Mrs Down's Diary October 8 2008

Today John has rung a contractor to come and help with the ploughing. The horse power on their vehicle is greater than ours, and they pull a five-furrow plough. We pull a four-furrow implement with less oomph in our big tractor.

The plan is for John to start mole ploughing the fields ahead of the plough. The 'tunnel' created by the mole plough supports the main drains in the field, allowing water to drain off faster and helping to aerate the soil. He is hoping that with the water ballast in the front tyres, he will not be skidding around on top of the land trying to get a grip to pull the mole.

n We are also waiting for another contractor to come in and clear a dyke running alongside one of the big blocks of land that backs onto a main drainage board dyke. The only equipment we have on the farm to clear out dykes is a dyking shovel. Not mechanically driven. Man powered. J

ohn has cleaned the sludge out as best he can with the spade but it needs a proper clean out and re-levelling to get water away from the field more effectively. He actually enjoys dyking and has a style I liken to demented grave digging. All you see as John gets deeper into the dyke is clods of muck and old vegetation sailing into the air over the edge of the ditch. I have not yet heard any soliloquies Hamlet-style yet, however.

Forty acres of adjoining land next to this dyke is still covered with straw waiting to be baled. John sold the straw to a neighboring dairy farmer for baling over a fortnight ago, and he has not been able to get on because much of the field is water-logged. It was a miracle the wheat was harvested before all that rain. Hopefully, re-levelling the dyke will get surface water flowing again and once the straw is cleared, the land work can start there.

On the plus side, even though much of our land work is on hold, we had the good fortune to get the harvest in early and sell some corn forward and get it away this month. Our combine might be getting on in years, but without it we would have had another wait for a contractor and, with the huge build up in demand, been even further behind. The combine is actually going out on loan this week to a friend who has not been able to get hold of anyone to come in and harvest for them. And we have a dryer. Over the last week John has had several requests to buy it although the bills for oil that it uses are astronomical. Still, it is cheaper than sending corn to dry at the merchants.

I was away yesterday and saw combines out in most areas, clouds of dust behind them as they worked their way through the corn. Occasionally a high piece of road enabled you to glance down onto fields and get a bird's-eye view of their majestic progress. Farmers can make dangerous road drivers. Some can be ignoring any traffic behind and driving slowly along country lanes trying to peer over hedges into their neighbour's fields, or, at high speed, not keeping any eye on motorway lanes as they try to see how the rest of the countryside is getting on.