FWispace

All caught up.

dairy diary — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:38:00 GMT

The end of a busy week. All the grass in, slurry spread and fertiliser applied. On reflection things worked out quite well. Phil managed to drop the lagoon quickly as we have our own pumping kit. I milked on my own this week so Phil could get caught up before the weekend. He is now off for a 4 day break at the caravan in Anglesea. We will catch up on Wednesday before I have my time off Thursday to Sunday, making the most of the school half term with my family.

4 cows have calved so far. A mixture of calving before due dates or slipping twins a month early. I'm sure calving will get into full flow next week. Lets hope the weather improves as it is now raining again !!

The silly season

Bovine TB — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:53:03 GMT

They keep coming and sometimes it seems as if they come in bundles of ten. What are 'they'? Half cocked theories published in journals which really should do some checking before giving them credence and from people whose pedigrees suggest they Read More......(read more)

Pig market update: Spain records record prices

fordtractor7740 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:07:00 GMT

Following a week of good weather and public holidays in many parts of Europe, pig prices have improved for producers in a number of regions, according to Germany’s pig meat body ISN. ISN analysts said today that, although price increases could not be enforced everywhere, in Spain prices rose to their highest levels in eight years. The Spanish price went up to a converted 1.77 €/kg slaughter weight last week. According to ISN, at the beginning of the holiday season, Spanish slaughter companies were still having difficulties meeting demand for pigs for slaughter. In France, too, prices rose by five Euro cents, following a long period of low prices, which have caused discontentment and sparked protests amongst producers. Increased domestic demand in the country, coupled with lower quantities of available pigs mature for slaughter combined to produce the rise, according to German analysts. Nevertheless, prices in France remain below the cost of production at 1.55 €/kg. In Denmark, prices rose three cents; both domestic and export producers benefited from the rise. Prices in Belgium also rose 1.61€/kg. However, in Germany Austria and the Netherlands, there was no change in price. However, ISN said German slaughter companies’ demand remains strong. The German analysts said the weakening euro had favoured German producers, and the export market is gathering momentum in the country. They said that prices are expected to remain stable, even if no rises are seen.

View From The Margins - by my friend John Clarke

Farmer Jake — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:29:00 GMT

John Clarke who has been helping with the conservation projects at Overbury is the first and maybe only guest blog writter to appear on Farmer Jake's blog. What he has to say is very inspirational and personally gratifying. To know that we as farmers Read More......(read more)

500,000 animals to be slaughtered following pig farm health crisis

fordtractor7740 — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:45:00 GMT

Following protests earlier this month in Chile, which led to clashes with the police and the blockading of a mega-farm, the company responsible for the farm has said it will slaughter the half million pigs left at the site when it was abandoned two weeks ago. The government intervened in the situation early last week to prevent a health crisis; officials said last Tuesday that many of the pigs left at the Agrosuper plant in the Atacama Desert had already died of dehydration and starvation. According to government sources, the plant’s waste treatment facilities were at risk of overflowing and polluting scare local water resources following its abandonment. The Atacama site is the world’s largest pig farm; although half a million animals were present when the plant’s employees were evacuated after days of protest by local residents, at full capacity the site can hold 2.3 million pigs. Last week, government negotiators persuaded the protestors to end their blockade of the site and allow environment officers and employees back inside, after concerns were raised over a potential health crisis. Rioting began on 17th May in Freirina, following a month of unheeded complaints about the farm’s smell, resulting in the ‘siege’ of the plant. The government last week gave Agrosuper six months to evacuate its animals, after which officials said the plant would be closed indefinitely. However, the company told local reporters that moving the animals would be unfeasible so they will be killed on site. Agrosuper’s chief executive, Jose Guzman said yesterday that pigs left at the farm will be slaughtered as it would take 50,000 trucks to remove the animals and the company has nowhere to take them. He said the dead pigs will be buried in specially prepared pits and the site will be disinfected. The company has blamed the stench on a failed waste treatment system in which microorganisms should have broken down the pigs’ waste. It has also admitted to ventilation problems at the farm. However, in the wake of the turmoil, Guzmán blamed the protestors and claimed his company was in the process of correcting problems at the site when rioting started. Local residents said the site had been a problem since September and caused those living nearby to suffer from stomach pains, headaches and other adverse reactions. The company’s other pig and chicken farms elsewhere in Chile are also reported to have caused friction with neighbouring communities.

