New Year’s Resolutions
Young blogger Jack discusses the excitement of seeing in the new year. He reflects on a period of change as he helps Dad to prepare for the year ahead.
Making Plans
I heard about something called a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ today and asked mum what it meant. She said that, at the start of a new year, people make promises to themselves, like not eating any more chocolate or doing more exercise. She said it’s when you make a promise that’s really hard to keep.
“I’m not going to give up chocolate (no way!) but I thought I would keep a blog to log all the important things that happen on our farm.”
Making Space
It started to snow last week. It was the first time that we had snow this winter, so Sal was really excited and went out sledging straight away. I didn’t. I went to help Dad. He started cleaning out the sheep shed to house the ewes. We had to move out all of the harvest machinery – the mower, baler, the wrapper, the grass rake and the tedder. After harvest, the machinery stays in the shed, enjoying a quiet rest during the last weeks of summer and into autumn. Not very much happens down there in autumn, apart from tailing and drenching and picking out lambs ready for market. But now we were gearing up for busier times. I helped pull down the sheep pens and pick up the last loose scraps of wool. Dad sent most of the wool in September, but he wasn’t very happy about it – he said the price was terrible this year, but he needed the space in the sheep shed.
Make do and mend
Dad cleared the muck out of the shed in the summer, using the muck grab on the loader tractor and the tipping trailer hitched up behind the other tractor. The feed barriers were in the corner of the shed, so we carried them across and pinned them together. One was a bit bent and broken from last year, so Dad had to get the welder to fix that up. Getting the water troughs working was another job that took a bit longer than Dad was hoping for. He says that’s typical – there’s always one job that slows things up. Then my favourite bit – watching Dad use the straw blower to put new bedding in the pens and silage in front of the feed barrier. Those ewes were going to be spoilt. It was pretty soggy outside under foot, so they would be glad to be inside in the warm.
Making yourself at home
The afternoon was moving too quickly for Dad, who was a bit worried that we wouldn’t get all of the sheep in before dark. Meg was glad of a run out and didn’t seem bothered by the sleet at all. She was keen. The ewes didn’t need any persuading and ran into the shed quite happily. I don’t blame them. It looked pretty inviting in there. Dad seemed quite pleased to close the shed door and breathed a sigh of relief that our busy day had come to an end.
Jack – Farmer in Training
Jack was born to farm. He just loves helping out 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.
