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Home
- seasons
- summer
in the farmyard KS2
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The
tractor
Today
tractors are the most important
piece of equipment on a farm.
They pull equipment like ploughs
and trailers. They lift heavy
loads like bags of fertiliser
or big bales of straw. They
also provide the power to make
equipment like muck spreaders
and balers work.
To
do all this, a tractor needs
to be kept in good working order.
A tractor has many more moving
parts than a car and these have
to be greased regularly . Its
engine needs diesel and oil
to keep it running. Its cooling
system needs water and its tyres
need to be pumped up with air.
Before tractors
Before
there were tractors, farmers
used horses or teams of oxen
to do heavy work like ploughing.
A man with two horses could
plough an acre in a day. As
he walked behind his horses,
ploughing a single furrow at
a time, the ploughman might
walk as much as 11 miles a day.
Modern tractors
Tractors have been used on farms
since the early twentieth century.
Today's tractors are much bigger
and more powerful than those
early ones.
The power of the modern tractor
allows farmers to work with
bigger pieces of equipment.
A modern plough will cut five
or six furrows at the same time
and one man in a tractor can
plough as much as 50 acres in
a day.
ACTIVITY
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Sheep
Through the summer months the
sheep will be brought into the
yard regularly to be checked over
to make sure they stay healthy.
 Flies,
maggots and worms
In the summer flies lay their
eggs in the sheep's fleece. These
eggs hatch into maggots which
will eat into the flesh of the
sheep.
To protect them from insect attack
some farmers 'dip' their sheep.
This means putting the sheep through
a narrow deep bath containing
a dilute chemical which kills
any maggots and acts as an insect
repellent.
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| Dipping
sheep |
Other
farmers prefer to spray their
sheep with a repellent. The flock
also has to be wormed regularly:
this means treating the sheep
to kill any internal parasites
or stomach worms that they may
have picked up off the pasture.
If left untreated, these will
cause the sheep to lose weight
and fall ill.
Feet and teeth
While the sheep are gathered in
the yard, the farmer takes the
opportunity to check their feet.
Sheep are prone to lameness from
overgrown hooves
or a disease called foot rot.
To examine its feet, the sheep
can be secured in a cradle that
turns over so the farmer can see
any problems close up.
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| Trimming
feet |
It
is important to check on the teeth
of the sheep as well, particularly
of the older ewes. Sheep have
teeth on their bottom jaw and
a hard pad on the top jaw which
helps to tear off the grass as
they graze. As they get older
some of their teeth may get worn
or fall out making it difficult
for them to eat.
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Silage
making
On livestock farms from early
May right through the summer farmers
are busy making silage and hay.
This means producing more grass
than the livestock can eat at
this time, while growing conditions
are good, and saving the excess
to feed the cattle and sheep through
the winter ahead. Spring and early
summer grass is particularly nutritious
and farmers hope to preserve some
of that feed value by making silage
as soon as the grass is long enough.
Silage
is fermented or pickled grass.
To ensure good quality forage
for the winter, the cut grass
must be brought in and sealed
in the silage clamp quickly.
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The
cut grass is collected
in the field and carried
to the yard in big high-sided
trailers. Several tractors
and trailers will be working
at once, bringing in the
crop as fast as they can.
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Each
trailer load of grass
is tipped out in front
of the concrete pit.
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Another
tractor with a fork on
the front pushes the grass
up into a heap.
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The
grass is rolled and compressed
and then covered with
plastic sheeting which
is weighted down with
old tyres. In this way
all the air is forced
out and the heap of grass
begins to heat up and
ferment.
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Silage
can also be made by rolling
the grass into big round
bales that are tightly
wrapped in black plastic.
These can then be stacked
in the field or near the
yard.
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When
the silage is ready to
be fed to the livestock
it looks like this.
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ACTIVITY
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