Bovine TB Test Clear, Golden Eagle in Cambrian Mountains

A happy morning for us as we've just had the all clear from our vet on the bovine TB. We have had two clear tests, 60 days apart, which means that we can take big sigh of relief that we are no longer under restrictions and can now sell some calves and relieve the pressure in the sheds as we have had to keep every calf born this winter. So some bull calves will be going to the mart before too long.

Yesterday the Farmer & I had to go up to Lampeter and then went on to Tregaron up in the Cambrian Mountains. It was beautiful up there as always and we had the thrill of seeing what was almost certainly the only golden eagle living in the wild in Wales. We had been told about it by a chap I know slightly who we met in Tregaron who gives guided walks in the Cambrian Mountains(www.twmstreks.com) . He told us where it was most likely to be seen in area we know and there it was soaring on the thermals above the hills. A wonderful sight. How popular it will be with sheep farmers who have lambs out on the hill at present is a question though!

Autumn Harvest, Bovine TB,

We are in the season of fruitfulness, the polytunnel is providing us with a steady supply of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, beetroot and courgettes (which sometimes have become marrows). I have been busy making chutneys and freezing brambles as the hedgerows fruits are now beginning to ripen, albeit slowly compared to last year's bumper harvest. There is nowhere near as much available as last year probably due to the lack of sunshine and they are lacking sweetness but mixed with apple they will make good winter puddings. Oddly enough last year was not good for sloes but this year they seem to be much more in evidence so I shall be making sloe gin before too long.

After something over a month without a telephone and really bad broadband connection we are now back online. Am engineer arrived at 8 o'clock yesterday morning and spent the whole day until 5.30pm working on the problem and we now have an internet speed way beyond anything we have ever been led to believe was possible here. After almost two years of persistent difficulties with phones and internet it is amazing to have both working so efficiently and it is all down to the terrier-like determination of the engineer to get the whole thing fixed once and for all, thank you Saul!

We have had two more cattle identified as reactors to the TB test and they went off to slaughter last week. We will have another test in two months time and so the saga goes on. We will continue to be under restrictions until we get two clear tests, so this situation will run well into the new year. The restrictions mean we cannot sell any cattle meaning we will have to keep all our bull calves which normally were sold to be reared elswhere. Hopefully by the time we have reared them to a saleable size as beef animals we will be free of the restrictions.

The swallows are still with us though I guess they wil be heading south before too long. There is a definite chill in the air now and the the leaves are beginning to show signs of golden hues. I saw two herons at one of the ponds this morning who were interupted in their frog fishing by the dogs and took off up into the air with their strange long-legged slow flight and drifted off towards the river where they would be undisturbed by lolloping labradors.