, and his trusty dog Meg is never far away. Farming is in his blood and bones. He has his own small flock of sheep, a few hens and some calves. He has great plans to expand his own enterprise (though Dad says he has to learn to walk before he can learn to run). He may be little but his ambitions are huge.
