Salmon and Drones Down on the Farm

# Come join us

# Down on the farm today

# Learn about nature

# Along the way

# From seeds to crops

# And field to barn

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB

# And Storm

# To lead the way

# Come join us

# Down on the farm today. #

Hello, I'm JB and

welcome to Down On The Farm.

There can be lots of rain in autumn

so farmers are kept busy checking their fields

and looking after the animals.

While I make sure everything is OK here,

let's see what Storm is doing.

Today I'm in Orkney to

visit a very special farm.

Now, it's not on land.

Instead,

it's in the sea.

This is Richard.

He farms fish out at sea

that are caught and sent to shops

and restaurants to be eaten.

Hi, Richard.

Hi, Storm.

-So can I come aboard?

-Absolutely.

Let's go aboard.

So, are you a farmer or a fisherman?

Both, I guess. I look after

a type of fish called salmon and we keep them

in these enclosures called pens.

Oh, I can see the tops of the pens there.

They look huge. How big are they?

They're really big and they go a long way down into the sea

and each one holds about 30,000 fish.

How do you look after so many fish?

We keep an eye on them

using underwater cameras.

-Shall we go and have a look?

-Absolutely.

The underwater cameras mean Richard

can see the fish in the pens.

I can even see a few of them eating on the camera there.

But how do you feed that many fish?

We have a special machine that does that for us.

This boat is called a food barge.

Bags of food pellets are loaded

into a machine which measures out

exactly how much to feed each pen of salmon.

The pellets travel along pipes to each pen

and the machine in the middle spins round

spraying them out evenly around the pen.

So every fish in the pen gets

just the right amount of food.

A few fish are also checked by hand

every day to make sure

they're in good condition.

It's much bigger than I thought.

It's about a metre in length.

It's been in the sea for over a year.

It's got up to three months

-before it's ready for harvest.

-Is it OK to have fish out of water?

Only a short period of time.

We're going to do a check, make sure it's healthy and

it's been eating lots of food.

It looks healthy to me, it's got beautiful colour.

-Do you think we should put it back in the pen?

-I think so, yep.

Now, while we head back to shore...

..why don't you find out what else happens in autumn?

Job done.

Every year, autumn leaves

fall from trees into streams,

rivers and ponds.

These leaves are a really important source of food,

which will help to support life in the year ahead.

Goodness from the leaves dissolves into the water

and is eaten by tiny living things.

These can then be eaten by slightly bigger creatures

like insect larvae, some of which

also shred and eat leaves.

Larvae are baby insects.

They grow underwater from eggs and

will eventually emerge and fly away.

If they don't get eaten first...

Bigger creatures, like baby newts, and some birds,

will feast on as much insect larvae as they can find.

This dipper has caught some in its beak.

Larvae are also an important source of food for lots of fish.

The fish can then be eaten by herons,

kingfishers and animals like otters.

So when autumn trees drop their leaves into streams, rivers

and ponds, they are helping to

feed all sorts of wonderful wildlife.

Today, I'm going to help a family prepare their New Year's feast.

This is Gali and her children,

Daniel,

David

and Sarah.

-Hi, guys.

-ALL: Hi, Storm!

-Are you ready to pick all the ingredients?

-Yes.

Let's get shopping.

First, we need carrots...

..pomegranates...

..apples...

Thank you, David.

Storm, we need the honey.

-Do you want me to reach it for you?

-Yes.

..and honey.

Gali and the children are making a meal

for Rosh Hashanah,

which is the Jewish New Year.

So, what are we cooking?

A traditional Rosh Hashanah dish.

It's called tzimmes.

And why do we make that dish?

During Rosh Hashanah, all the foods that we eat

have special meaning to

make next year sweeter and successful.

Great, well, what are we adding first?

We're going to add plenty of carrots for good fortune.

I've got herbs and spices.

Spices, they smell delicious.

We're going to add honey to make the New Year sweet.

While the dish is cooking,

we'll prepare the table decoration.

Do these apples have meanings?

They bring us good health.

We try to do as many good things

as the number of seeds that are in pomegranates.

Wow, that is a lot of good deeds, isn't it?

Yeah!

ALL: Finished!

-Shall we set the table?

-Yes.

This looks like it's going to be a very colourful

and delicious Rosh Hashanah feast.

So, guys, how do we say Happy New Year in Hebrew?

Shanah Tovah.

Well done.

