Finally on Monday morning silaging began with the cutter starting just after 11am.  With Andrew down at Bakewell market and Chris at Buxton I helped Ian when he moved some cows into different field as they need to keep some fields clear for the passage of tractors and trailers and later he and Andrew brought over some more heifers.  As a result we are an island of dogs in a sea of cows. No arrivals or departures on Monday and found  time for some jobs and accounts.  Took the dogs out and got some good photos of Smudge checking on the food in the cow troughs.  The cutter worked until 9pm.  Andrew will have the best crop quantity wise for a number of years so will save on buying winter feed in but as the quality has passed it best he will have to buy some extra nutrients.  Also as the grass has been cut later and has grown more it was taking longer to cut so the whole process will take longer.  A busy evening on Monday at our peak district cottages and I ended up with some bookings to show for it.  The cutter started just after 9am on Tuesday.  A catch up morning and a cleaner up to clean the public areas.  Popped out a couple of times to check on the cutter and in the afternoon went down to Bakewell to get some provisions for the next few days.  When I got back got a phone call from Castleton Tourist Centre with someone looking for accommodation.  Luckily I had a clean cottage that just needed the bed making up and any final touches and they arrived about 8pm.

 Although it may not show it so well here is a picture of the grass in the field before cutting, it is about 3′ high.