Tuesday 23 September 2014

At last - a proper tractor!

I've got to say that this summer has been pretty damn good weather wise, and as a result, we have an abundance of grass in our fields which has contributed to a very healthy looking Easter-Wood herd! One of the concerns we have always had is the ability of our little sit-on tractor to cope with long grass so we took the decision to invest in a compact tractor along with harrow and topper. Strange that we couldn't source one locally and so eventually we found one in Somerset! I've been educating myself on the mechanics of driving this beast and so it was no surprise then that I ran out of diesel in the middle of one of our fields! Unfortunately, I was not familiar with the process of bleeding air out of the system, etc in order to get it going again but after a lengthy phone call to the company who supplied the aforesaid tractor, I finally managed to fix it and finished the topping. All was not going to plan however as I managed to break the shear bolt on the PTO coupling by simply climbing back in the drivers seat and knocking the PTO lever into gear whilst the engine was running!! Oh well, you live and learn!


Sheila tests new tractor

Having previously suffered from excessive mud in our gateways, last week we ordered a couple of loads of road planings to fill the subsequent dips in front of our field shelters and gateways. Hopefully we should see less of our alpacas taking frequent mud baths this winter!

Lawbreakers Legend and Athos have now been put to work for the first time this summer and Sheila and I are very excited about the prospect of having further genetics from The Chairman and Lawbreaker next summer!

Signing off for now.