Mastenbroek 15-15

Roburt — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:31:00 GMT

Perhaps the one bit of kit which I have not really talked about on the blog is our Mastenbroek 15-15 trencher. This is because it’s our smallest machine and used mainly for Sportsfield drainage and other non farming jobs. However it can still find a role once in a while in an agricultural setting. Being smaller it is able to work in more confined areas, it weighs less than our other machines and large, tapered tracks mean it causes less damage to the ground. It is also fitted with a surplus soil conveyer. This device lifts the soil excavated by the cutting chain and places it on a conveyer to be collected by a tractor and trailer, our other machines place the earth from the trenches either side the excavation. The picture below shows the machine in action.

And here is the trench it produces

Being able to lift the soil clear of the trench is extremely beneficial if large amounts of permeable backfill are being added to the trench to increase the performance of the drain, as is the norm in Sportsfield drainage.

www.farmservicesltd.co.uk

Duct tape: A cure for warts?

mayolarubilt — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:25:00 GMT

Warts: ugly little blemishes brought on by a virus called the human papillomavirus (HPV). According to the Mayo Clinic, “HPV stimulates the skin to attract and grow its own blood supply and nerves, which makes the wart very hearty and less likely to disappear on its own.”

Generally warts will go away on their own after one to two years, but a lot of people don’t like to wait that long to reclaim their smooth skin. If you are one of these people, there are a few steps you can take to speed up the process. I found this here: Duct tape: A cure for warts?

Silaging finished.

dairy diary — Mon, 28 May 2012 17:13:00 GMT

I cant believe the weather. We mowed early to give time for the ground to dry but by Sunday the grass was starting to go to hay. Ground conditions were not a problem and 120 acres were picked up in record time. The clamp is now sheeted and we are planning to spread slurry/fertiliser for the rest of the week.

Is there a difference?

Bovine TB — Mon, 28 May 2012 01:40:04 GMT

AHVLA's Regional Operations Director (or ROD) in the SW and based at Exeter is was a chap called Mark Yates. He first came to our attention when problems surfaced last year for Defra's new toy , a computer which they call SAM. We are assured that Read More......(read more)

Goose grass, little trees and Helena & Hazel...

Diary entries from Emma — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:43:26 GMT

The Goslings are crazy for goose grass. Not surprising given the name, it’s the weed with sticky buds on that caused so much hilarity when we were kids. If you go pick a bundle from the orchard (yes we have lots of weeds/random flowers/general undergrowth in our orchard, the chickens love it) and take it to them as a treat a feeding frenzy ensues. They love it, it’s like chocolate to them, and boy does it make them squeak in happiness. var switchTo5x=false;stLight.options({publisher:''});...(read more)

Full steam ahead.

dairy diary — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:10:00 GMT

The maize is now safely in and Phil is busy mowing. We are now next in the queue and are hoping to start chopping on Sunday. We are leaving the grass in swaths for as long as we can to try and let the ground dry out. Some of our neighbours have been making a mess,getting stuck picking their grass up but I am sure it will have dried a lot by Sunday.

The first cow calved last night, sorry make that two !!! Both a week earlier than planned but both seem ok. We had almost forgotten what calves looked like when we haven't had any since last October.

Working in the sun

Roburt — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:22:00 GMT

Outcomes the sun and suddenly the jobs which we could not do, are now good to go all at the same time! This blog is supposed to be about land drainage and agricultural contracting, but I realised that I spend a great deal of time talk about the weather and the seasons. There is no avoiding nature in my line of work it controls what we do and then we do it, it’s the same of most work in Agriculture.

