Benjamin Hole is a farmer from Dorset, England, and his Instagram account has amassed 133,000 followers by posting photos of everyday farm life on the farm he runs with his family.
The family farm produces, meat, lamb, wool and arable crops so the farm is busy all year round and the Dorset farmer regularly updates his followers on the social media platform about the “ebb and flow of farming life”.
In January the farm’s first lambs are usually born on New Year’s Day and their dairy and beef cattle are being housed for winter. In March the second flock of ewes are lambed and in April the dairy cows and beef cattle are turned out to grass for the summer and the farms pasture land is prepared for silage, the farms website, www.holeandsons.com, says. The lambs births are recorded on a large chalkboard.
Recording the new births. It’s been a busy couple of days at the lambing shed. A photo posted by Ben Hole (@benjaminhole) on
Moving towards the summer months, the sheep on the farm are sheared and the last flock, which are Purebred Poll Dorset ewes, are lambed, the website says. The farms Friesian dairy cows begin to calve and the heifers are then introduced to the dairy herd while the calves are bottled reared in the calf shed. The maize fields are prepared and sown for harvest while the hay and silage is made at this time also for feed for the winter, it says.
Once the sun has done it’s job, and the grass is good and dry, it’s raked back in to rows ready to be made into round bales. A photo posted by Ben Hole (@benjaminhole) on
July and August is harvest time on the Dorset farm for barley, oil seed rape and wheat, then the grain is brought back to the farms grain store to be dried and stored, the website says. The straw is baled and stored in the barns, it will be used for winter bedding and feed, it says.
Fields of gold A photo posted by Ben Hole (@benjaminhole) on
Moving into the autumn and winter months, the farms fields are ploughed and sown for next year, the ewes are moved to the last of the lush grass and put to ram. The cattle are housed for winter for winter feeding and the first flock of sheep are brought to the lambing shed towards the end of December, it says.
A photo posted by Ben Hole (@benjaminhole) on
You can follow Benjamin on Instagram @benjaminhole [yes-app]
The family farm produces, meat, lamb, wool and arable crops so the farm is busy all year round and the Dorset farmer regularly updates his followers on the social media platform about the “ebb and flow of farming life”.
In January the farm’s first lambs are usually born on New Year’s Day and their dairy and beef cattle are being housed for winter. In March the second flock of ewes are lambed and in April the dairy cows and beef cattle are turned out to grass for the summer and the farms pasture land is prepared for silage, the farms website, www.holeandsons.com, says. The lambs births are recorded on a large chalkboard.
Moving towards the summer months, the sheep on the farm are sheared and the last flock, which are Purebred Poll Dorset ewes, are lambed, the website says. The farms Friesian dairy cows begin to calve and the heifers are then introduced to the dairy herd while the calves are bottled reared in the calf shed. The maize fields are prepared and sown for harvest while the hay and silage is made at this time also for feed for the winter, it says.
July and August is harvest time on the Dorset farm for barley, oil seed rape and wheat, then the grain is brought back to the farms grain store to be dried and stored, the website says. The straw is baled and stored in the barns, it will be used for winter bedding and feed, it says.
Moving into the autumn and winter months, the farms fields are ploughed and sown for next year, the ewes are moved to the last of the lush grass and put to ram. The cattle are housed for winter for winter feeding and the first flock of sheep are brought to the lambing shed towards the end of December, it says.
You can follow Benjamin on Instagram @benjaminhole [/yes-app]