-Let's tuck in, shall we?

-Yes!

Thank you.

This food is very nice.

This is yummy.

While they tuck in to this delicious feast,

why don't you listen to a beautiful autumn poem?

In the autumn, when it rains

And leaves are clogging up the drains,

The water has nowhere to go.

So, that means...

..Puddles!

Huge, great puddles!

Puddles stretching out like lakes,

Puddles big enough to make

The biggest splash in history.

Come on, let's do it.

One...

Two...

Three!

Soon we're leaping,

Jumping, shrieking.

Dancing in puddles,

Prancing in puddles

Running, dashing,

Splishing, splashing!

Now the water's over the top,

Down our wellies,

Soaking our socks.

Eu-ugh! Soggy feet.

That's the trouble

With puddles.

Today I'm in Gloucestershire to meet Farmer Jake.

He's going to show me some crops

that he's just planted for next year.

He's just over there.

Let's go and see what he's doing.

Hi, JB. Welcome to my farm.

Thanks, Jake. What are you growing here?

This crop is called rapeseed.

We use it to make cooking oil.

It's important I check that

these crops are growing well

and I do that by counting how many there are in this square.

-Would you like to give me a hand?

-Absolutely.

Jake counts the plants in different parts of the field

so he can see if there's anywhere the crops aren't growing well.

Three...

Four... Five...

Yep, five on your side and I have got eight.

This is a good part.

-This is a really good part of the field here.

-Hmm.

Jake, this field is really big.

It would take us forever to count the plants.

We can use something to do this quicker.

A drone.

-Would you like to see it?

-Sounds good.

JB, this is Ben.

Hiya, Ben.

What exactly is a drone?

A small aeroplane with a propeller,

which uses satellite information to tell it where to fly.

Why is it useful on a farm?

The drone has a camera that takes pictures of the field.

The photos go to a computer, which works out if the crops

are growing well or if they need help.

It's nearly ready for take-off. Stand back, guys.

The drone uses satellites to fly straight.

It flies up and down the field 15 times,

taking lots of photos from high up.

So fast.

It takes ten minutes

for the drone to take photos of the whole field,

which is much quicker than checking the crops by hand.

Now it's time to land and see how Jake's crops are growing.

The photos are on the computer

and now we have been given a map of the field.

The green areas are where the crop is good and healthy.

What about these yellow areas?

That's where we're standing right now.

Yellow means the plants aren't growing well.

I will look after them

and feed them more in the winter and spring.

That's clever.

-I'm glad there's more green parts on the map.

-Me too.

Jake, Ben, thanks for showing me how a drone can help on a farm.

You're welcome, JB.

While we get packed up,

here are some top tips for spotting insects in autumn.

In autumn, there are lots of leaves on the ground.

It can be a great place to spot insects and snails.

Another good place to look is under a rock or a log.

What can you find?

A millipede?

And a woodlouse!

Have fun insect spotting.

A shiny red tractor.

Big tyres.

And a spreader.

I wonder what all this could be for?

We've come to this farm in Gloucestershire to find out.

Hi, I'm Farmer Charlie

Today I'm spreading lime onto this field.

The soil needs to be healthy for crops to grow

and lime helps with this.

Lime is a type of stone that's

been crushed into a powder for spreading.

It is full of lots of minerals to help make the soil strong.

So, before I start spreading the lime,

I need to test the soil to see how much I need to use.

Farmer Charlie uses a special machine called a probe to

check how much acid is in the ground.

If there is too much acid, the crops won't grow properly.

If there is not enough, the crops will struggle to grow.

The soil should be six or seven

and the probe is showing me five.

So I'll need to spread lots of lime.

The crushed limestone is tipped into the spreader.

As Farmer Charlie drives along the field,

the lime goes onto a conveyor belt

and gets dropped onto spinning discs,

which spread it onto the grass.

It takes Charlie 30 minutes to spread the lime on the field.

The lime will soak into the ground.

It'll take about a year for it

to feed the soil and make it healthy again.

Time to go and wash the tractor now.

Storm and I had

a brilliant time on the farm today.

If you want to have fun with your own farm,

go to the CBeebies website to

play the Down On The Farm game.

See you next time. Bye!

# Come join us

# Down on the farm today

# Learn about nature

# Along the way

# From seeds to crops

# And field to barn

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB

# And Storm

# To lead the way

# Come join us

# Down on the farm today. #