Room with a view

Monday is farm paperwork day - ugh! Today I am applying for passports for our newly born calves, and registering the movement off-farm of the steers that went to market last week. The British Cattle Movement Service reconciles the animals that left my farm with those that arrived at Frome Market and then went on to the farm that bought them. If they don't reconcile, we get a questionnaire. If they still don't reconcile, we get an inspection. If they still don't reconcile, we get a fine. So I have to concentrate...

But there are compensations. This is the view from my desk, with beautiful wispy clouds this morning, and the sun shining through the golden leaves of the copper beech. The cows that were in the field at the end of the drive were brought into the barn last week ahead of the storm, as they are the ones that are calving at the moment, and we haven't put them back out yet. I think they have become used to the cushy life in the barn, with deep straw to sleep in and ad-lib silage.