Rodney Down: Positive applications and debating the benefits of CFE

The most in any field was 1,780kg of DM. About 22,700 litres (5,000 gallons) of dirty water was applied nearly a month ago with little effect, so we have followed up with 120kg/ha (50kg/acre) of AN.

We think the chilly wind our farm seems to catch and the non-existent rainfall is more to blame, apart from the silage fields where some store lambs have been grazed.

The barley has had its first nitrogen application of 250kg/ha (100kg/acre) of AN. Second wheats will be next and the first wheats will wait another week as many of them look plenty thick enough with too many tillers. We will be careful to avoid waiting too long as the dry spell last spring had an effect on our drier soils.

Our herdsperson vacancy has been filled and we welcome Kelvin to our team. Showing him the ropes should be a little easier as he milked on this farm nearly 15 years ago for my landlord so knows the farm well. It was a pleasure talking to many young people who sadly did not have quite enough experience for this role but were determined to make dairying theirfuture.

If I had an assistant herdsperson role then I would have been spoilt for choice. It was also pleasing to hear many of them wished to eventually have their own farm one day - a message the county councils don’t seem to be hearing.

We are being told we should be adopting the Campaign for the Farmed Environment more widely or else face set-aside restrictions. My farm, like many others, has more wildlife on it than ever before and we engage in Countryside Stewardship.

At a time when we want to create jobs and grow our economy, why can’t agriculture be a major part of this growth? Rather than taking even more out of production at a time when we are not only trying to feed everybody, but produce crops for energy as well. After all, we have shrunk our output in the last 10 years, which would make us more extensive anyway.

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