October 2017

Our harvest was finally gathered in after a long frustrating and not very fruitful harvest. Rain on 19 consecutive days through August, with September not much better.  The last of the straw bales were carted in ready for winter bedding,  just shy of 3 months when we started on that bright July day!! We are perhaps 25-30% down this year but should have enough for our cattle to keep them all clean and bedded.

Well done to the team for keeping tempers under control and using every dry moment day and or night to make progress when conditions allowed. Thanks too to all our understanding arable farmers for keeping faith and not putting the straw choppers into gear – there will be plenty of manure to go round.

Andrew managed to enjoy some valuable time away from the farm to recharge his batteries – enjoying a day in London at the Guild of Agricultural Journalists annual harvest lunch at Painters Hall, as a guest of his marketing agency Kendalls, and a night at the Farmers Guardian food and farming awards in Birmingham as a guest of the National Beef Association.

“It’s important to get together with other industry leaders, and helps me to see where the industry is going,” he said.  “Farming can be a very isolated job, so it’s good to hear others are facing the same issues and share concerns for the future.”

 

We also had an article printed in the FG