Big Day

The first bale from a new sward of Kinneston haylage

Call me sad but one of the main excitements this morning was unwrapping the first bale of haylage from this year's crop taken from a new field.  Sown in April 2010, topped in June 2010, intensively grazed by sheep through last autumn, rolled and fertilised this spring, cut, turned, baled and wrapped in a little window of weather at the end of June then left to mature for two months..... aah, the smell of spring - perfect colour, texture, moisture, hmm what fun it must be to be a vigneronne..... it's only the first bale but if they are all like this the horses will surely thrive on it. Just in case I am losing my marbles it will be sent off for full nutrional and mineral analysis & compared with over 20 other results from here and leading commercial brands.

The equally exciting first batch of this year's Kinneston mix, a unique hard feed put together for us by Medlock & Medlock in Laurencekirk

Big debate over last few days has been Lucy's amateur status and after lengthy conversations with a number of people her application for a professional licence to ride as a conditional over jumps and an apprentice on the flat has been submitted to the BHA Licensing Committee today.  It's a big step, there are only two other professional female jump jockeys in the UK and if the licence is granted I suspect she will be the first one ever from Scotland, as they say...... a lonely furrow.  She will be missed in the pointing field but we do have last season's Northern Area champion novice rider in the stable to fill her shoes........
Oh and funnily enough I do have surplus top quality haylage for sale (£30 per bale ex farm) and plans are underway to market the special mix in the big Southern training centres, it will not be available in Scotland! (sorry, grubby commerce creeps into blog, may I be forgiven)