Summer:
Dec/Feb
Warm summer days and cool nights create ideal growing conditions.
It's an important silage-making time in preparation for winter
months. Livestock numbers are at their peak with plenty of calves,
lambs and fawns in open green paddocks. Lambs are weaned in
February.
Autumn: Mar/May
As summer fades, the trees display fiery reds and yellows
of autumn. Daylight hours shorten and the first frosts warn
of approaching winter. This is lamb shearing time. Calves
and fawns are weaned from their mothers. Stags are sold off
and livestock numbers decrease in preparation for the winter.
The younger farm animals get extra feed in the build up to
colder months.
Winter: June/Aug
Although crystal clear, the days are now much shorter. By
the end of June, snow levels have lowered and the animals
need daily silage to supplement their diet. Patiently waiting,
the cattle, sheep and deer come readily as they hear the farmer's
tractor and smell the feed. Livestock come down to lower slopes,
as getting access to feed them is essential in snowy conditions.
This is the main shearing time.
Spring: Sept/Nov
The lambing and calving season can start as early as September,
with occasional wintry blasts making life challenging for
the farmer. Once leaves appear, there's strong grass growth
and new-born fawns, lambs and calves flourish on their mother's
milk. Lambs are 'tailed'. An abundant spring sets the stage
for the rest of the farming year.
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