Tuesday 9 August 2011

Good neighbours.



One of the quotes from Robert Frost's poetry that we all know, is "Good fences make good neighbours" and nowhere is that more true than on the farm.

I have been to the physiotherapist for an MOT this morning (am now very tired and very sore) and on the way back we came along the lane. Our fields are now ready for second-crop silage cutting; the grass is long and lush and no doubt very exciting to a dairy cow.

One of our neighbour's cows had broken through the fence and was eating the grass in one of our silage fields. By the time we got to her she had had her fill and was lying down contentedly chewing her cud. As the farmer approached her she got up and ambled back quietly to the place where she had broken through, trampled it down a bit more on her return journey and returned to the rest of the herd, undoubtedly full of fresh, sweet grass. As I write this the farmer is up in the field, repairing the fence. There is always a job to be done round here.

As for second-crop silage, the weather forecast for the rest of this week is absolutely awful - heavy rain, wind, so certainly not silage weather. It looks as though it will have to wait for another week.

We have noticed a particularly high number of birds hitting our windows this year. Some of them have just been stunned and have quickly recovered and flown away but this pretty little bird - looks like either a house sparrow or a tree sparrow died under the landing window. I always feel sad to see such an unnecessary death.

The other wildlife worry at the moment is the huge number of very small hedgehogs that are roaming around in the daylight - always a sign that they are very hungry, as they are a night-time animal really. In another month they will all be looking for somewhere to hibernate for the winter and at present many of them are just not big enough and fat enough to survive. So, if you live in the UK, I do urge you to put out cat food for them at night so that they can feed up. They more than earn their keep by keeping slugs and snails down in the garden.

8 comments:

Heather said...

I have heard that about hedgehogs from other sources. I shall have to start buying cat food again. Poor little sparrow - the birds fly into our windows occassionally too, but I don't remember any fatalities.

angryparsnip said...

That was a very smart cow... love that when she saw Farmer she moseyed over to her side of the fence.

I have birds hitting my window quite often. I am trying several different things to keep them away, I have huge windows that reflect the sky.

It is so sad about the little Hedgehogs, not enough summer for them to fatten up ?

cheers, parsnip

Reader Wil said...

It's always nice to visit your blog. I like your stories about "all animals great and small!"
What is a MOT apart from a yearly check up for cars?
Thank you for the information about hedgehogs.

Arija said...

What a pest cows can be. In the days when we still kept a bull, one of our neighbours put some cows and a bull on the other side of the fence and the two bulls were at each other completely disregarding the fence and just kept on demolishing it. The neighbour never bothered to repair it either, so we were mending it twice a week.

Gerry Snape said...

Not only a great poem but a very true saying in my opinion....thankyou!

Dartford Warbler said...

One very satisfied cow, I`m sure! I love the photo.

Sorry about the little sparrow. It happens here sometimes. I was very sad to find a dead nuthatch under the window one day. I have put bird-of-prey silhouettes on the window but the little song birds still occasionally hit the glass.

Cloudia said...

thank you for letting me visit-


Aloha from Waikiki;


Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >

Dave King said...

We have been noticing the weather forecasts for your area and further north and sympathizing greatly. Hope they prove more pessimistic than accurate.