September

Its a cold , windy overcast day today . The first day of September . Its dry though and on the farm we are gathering in the last of the years grass for the coming winter feed . Its been the best summers weather we've had following 18 months of weather so wet that the land and animals , especially the sheep were approaching a halt due to water logged fields , poor winter feed and parasites that thrived in the wet climate . A perfect storm really . Some people were looking at bankruptcy in less fertile areas than we are in . A good summer may have saved them and not just financially either as the constant stream of unsolvable problems this awful period of weather manifested took a toll on us all .
  The trouble with farming is if you fail to see a problem coming soon enough the results can be disastrous . If an animal looses weight due to not getting enough feed shortly before it gives birth it can never regain that weight before it gives birth . Both sheep and lambs can die . When this situation is caused by a spell of unprecedented weather which nothing can be done about then its very stressful . But unpredictable circumstances are the norm . Weather , government policy changes , environmental fashion changes and new diseases are all in the mix . No two years are the same...,.
 People in the dale are taking advantage of this spell of dry weather . Builders are working later for example on roofs as the wet season of Autumn could start any time, then such dry weather jobs may never get done till next spring . The trees have not begun to turn yet and the fields are still green and the grass still growing . This will help as we will be short of winter feed due to the late spring following that awful wet winter and previous summer . The cattle will stay out till november if it remains dry . This should help winter food stocks last a bit longer .