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Contact information
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Call Helen Wade
01367850315
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Tallet Barn
Eastleach Downs Farm Eastleach
Cirencester
Gloucs.
GL7 3PX
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Farm Tour
Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter
Autumn at Eastleach Downs.
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After harvesting the crops we bale the straw, this is the dried
stem of the corn that is left behind after combining. We use this
as bedding for our pigs over the coming year.
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The fields have to be ploughed in the autumn to expose weed
seeds to the winter weather. We hope this will reduce the
numbers that
survive to compete with the next crop.
After ploughing we need a good hard frost to help control any pests or diseases
living in the soil.
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The pigs seem to enjoy the
cooler weather. The back doors of their huts are replaced
now in readiness for the dewy mornings and strong winds of
autumn, the shape of the hut allows air to pass smoothly
over the top even in gales, pinning it safely to the ground.
Our sows farrow in smaller huts in the cooler months, we provide plenty of dry
straw and the sows keep the huts warm for their litters with their body heat,
we use no artificial means of temperature regulation - they are completely self
sufficient.
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Rich colours are evident in the
deciduous trees, which surround our fields, and in the seed
heads of the weeds that escaped our best efforts to control
them(!)…but they provide a good structure for spider’s
webs, (studies have shown organic farms support a greater diversity
of wildlife than conventional farms) and spiders can be useful
predators of potentially damaging insects.
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