The other seasonal aspect of my life is time spent in the car. In the winter most of the jobs we do are small which translates as local - no one who is not local can complete on price if transport cost are high percentage of a small total. In the summer the contracts tend to be larger and often further away. This week I have been on a job just outside London, next week we are up north to Bradford. I clock up quite a few miles over the course of a year, but the vast majority are travelled between May and October.

www.farmservicesltd.co.uk

Grain To Glass

Farmer Jake — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:42:00 GMT

On June 26th 8 intrepid novice cyclists are setting off from the Shobnal Maltings (Burton-upon-Trent) in order to raise money for the Molson Coors Growers Group charity, The Prince's Countryside Fund . Our aim is to raise awareness of the supply chain Read More......(read more)

Farmers to be paid for feeding farmland birds

fordtractor7740 — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:48:00 GMT

Defra has announced that farmers will be able to apply for payment through agri- environment schemes to feed farmland birds during the leanest months of winter. Beginning in January 2013, new schemes will enable farmers to access rural development funding to provide supplementary food to farmland birds. The evidence supporting the decision, made by Defra ministers last week, was compiled during two decades of research carried out on the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project Farm at Loddington, Leicestershire, where farmland bird numbers doubled in years when additional grain seeds were provided through feed hoppers compared to years without. Dr Alastair Leake, Head of the Allerton Project, welcomed the decision. He said, “We are delighted with Defra’s decision. It will be welcomed by farmers who plant wildlife strips for birds but know that this source of food runs out late in the winter. This new measure will help to keep their birds alive and on their farms until the breeding season. Farmers are already doing a great deal for wildlife and this is another important way that they can help their birds during lean times.” The latest government figures show that some farmland bird populations such as grey partridge, tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting, and corn bunting have declined by over 40 per cent on average, though some species have been hit by declines of up to 90 per cent since the 1970s. However, research by groups including the RSPB at its own farms in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire is enabling farmers to develop more wildlife friendly ways of farming. Dr Leake added, “Supplementary feeding, a very targeted intervention will get us over this one limitation and will be enormously helpful in reversing the long-term declines of these vulnerable farmland birds. “While we know which plant seeds birds like to eat, we also know that many of these become depleted towards the end of winter. Unfortunately, we have not yet discovered plants that will hold onto their seeds during the leanest months. Until we have developed these long-lasting seed bearing crops, which may involve breeding known bird feeding species specifically for the purpose, supplementary feeding provides the ideal stop-gap to ensure that birds survive and thrive until the breeding season.”

The ostrich syndrome

Bovine TB — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:20:00 GMT

We have used that description before when describing the overspill of bTB from an ‘ environmental, non - bovine source’ – badgers, into another popular mammal, alpacas. Playing with their own published statistics, and deflecting searching questions about Read More......(read more)

Merger with Arla – Milk Link Secures Stronger Future for Farmer Owners

Land Strategies Farming Blog — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:48:00 GMT

The proposed merger between Milk Link and Arla has been warmly applauded by dairy industry watchers, and rightly so. Against a background of ever stronger retailer power, increased globalisation by major players with turnovers in the £billions, and a Read More......(read more)

Progress at last !!!

dairy diary — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:35:00 GMT

The week has started well. The maize ground is worked down and should be sown today. We were not the earliest to sow but maybe the conditions are better now for a quick germination. Our neighbours are busy mowing for first cut. Ground conditions are still a bit soft but the sun is shining for a change. I think we will be starting at the weekend as there is a queue for the contractor. All the cows are out again, a relief to them and us. The first cow due to calve is starting to alter and the rest won't be far behind. Let's hope we can get the silaging finished before they start calving.

Shooting Wildlife

Farmer Jake — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:05:00 GMT

Over the last couple of days I have carrying my camera around to try and capture some of the wildlife that I am seeing around the farm at the moment. This lovely spell of warm weather is really bringing the wildlife out to enjoy it as much as I am. The Read More......(read more)

Getting lost, abattoir and feet...

Diary entries from Emma — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:54:51 GMT

Alex, one of our Monday helpers and I are checking the ewes and lambs at Wallacefield. It doesn’t quite add up and I can hear a plaintive baaing coming from the vicinity of the river, someone is lost. We wander over and sure enough there is a lamb on the wrong side of the fence in the field that is basically a bank to the river Eden. He has slipped through a gap and now can’t remember how to get back. I don’t fancy catching the little blighter, broken pinkie aside it’s a steep bank covered in undergrowth...(read more)

Pre-harvest Market Outlook to launch at Cereals

fordtractor7740 — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:40:00 GMT

The Home Grown cereals Agency today announced that AHDB/HGCA Market Intelligence team will be launching a Pre-Harvest Market Outlook at Cereals 2012 event being held next month and will offer a short round up before each variety tour. The agency also said its 35th HGCA Planting and Variety Survey will be arriving with farmers this week. The 35th HGCA Planting and Variety Survey has been posted out to around 7,000 growers across the country. The Planting Survey, which is supported by Defra and the Welsh National Assembly, will provide an estimate of the area of cereals and oilseed rape planted for the 2012 crop in Great Britain. The results of the survey, which will be used to develop a regional picture of the varieties farmers are growing, will be available online from mid July, alongside more detailed analysis based on the findings, according to HGCA.

