Field And Stream

New Blackmore Vale, July 23, 2021 Field & Stream Ye olde equipment makes baling pretty tricky!

THE FIELD

with Tria Stebbing

At last summer has arrived. As I write, we have cut three fields and are turning them tonight, hopefully baling on Sunday. That all sounds great unless like us you are using farming equipment that would not have looked out of place in Jack Hargreaves’ day. Our old baler would perform quite nicely for a few rows before then randomly missing a bale, instead of chucking out a perfectly strung bale would spit out the hay in a pile before working quite well with the next. I hated the thing, when you follow them, walking behind the tractor, you become hot and dusty and become obsessed by grabbing at pieces of wild plant that have no place in your perfect bale. Last year the turner had been taken to an auction and so we turned the hay the old-fashioned way of raking and tedding with hay rakes. All this graft makes you passionate about the quality of the bale that you produce. Conditions were good last year, and the sweet hay smelt lovely right up to the point in the deepest part of winter when it was fed to the flock. Why turn the hay? When the grass is cut it lies on the ground and dries on its top surface, underneath it can stay damp because it does not get the sun on it. In the morning when the dew has dried, and the sun is at its hottest it is turned over to dry the other side. We turn ours a few times before baling on day 3 or 4 depending on the forecast. Old farming folk used to say it was best to cut hay around the 4th of July when it was stout and had some bottom to it. Watching it being cut I became fascinated by the different colours of grass on the edge of the cut, Timothy at the top going down through the greens, like a landscape painting. The sheep remain in their paddocks. The ewes eating and building condition for autumn and the young ram lambs eating to grow. We have been offered a new ram, who we will visit after haymaking to check his credentials and markings. In the meantime keep everything crossed we get the bales in at the weekend before the heavens open AGAIN !

ANGLING

Sturminster and Hinton Angling by Bill Hanson Some 27 anglers competed in the second summer points match of the season at Upper Colber on July 11, although it didn’t much feel like July. Dean Walters on Peg 1 caught 15lb 7oz of roach and perch, the roach were taken on red maggot and the perch on worm. Stu Burdekin was second on Peg 16 with 10lb 9oz of roach from the second downstream field on caster and Jeff Sibley, on the last peg, was third with 9lb 6oz of roach and perch caught on maggot/pinkie over ground bait. Paul Newton in the top field was beaten by one ounce by Jeff, but had the small consolation of winning his section. Paul was one of very few who managed to catch on hemp and tares. The weights then dropped with one 7lb, a couple of sixes and quite a few fours. The venue fished better than the first match and, with luck, it should continue to improve The next match is the White Hart Trophy/Summer Points on Sunday, July 24. Venue online once confirmed. Jim Debnam Memorial match. Lodden Lakes. (18 pegs) 18.07.21. This annual memorial match for one of Lodden Lakes founder members, and vacuum cleaner repair man, Jim Debnam drew 18 hardy souls braving the scorching mid 30’s temperatures and surprisingly the vast shoals of Bream were obliging to the participants. Winner on the day was Jason Mills who drew unfancied peg 29 and caught 3 Carp on the method feeder and corn/wafters, and plenty of Bream to 4lb on the pole and worms to weigh an impressive 45-12. Runner up was Ray Webster who drew peg 23 and caught 3 Tench to 4lb, some Crucians and loads of Bream and skimmers on corn over pellet in the margin at 6 metres to weigh 41-02. 3rd: James Kiernan (peg 15)39-08 4th: Steve Trevett (peg 3)- 3904 5th: Adie West (peg 32)- 36-02 6th: Bob Gullick (peg 31)- 3500 The next round of the summer shield is next Sunday at Whiteppost. Please book in with Dave on (01747) 823159.

Challenge raises £8,100 for local charity

Dorset’s disability charity, Diverse Abilities, raised more than £8,100 as part of its annual fundraising event, Country Challenge, at Purbeck Shooting School. Ten teams visited the centre to battle it out across various activities including fly fishing, clay pigeon flushes, automatic air rifle shooting, archery, slingshot and welly wanging. Each player had a joker card to play at any time in order to double their score on a given activity. Karen Hay, events manager at Diverse Abilities, said: “Everyone had a fantastic time getting competitive in the great outdoors and we are all so chuffed to be able to raise this much after such a difficult year in 2020. We’d like to give a huge thanks to Purbeck Shooting School for hosting the day, as well as to Hall & Woodhouse and Purbeck Ice Cream for their support and donations.” After a full day of countryside pursuits, ‘Jedi Force’ took away the trophy for winning team and one lucky winner also won a raffle on the day for eight cases of Hall & Woodhouse Badger Beer, winning a collection of Tropical Ferret and Forum Lager. Lucinda Gray, community relationship manager from Hall & Woodhouse, said: “It’s great to see fundraising events gaining momentum once again.” Founded in 1955, Diverse Abilities is the only charity that supports children and adults with profound physical and learning disabilities, and their families, in Dorset. Visit diverseabilities.org .uk/events for more details about events including art exhibitions, a pub quiz, the annual Rugby Lunch at Hoburne Park and more. n diverseabilities.org.uk