Summer in the Cornish Field KS1

Pigs reared out of doors live in small shelters called ‘pig arks’.

There is an ark for each sow where she can rear her litter of piglets.

When her piglets are old enough they will follow the sow outside to root around in the field.

In hot sunny weather pigs love sunbathing but they can get sunburnt.

They enjoy wallowing in mud too. The mud cools them down and protects their skin from the sun.

Activity

Glossary

Wallow – roll around in

Grass needs warmth and rain to make it grow but in the summer farmers hope there will be some dry sunny spells when they can cut the grass and make hay. The hay will be fed to livestock in the winter.

The grass is cut and left to dry in the sun. A machine called a hay turner, pulled by the tractor, spreads out the grass so it dries faster.

When the hay is ready, it is packed into tight bales. There are balers that make small rectangular bales that can be easily lifted by hand.

Then there are balers that produce big round or rectangular bales. These bales are much heavier and must be lifted with a tractor.

Activity

Glossary

Baler – machine that picks up and packs hay or straw into bales
Hay – dried grass

Farmers in Cornwall grow a variety of crops. Wheat, barley and oats are the main cereal crops.  But they also grow other crops like potatoes and linseed.

In the summer, the pattern of green fields is broken by splashes of colour as the different crops come into flower and ripen.

In May fields of oilseed rape are bright yellow with flowers. Oil from the seeds of this crop is used for cooking, animal feed and fuel.

Occasionally you may see a field of blue in late May and early June. This is linseed. It is also grown for its oil which is used in paints.

In June and July the purple or white flowers of the potato emerge in the rows of green leafy plants.

Through the summer the fields of wheat, oats and barley gradually change from green to golden yellow in colour as the crops ripen.  This is wheat.

Oats

Barley

Through the summer the fields of wheat, oats and barley gradually change from green to golden yellow in colour as the crops ripen.

Activity