The rain has come and the grass is green once more

cows herbal leys grazing

The end of July and the rain has brought with it green grass! And oh how grateful we are…

Nature is absolutely amazing when you work with it not against it.

Our herbal leys are pretty drought resistant due to their network of long tap roots. This means they can access water that is further down in the soil structure than traditional grazing grass plants. Grass species have a fairly shallow root network so are very suseptible to burning off in dry weather, creating dusty paddocks and not much for the cattle to eat.

We were very much in need of the rain, while our herbal leys have continued to flourish in the dry weather our permanent pasture fields were getting really rather dry. We have rested those to avoid damage to the grass and soil structure.

With the arrival of the rain it is such a joy to see the grass growing and the fields are a beautiful vibrant green once more. We will hold off putting the cattle in for as long as possible to allow as much regrowth as we can.

Downside of course is that the lawn in the holiday cottage and grassy areas around the farm need mowing seemingly constantly. But as they say you can’t have your cake and eat it!

You might ask why we don’t just turn the farm over to herbal leys in every field. Well the answer is that it just isn’t practical. We are planting more and more herbal leys each year but they won’t work in every field. If you have visited Treway you will know that we are in fact Cornish hill farmers! We have large areas of ground which are incredibly steep. Herbal leys need very careful management and grazing which just isn’t practical on the side of a hill.

In other news on the farm the turkeys will be 4 weeks old on Friday. They really are looking like mini turkeys now and are full of mischief. This morning Will and I opened up the next section of shed which has given them lots more space. It is also bedded up with straw rather the shavings which they have been used to so they are enjoying rummaging about in the straw.

We are now just waiting for a settled period of dry (yes farmers are never happy with the weather) to make a second cut of silage and make a start on hay. Both of which will be used to feed our pastured shorthorn cattle through the winter months.