Eggmobile

With harvest just around the corner, preparations for store hygiene and machine maintenance become a priority to make sure the buildings are free from insects which can infect grains. It also means the Estate Meeting is just around the corner. A chance to review the past year, make plans for the coming and take a moment to think about safety. The meetings provide a chance to learn about each enterprise and put some context behind the numbers – are we heading in the right direction or as planned etc. We gather huge amounts of data over the course of a year, and putting some of this to graphics makes it relevant to everyone.

Crops are looking promising and ripening at an alarming rate. With wind forecast, it is likely to be a matter of days before the combine rolls in to them and we will have accurate yield and quality information.

The Rare Breed Survival Trust annual conference held in the stunning Guardswell Farm setting at the end of July was both thought provoking and encouraging to see Native breeds seeing a resurgence as farmers look for lower input systems, disease resilience and with fewer, aging people involved in livestock businesses – the key trait – Docility! When continental breeding was introduced in a bid to improve performance in the 1070’s, docility was overlooked. Decades on, and there are clearly issues in the national herd, with the number of injuries from cattle rising and the heigh of fences needing to rise. With native breeds, the calmness is restored and while one can never be complacent – working with them is considerably safer.

David Moyes (East Neuk Eggs) has finally had delivery of his new chickens, direct to his “Eggmobile”. These hens will follow the cattle around in rotation, so their home needs to be mobile. David has built them an iconic Airstream-coop to enable the regular moves. Eggs should be appearing by the end of this month and we are all looking forward to seeing it in action.

Bowhouse has finally received its new upgraded power supply, bringing sufficient power to the site for existing and future use. We have relied on generators in the past for peak load, but with costs rising and conscious of our carbon footprint, the new power supply will help to reduce input costs and potentially enable electric car charging points in the future. Carefully digging tracks to lay cables, avoid services and re-instating surfaces was luckily done in-house with the farm/estate team who are keen to turn their hand to just about any task.

Holiday time is upon us and fitting in a well-deserved break while leaving enough people to keep the wheels turning takes some co-ordination, but the end of July and early August are always a good time to enjoy the East Neuk at its best.