Sunday morning routine

Have some of Mr HCB's home grown marmalade on toast.

Get kitted up in jeans, sweater, Barbour, wellington boots, hat, gloves and Hi-Viz jacket. Mr HCB drives the tractor while I'm on foot, so he likes to be sure of seeing where I am, especially on a gloomy misty morning like today!

Feed Cecilia, and try not to feel too guilty when she is devastated when all 2.5 litres of milk have gone...

Get the cow that calved last night and her bull calf into a separate pen, so that we can make sure the calf feeds well and can give her some extra food. The pen was rather dark, so the photo is grainy.

Feed silage to the cows in the barns. There are two groups in at the moment - the autumn calvers, only one of whom is still to calve, and the oldest and thinnest of the cows who are due to start calving in February.

Feed Victor, the Simmental bull. He has been on hay since we took him away from the cows in the summer. But now he's on best silage to get him up to peak form. He'll go back in with the cows next week - lucky Victor!

Drive across the farm to find the cows who are still outside - finding white cows in a white fog can be tricky! They are up on top of the Downs where the ground is still dry and the grass is growing slowly. They are the younger, stronger cows, who need to lose a bit of weight so that they will calve more easily in the spring. As soon as it starts to rain seriously or it's so cold that the grass stops growing, we'll bring them in to the barns.

I was once told that some people have a lie-in on Sunday morning, then read the Sunday papers and go to the pub. I find this very difficult to believe, who could waste a Sunday morning like that ;-))