Mrs Down's Diary

"I thought something was happening in the foldyard from the commotion the dogs were making in the middle of the night," John had said. "The cows must have been all excited about the birth and chasing the calf around as it took its first steps."

His latest project came to fruition in time for the new arrival. For the previous week he had been repairing our muck spreader with plate- metal sides and lid. The new regulations for spreading manure will mean that in a year's time our manure-management plan must be in line with national policy.

This policy starts this month but we are allowed a year's exemption to organise a holding area for slurry, etc.

The body of our muck spreader was badly rusted. The actual mechanism, the chains for throwing out the muck, is fine but the sides and top of the muck spreader were so corroded that the liquid slurry would have leaked all over before it had a chance to be flung out on to the fields.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette January 7