Spring is in the air

Apr 8, 2013

Following a long cold winter, spring has finally arrived in Fife.  At Balbirnie Home Farms, there is new life in the cattle sheds and the crops are going into the ground.  While the season is a little later than usual, the weather is dry and spring oats and spring barley are being planted all around the farm.

The first machinery through the fields is the plough.  This is a 7 furrow Lemken plough pulled by the biggest tractor at Balbirnie, a Fendt 826.

Notice all the seagulls trying to find the worms as the soil is turned over.

There has been a lot of investment over the winter with 2 new tractors arriving to improve the fleet.  Both purchases were designed to reduce compaction and improve efficiency with top of the range fat Michelin tyres.  Here is one of the new Fendt 724 tractors sowing spring oats.  Soon the old seed drill will be replaced too with a smaller, lighter drill that will reduce compaction further.

While all this is going on, the cattle herd is about half way through calving for the season and our cattle manager and his assistant are hard at work to ensure that the calves are given the best possible chance to thrive.  This calf and its mother are resting on the clean straw in the shed.  As soon as the weather warms up, all of the cattle will go out to enjoy the sunshine.