So, there's just over four weeks to go until Christmas.
Unlike some highly organised people I know, I haven't bought and wrapped all the gifts yet.
Of course I haven't - hell would freeze over before I managed to do that so early. However, I have started thinking about it ....
For certain food producers though, Christmas is the biggest event of the year., when precision, planning and timing is crucial
I'm talking about those who are providing the poultry which are the star of the show at most Christmas tables, unless you're veggie or vegan.
The other week I went along to Fosse Meadows , a poultry farm, close to the Fosse Way in rural South Leicestershire, a farm owned by Nick Ball (see below ) and his partner Jacob Sykes.
They produce bronze free range turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens and cockerels. On a damp, grey and cold day after torrential rain, Nick drove me from the farmhouse along to the fields and the huts where the cockerels live.
These cockerels are slightly older than the cockerels being reared for Christmas..
Usually, Nick and Jacob sell between 1,800 - 2,000 chickens a week and about 40 to 50 cockerels, but at Christmas , they sell more cockerels.
So where were the Christmas cockerels I wondered. Nick pointed to some other huts. "Show me your cockerels!" I declared....a phrase some of my colleagues said they had never expected to hear on the radio.
These cockerels are a french breed with much longer legs and are slower growing, and they are sixteen to seventeen weeks when sent for slaughter. Most of them were preferring to stay indoors, eating to their heart's content on the additive free, ethically sourced feed and staying out of the biting wind.
I also learned about why Nick and Jacob don't sell capons.... have a listen to the piece I recorded to find out the operation here at Fosse Meadows....the link is below .
Nick obviously enjoys his life as a successful and ethical poultry farmer, and I know that many people around the country will be enjoying his prize winning birds too this Christmas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07v31zq
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