Farming in Spring

Directed by

Mary Field

The film opens in January, showing scenes of a frozen pond and shots of the fields. followed by young cattle, or store cattle, being turned out to graze. The ruins of St. Mary's Abbey are in the background. Manure from the yard is loaded onto a tumbrill and two horses pull the tumbrill along a heavily rutted land for spreading on the fields. This is then ploughed in by horse plough.The head stockman prepares food for the sheep before lambing. He is wearing a sack tied around his waist as protective clothing. The film shows the lambing pens being built out of hurdles covered in straw. The sheep are brought into the pens where they are fed with mangles (mangolds). The spring sowing. The harrow and the seed drill are both pulled by horses. The operation of the drill is explained in detail. The final shots show a worker applying a top dressing to the field using the broadcast method.