The shock arrival of an unexpected new calf and some emotional departures have set the tone for an October of change at Eves Hill Farm near Reepham - the subject of our monthly "year in the life of a Norfolk farm" features.
Life in the countryside can often be unpredictable - but Norfolk farmer Jeremy Buxton admits he was taken completely by surprise by the unexpected arrival of a new calf.
The calf was born at Eves Hill Farm last week, months away from its normal spring calving season.
Mr Buxton said it was a "total shock" to find the newborn bull in his field, as he was not even aware its mother was pregnant.
"It is a case of some cattle getting where they shouldn't be nine months ago, and it was the equivalent of a one-night stand basically, a dalliance," he said.
"A cow and a bull got together and nine months later we have got this unintended surprise.
"It was born within minutes and it got to its feet and was tottering about. It was a total shock, I drove into the field and said: What's that? Where did that calf come from?
"It was astonishing and it was such a surprise to me because the cow hid her pregnancy from us.
"I don't know if she got lost in the melee of testing different cattle, or we missed her, but you would have hoped we would have picked up that pregnancy."
The farm normally plans its calves to arrive in spring - although Mr Buxton is planning on moving this later in the year to make best use of available grass and food sources.
Cattle departures
While one new calf has arrived, several animals are leaving the farm next week as it continues its transition to more sustainable "regenerative" agriculture.
A group of Hereford cattle is being sold to make way for a new breeding programme to produce smaller Aberdeen Angus crosses better suited to the farm's grass-fed systems, and more resilient to droughts.
Mr Buxton said it will be an emotional moment when the 18 pregnant cows, with 14 calves at foot, leave for their new home in Sussex.
"I will definitely be sad to see them go," he said. "Some of them are our foundation cattle, some of those cows were the daughters of my very first cows and they have been with us a long time.
"It is the end of an era, but we are starting something new and we are so pleased that they are going to a fantastic new home in Sussex. It is a biodynamic farm which has the same principles as us, very regenerative, 100pc grass-fed, with high welfare principles.
"That was really important to me, finding the right buyer."
Bird flu worries
Another unplanned change this month has been the need to bring the farm's 200 free-range hens indoors to comply with new rules aimed at stopping the spread of bird flu.
Norfolk has recorded an unprecedented 40 cases of the devastating virus this month, sparking culls of hundreds of thousands of commercial poultry birds.
Mr Buxton said he was "really worried" about the disease, which has prompted him to reconsider whether the farm will continue to have poultry in future.
"We have done all we can for our birds, we have shut them in, we are following all the biosecurity measures, but beyond that it is out of our hands," he said.
"There is no doubt that avian flu is making us question how long we keep chickens in the business going forward. Is it worth our labours if they are going to be in lockdown for six or seven months of the year?
"We didn't start a poultry enterprise to have chickens in a shed. We started it to have them free-ranging.
"Not only that, in the current economic climate, with high feed costs, if they are not laying well then it is not economically viable either."
He said the enforced move indoors has affected the productivity of the hens, which are laying around 25pc fewer eggs.
"That is due to a shock change to the system, we have taken them overnight from being free-ranging birds in their chosen habit to being shut down in a barn," he said.
"The majority have coped with that fine, but some of them need a bit more time, and some are going through a moult which is perfectly normal, there is a change in weather, there is less daylight. There are so many things, where chickens are concerned, that can affect their health."
Drought-proofing fields
A piece of machinery was demonstrated at Eves Hill Farm this week which is part of an effort to make the pastures more resistant to drought.
The Aerworx aerator is a roller with metal blades which loosens dry soil and allows rainwater to infiltrate deeper.
"It is a mechanical tool to use on our regenerative transitional journey to help our soils," said Mr Buxton.
"You want to be using it when the ground is still hard so it has a cracking, shattering effect on the top four or five inches, at the same time as aerating the soil.
"We're talking about drought resistance, to allow water to infiltrate deeper into the soil profile so in droughty conditions there is water there for the grass roots to grab hold of and keep growing. It's all about storing that water."
Soil biology
The health of the soil is also being scrutinised around emerging wheat plants, which have already started to surface after being planted earlier this month.
Mr Buxton has been looking at the roots of the young plants - and he needed some biological vocabulary to explain why he was so pleased with them.
"They are not clean white roots, the glomalin produced around them is like Mother Nature's glue, that is what sticks all the little soil particles together to create the rhizosheath, which is the soil around the roots," he said.
"It is all about the biology and how everything is interacting under the surface.
"This is what you want, those big areas of soil stuck to strong healthy roots that are penetrating down into the soil profile to access water, and all the other minerals.
"Because we use a biological seed dressing, we are helping that process by putting the right food there to help the root grow quicker, stronger and allow all that biology to work around that rooting surface."
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