How can you be 100% sure ....

Bovine TB — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:48:02 GMT

... that she contracted TB from wildlife? So said a curt note from the Badger Trust in reply to a farmer in Wales, about to lose this beautiful cow. For good measure they also said they cared about ALL animals. You could have fooled us; they sure as hell Read More......(read more)

Update - Dianne Summers

Bovine TB — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:16:01 GMT

Following our postings on Dianne's illness, she has updated the website with this thumbnail of how she is coping with the intensive bTB drug regime. (click News tab for the full account) On April 12 th 2012 Dianne started a nine month regime of a Read More......(read more)

Farming leaders call for more balanced milk contracts

fordtractor7740 — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:36:00 GMT

Following a debate in London last week, which was attended by UK agriculture minister Jim Paice, farming unions have begun to call for the introduction of break clauses to inequitable milk supply contracts, so long as processors are allowed to dictate the terms of the agreements. The calls come after milk processors embarked upon a ‘follow the leader’ round of price cuts between the end of April and beginning of May. Many major processors cut their prices by 2 pence per litre, before their farmers suppliers were able to feel the benefits of recent increases in the profitability of milk last year. This ignominy led to calls for radical change in the milk supply chain, where farmers are slow to see reimbursements, but feel shocks with depressing rapidity. Following price cuts by Arla, Robert Wiseman, Dairy Crest and now farmer-owned businesses First Milk and Milk Link, farm gate prices have dropped back below the price of production for liquid milk. At the Dairy Supply Chain Forum, which took place on Thursday, representatives from NFU Scotland stated that Defra’s forthcoming ‘code of practice’ for the dairy sector will present an opportunity to rectify the significant imbalances in the dairy supply chain by promoting more meaningful, balanced contracts. Union representatives said that, if milk buyers fail to come forward with positive proposals, politicians should step in to prevent exploitation. Speaking after last week’s forum, NFU Scotland Vice President Allan Bowie said, "Without more balanced contractual arrangements between dairy farmers and their milk buyers, many processors will continue to take the easy route to managing their own margins by simply lowering the price they pay to farmers rather than looking to their customers. "It would be far more positive for our dairy sector if our milk buyers were to react to changing markets by looking for alternative customers or developing alternative products. However, rather than having a long-term vision, too many processors revert to the old habit of seeking short-term gain by cutting the price paid for milk.” Farming leaders also said that, if it is to provide any benefit to farmers, the sector Code of Practice must include substantial contractual improvements that bring better balance and fairness to arrangements between farmers and their milk buyers. Mr Bowie continued, “Where processors drop the price of milk without proper negotiation, justification or agreement – as has happened in recent days - then suppliers should have the option to resign under a shorter notice period. If this is not acceptable to processors, then we have urged our politicians to legislate.” Under EU rules, new milk contracts will be compulsorily introduced if agreements cannt be made voluntarily. Farming representatives used the event to call for the development of more “meaningful and constructive relationships” within the supply chain and promote the formation of cooperatives and other producer organisations to improve producers’ influence.

they are now fit enough...

dairy diary — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:07:00 GMT

A big sigh of relief as the TB test was clear last week. The council inspector was happy with my records so we shouldn't see her again for a couple of years. It did feel as though she was checking up on things already covered by our farm assurance.

We are starting to fetch the silage we have just bought for the cows. It is a bit dry but well fermented so it will fill the gap until the cows go out again. We are sending seven barrens to market tomorrow as they are now fit enough and their milk is starting to tail off. Lets hope they sell well because I am in the office tomorrow paying bills and will need some money coming in soon to help with cash flow after the recent milk price drop. It was the domino effect, once one dropped the rest followed !!

Horticultural Termination

A Gardening Man's musings on life, gardening, music and incidental things — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:10:27 GMT

Horticultural termination - by a man called Arnold! Read More......(read more)