2026 arrives with a shiver, but all is well on the farm... First Rush Farm blog of the year!

Happy new year! After a couple weeks of slowing down over the Christmas break, we're back up and running now with lots of exciting projects ahead of us. To keep with tradition, we shall start the year by discussing the weather. There has been some proper winter weather at last, with hard frosts and sparkling blue skies, followed by now much milder temperatures again. Hopefully we'll get a few more hard frosts before spring, as this is vital for breaking down organic matter, and aerating the soil, as well as killing off pests. Storm Goretti was, thankfully, a non-event for us, with a couple strong gusts in the night, then some mizzle the following day. Looking at the news, we got off very lightly compared to almost everywhere else. Heavy snow, strong winds, fallen trees...none of that touched us and we carried on around the farm as normal! We send our thoughts to those who were affected more seriously.

To help us get back into gear around the farm for 2026, we've had a new wwoofer, the lovely Frankie from Sussex. Before heading back to her home county to start an exciting job at a biodynamic vineyard, she has spent the last 10 days at Rush to learn about livestock management, and there's certainly been lots to keep her on her toes! First was running a handful of young steers and heifers through the race to take blood samples. The vet will then analyse these so that we know if the herd is struggling to access and metabolise certain minerals. We then drew out a small number of ewe lambs who are showing signs of a high worm burden. This isn't really a surprise or much cause for concern - given the (generally) mild and wet winter we've experienced, the pastures will still have parasites waiting to be snuffled up by the sheep, and lambs are typically much more susceptible to them than the adult sheep. These were wormed and then penned in the barn for 48 hours to prevent contaminating the fields with the wormer and expelled worms. To give Frankie some more hands on experience with the sheep, and an important part of our overall flock monitoring, later in the week all of the sheep were weighed and condition scored. 

Weighing the ewes at intervals over the winter gives us an insight into how well they're growing the lambs inside. Condition scoring involves putting our hands on their backs and feeling for the spine, then rating them on a scale of 1 (emaciated) to 5 (obese), with the ideal being a 2.5-3. With their thick woolly coats, a sheep can look nice and plump, but be thin underneath, so actually pushing apart the wool and feeling their backs gives us a chance to better see how they're doing. All of them were right around the 2.5-3 marker, so we're feeling good about their overall health. We will do this once more before lambing to help guide us on how much food they need, with any thinner ones being penned separately and given higher feed rations, and also closer attention as being too thin can of course come with complications closer to lambing. 

Since last writing, we've had another bonny calf, although sadly before Frankie arrived. All of the calves seem to be doing very well, and they take great pleasure in charging round the barn with their tails stuck straight up in the air, rather akin to a warthog! It's a joy to watch them having such fun, even if their poor mums have to plod along behind to make sure they don't get up to mischief. One of the more recent calves made the long trip down to Devon, along with her mum and older brother to join the other 2 cows and calves that we sold to the Apricot Centre in the autumn. The cattle all seem to be well settled into their new home, and we can't blame them - it's a beautiful corner of the world, and the farmers there do a brilliant job of looking after their animals. We wish them lots of luck in this new endeavour of having a suckler herd!

In between all the various jobs around the farm, we've still found time to do some field walks and observe the pastures and the wildlife that lives here alongside us. Even in winter, the noise from the birds is very beautiful in the mornings, and we've seen all sorts. Lots of winter migrants, including red wings, fieldfares, snipe, and even a woodcock down by the brook! There's also a flock of starlings that drifts in a small murmuration from one field to the next, interspersed by meadow pipits and skylarks. There's also a strong population of predatory birds, like kestrels, sparrow hawks, buzzards, and both barn owls and tawny owls. This means there's plenty in the fields for them to eat, which is a sign of a good, healthy ecosystem. While we know there are many hares about in the fields too, we haven't spotted them for a week or so, but perhaps they are (very sensibly) hunkering down on these grey, rainy days. While there's plenty to admire in winter, we are starting to feel a bit itchy for spring, with longer days and warmer sunshine, flowers and buzzing bees. Not long to go now! Lambing is just round the corner, and then spring will be well and truly upon us. We can't wait! 

The Pantry has re-opened with a new layout as well as re-vamped veg shelving, a fancy new milk machine and most excitingly a grain mill. We are very happy to be working with a local farmer from Inkberrow, and the local, home milled flour has already sold well. We are also trying to make sure our menu better reflects the products we produce on the farm and sell in the shop. With cold, damp days the Shepherd's pie has proven very popular so far.

In the next couple weeks we will be scanning the sheep and TB testing our cows, along with prepping the polytunnel garden ready for spring planting, so there will be lots to keep us busy.

Until next time,

The Rush Farm team