The trouble with having a news page is that when there's lots going on I'm too busy to write about it. Many apologies to the people who've emailed to say, 'What's going on?' The answer is, 'Lots, and here's some edited highlights.'
The weather has been extraordinary: lots of ice, then lots of snow, then lots of rain, then a northerly or easterly wind and not a drop of rain for the whole of April, until this morning (25th April). At present the farm looks bare, grazed to the roots, and the animals are incredibly hungry because we've run out of silage. It's a rare to wish for rain on Exmoor, but we're all wishing like mad.
On the subject of weather, we're applying for planning permission for an Evance Iskra R900 wind turbine. (This is an upgrade of their tried-and-tested AT5-1 turbine.) Many of you will know that last year we got planning permission for an Alvesta wind turbine, but luckily we found out they didn't work properly before we put one up! Because we now want to put up a different type of turbine, we're having to apply for planning permission all over again.

Chris with Richard Gedge at Natsley Farm, looking at Richard's Iskra AT5-1 turbine.
The weather isn't the only thing which has knocked back the grass at West Ilkerton. The red deer discovered we had new grass in Cow Field, and they formed raiding parties every night until it was all gone. This is a photo of the deer gathering by High Bullen in the evening, ready to jump into Cow Field:


We decided the kitchen in the self-catering cottage was looking a bit shabby, so we thought we'd 'just' re-do the kitchen in March. Needless to say, this became a major and very exp[ensive job. The old Rayburn was taken out, the flue for the Rayburn was dismantled, the roof was sealed up, all the walls inside were rotten and had to be stripped bare, waterproofed, re-plastered and painted before the kitchen (which had been measured up inaccurately!) was put in. Oh, and also the electrics were dodgy so the whole area was re-wired....and there's a clever fire alarm system which means if there's a fire in one part of the house the alarms go off everywhere (our electrician is a volunteer firefighter, so is very keen on fire precautions). Anyway, the end result is that our bank account is running on empty and there's a lovely new kitchen (with dry walls and underfloor heating for cosy toes with your morning cuppa) in the holiday cottage. I'll take a photo on changeover day, if I have time. Unfortunately, Mary Jane (who has helped me clean the cottage for many years) can't work any more due to a bad back, so I'm having to do changeover day by myself.

Removing the Rayburn flue and patching up the roof.

Good news! Our first foal has been born, and she's a girl:



Sarah says I always put in far too much about the ponies and not enough about the farm, so here's some sheep and cattle news: lambing is nearly over. On the whole, it was a good lambing because the weather was dry and rather cold (good for lamb and farmer survival, bad for bugs which cause diseases). However, the dry weather has meant that the ewes now don't have enough grass to eat, and we may have to start feeding them concentrates out in the field - an expensive thing to do.

Chris injecting the sheep against clostridial diseases, before lambing.

Alice, Sophie, Phoebe, Sarah and Seb - lambing time.
Betty and Sophie stayed in the self-catering cottage for a week during lambing, and Sophie had her friends, Alice and Phoebe, to stay. Seb Smith (another cousin, but on the Eveleigh side) came for work experience because he's going to Bicton College next year. Sarah worked especially hard because she was also working part-time on a neighbouring farm, lambing and milking.
The cows have nearly finished calving, and we're very pleased with the calves, which are mainly heifers.

Cow and calf

This is a photo of the cows in March, when we still had silage to feed them!
I've put in this final photo because I like it. Sarah took it when she went for a ride with Chris.

Chris riding Tempo, Ilkerton Ridge.