The spring calving season has brought intense emotions from joy to heartbreak at Eves Hill Farm near Reepham - the subject of our monthly "year in the life of a Norfolk farm" features.
March is a month that brings new life and new arrivals to Eves Hill Farm - but this year's spring calving season has also come at a heartbreaking cost.
While many of the pedigree Hereford cows have given birth successfully, three calves have been lost during what farmer Jeremy Buxton describes as his worst-ever calving season.
He said one particularly traumatic labour resulted in the loss of both a calf and its mother, despite his best efforts alongside a vet and a neighbouring farmer who had pitched in to help.
"To lose a breeding cow and a calf at the same time is just heartbreaking," he said.
"I've spoken to so many people and they all said: 'Look Jez, we've all been there'.
"There are forces of nature that you cannot do anything about. Animals will die in the natural world and sadly they do on farms.
"What is particularly galling this calving season is I find it difficult not to blame myself, because of decisions I made.
"Every farmer will blame themselves. That is the nature of it. Those animals are under his care and responsibility, you have an attachment to them, and even if you could not do anything about it you will blame yourself.
"It is quite consuming and very depressing and you cannot get away from it.
"Again, this is another reason why mental health issues are so massive in the farming industry.
"Dealing with this on a day-to-day basis is really trying. You feel like you've let the cow down, you've let the calf down, you've let the business down, you've let yourself down. That is a lot of responsibility to bear. It is tough."
There are still about another 30 new calves due, and while there have also been several successful new arrivals, Mr Buxton is expecting more difficulties ahead.
"This is definitely my worst calving season," he said. "We have never had anything like this. We have been so lucky in the last ten years, I have had minimal losses, so this is hard to swallow."
Impact of Ukraine crisis
Meanwhile, the warmer weather has brought good conditions for planting the farm's barley and bean crops - although the forecast is already creating worries of a possible spring drought which could hit harvest yields.
And that could be particularly relevant in a year when the price of fuel, fertiliser and wheat have been sent soaring because of the war in Ukraine, and its impact on world commodity markets.
Ukraine and Russia account for about 30pc of the world's wheat exports, so the invasion has driven prices up to around £300 per tonne. But this has been offset by huge rises in the cost of fertiliser, which has hit £1,000 per tonne.
Mr Buxton said fertiliser is not an immediate concern for his business, as he has enough supplies for this season, bought three years ago at £250 per tonne - while his "regenerative farming" system is reducing the need for it, as muck from his animals nurtures the land.
But the uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis makes it hard to judge exactly when to sell this year's wheat crop.
"With this rollercoaster of wheat prices, it's so difficult," he said.
"I haven't forward-sold anything yet. We are looking at this situation thinking where is it going to stop? This week wheat was selling forward at something like £290 a tonne, but someone told me they would not be surprised if it went to £400. It is just obscene.
"We are in a very lucky position because we are still using fertiliser we've already paid for and the wheat prices are elevated, but it is not something you can celebrate, because this is happening because of such a horrible situation in Ukraine.
"But you have to be a part of it because that is what we do.
"You are watching everything daily and trying to make informed decisions of what is best for your business.
"I think we will stick with the strategy we have had every single year, and sell some pre-harvest, some at harvest and keep some in the shed. That spreads the risk."
Pigs join the farming family
Other new arrivals on the farm this month include a herd of 13 Saddleback pigs, including Hughie the boar, three gilts and nine piglets.
Mr Buxton bought the animals for several reasons - to provide another source of home-grown meat for his planned farm shop, to aid with fertilising the land, and to bring extra interest to people visiting the farm's camp site and glamping units.
"They are lovely creatures and they have settled in really well," he said. It is a steep learning curve because I have never had breeding pigs on the farm before, but we are trying to be a regenerative farm which is very diverse.
"That diversity helps to mitigate risk in a risky business. Tying in with the farm shop and tea room we want to be selling our own product directly off the farm to the consumer. It is pushing us in the direction of opening a butchery, and it adds to the interest of what we are doing.
"They are a traditional native breed and at the moment they are doing a job for us, because they are in an area that eventually we want to put into pick-your-own soft fruits and orchards, so we've placed them there because they are turning the soil over and fertilising it before that next step.
"Like the cattle, they are here to do a job, to turn waste into fertiliser, which ties into this whole thing of not buying in fertiliser at exorbitant prices, but creating it ourselves.
"We've now got pig muck which we can add into our equation of plant nutrition. There has to be a synergy throughout the whole farm, and they have to earn their right to be here."
Farm shop progress
Looking ahead, the unit for the Buxton family's planned farm shop and tea room has finally arrived on site - a source of huge excitement ahead of its anticipated opening in summer.
"It makes it real," said Mr Buxton. "Like any new business it is quite exciting, but quite nerve-wracking as well. Will it work? Will we get the footfall we need to make it viable?
"Our destiny is in our own hands, and it needs some good savvy marketing to get people on site, but we have a plan in place to hopefully do that.
"We want it to be a real farm shop where the food literally comes off the farm. It is part of the vision for the farm as a producer of food and being in touch with the community."
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