Farmers Guardian
September 1st 2006

  • ‘No worrying trends’ as List varieties perform as expected

    September 1st 2006

    NONE of the winter wheat varieties in the HGCA Recommended List trials have had a bad year, according to trials technical manager, Bill Handley.

  • ‘Sensible’ trade at Lanark sees Texels to 21,000gns

    September 1st 2006

    THE trade for pedigree Texel ram lambs at Lanark last Thursday was much more sensible than it had been in recent years, with the 302 head that changed hands averaging £2,015, a reduction of £188 on last year when 356 were sold.

  • ‘Unprepared’ for climate challenges

    September 1st 2006

    LANDOWNERS are unprepared for the negative impacts of climate change, says a new report.

  • A balanced diet is job for a Star with chips in mix

    September 1st 2006

    WHILE it is everyone’s intention to add the correct amount of each ingredient to a mixer wagon when creating a diet, the reality is thatmistakes happen and, for dairy rations at least, milk yield can be adversely affected.

  • Agrovista acquires Hebrides

    September 1st 2006

    AGRONOMY and crop protections specialists Agrovista UK have acquired the new winter wheat variety Hebrides from CPB Twyford, a full sister variety to Oakley.

  • All weather arena investment at Burghley

    4 September 2006

    The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials are delighted to announce the installation of an 'all weather' training arena, ready for this year's event which takes place from September 7-10 2006. This is the first such arena in the UK at a four-star level three day event.

  • An hour in the September garden

    September 1st 2006

    Now the light is getting thinner the garden prepares for sleep and the jobs start to pile up. A busy time in the garden with just enough warmth to enjoy the change of the season, writes PAUL PEACOCK.

  • APPELTAART (DUTCH APPLE PIE)

    September 1st 2006

    This recipe is from Nicola Goodings of Green Farm Wicklewood, Norfolk. It is very quick, very easy, and can be eaten as a cake or a pudding. “It will keep a day or two, but the sooner you eat it, the better it is,” she says.

  • Are we ready for GM potatoes?

    September 1st 2006

    IS the UK ready for commercially GM crops?

  • Arguments rumble on over ‘organic versus conventional’ food production

    September 1st 2006

    AS the Soil Association-sponsored Organic Fortnight gets under way tomorrow (Saturday) there have been differing opinions on whether or not organic food is better than conventionally produced food.

  • Aversion therapy launch to help public beat cow phobia problems

    September 1st 2006

    FARMER members of the Wales-based Calon Wen organic milk co-operative have taken the innovative step of launching a ‘cow aversion therapy’ course in a bid to help the thousands of British people who are bovine phobic – or, in other words, afraid of cows.

  • Berrichons peak at 750gns

    September 1st 2006

    BIDS reached 750gns at the annual show and sale of pedigree Berrichon du Cher rams and females on Friday at Carlisle.

  • BHS urges riders to support cyclist who refused to stay in gutter

    4 September 2006

    A cyclist who was prosecuted for obstructing the highway, while cycling in accordance with the National Standard for cycle training, has been found guilty by a District Judge in Telford Magistrates Court and fined £100 with £200 costs.

  • Blue Chip £2000 Irish Draught Challenge

    4 September 2006

    After a busy season of well-supported qualifiers, Blue Chip and The Irish Draught Horse Society (IDHS) are jointly looking forward to a record-breaking championship final of the Blue Chip £2000 Irish Draught Challenge, which again takes place at the society's Annual Breed Show, staged this year over the weekend of September 16-17.

  • Bluetongue outbreak ‘under control’ in northern Europe

    31 August 2006

    QUESTIONS remain about how bluetongue spread into northern Europe for the first time last week after vets confirmed an African strain of the fatal livestock disease.

  • BPC Potato Storage 2007 Conference Booking Form

    4 September 2006

  • Breed record for Zwartbles at 3,400gns

    September 1st 2006

    PRICES rose to 3,400gns for a pedigree Zwartbles ram lamb at the breed show and sale at Carlisle on Friday.

  • Busy trading at first Mule and Masham annual show and sale

    September 1st 2006

    A TOTAL of 3,250 head went under the hammer at the first annual show and sale of Mule and Masham ewes and shearlings at Kendal, on Saturday, which was sponsored by Farmers Guardian.

  • Cereal seed approval

    September 1st 2006

    THE majority of Bayer CropScience’s new generation of cereal seed treatments have received PSD approval for use on a wider range of crops.

  • Charity riders reach Lands End

    4 September 2006

    Intrepid fund-raisers Vyv Wood-Gee and her 13-year-old daughter Elsa are enjoying being back home in Scotland after completing their epic 54-day, 1335-mile ride and raising nearly £9,000 for Cancer Research UK.

  • CHIPPING SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Simmental’s supreme

  • CLYNDERWEN SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Youngsters’ field day joy

  • Continuing a family butterfly legacy

    September 1st 2006

    CLAIRE PHILLIPS visits a Cambridgeshire farm where, thanks to the enthusiasm of a farmer with an interest in botany back in the sixties, it now plays host to some of the country’s rarest plants and butterflies.

  • Dairy breeds to 2,400gns at Beeston

    September 1st 2006

    DAIRY farmers had the comparatively rare opportunity to buy Holsteins, Ayrshires and Jersey cattle on the same day at the dispersal sale of the entire Marshview herds of Bolderston and Partners, Halesworth, Suffolk, at Beeston Castle Auction last week.

  • Daughter steps in to lead Texel ram to inter-breed win

    September 1st 2006

    Meironnydd County SHow

  • Deal enables extra payments for cables

    September 1st 2006

    A NEW deal negotiated last week means farmers will be able to command extra payments for housing high quality ‘core’ fibre optic cables on their land.

  • Deer law change ‘for better control’

    September 1st 2006

    PROPOSED changes to deer protection laws announced by Biodiversity Minister Barry Gardiner this week are designed to prevent damage to the landscape caused by England’s growing deer population.

  • Desperate Dan has last laugh at tractor pull

    September 1st 2006

    JUST under 8,000 people turned out at the weekend to watch the European Challenge tractor pull held at Great Eccleston.

  • Dr Tom MacMillan: Executive Director, Food Ethics Council

    September 1st 2006

    AS A RULE we should presume against growing GM crops unless there is a seriously good case that we need them. 

  • Ear all about it as Lleyns get a further identity tag

    September 1st 2006

    THE Lleyn Sheep Society has introduced a new tagging system to help identify all pedigree registered rams and female sheep.

  • English Sheepdog Trial Results

    September 1st 2006

    THRELKELD, Keswick, Open (67 ran): 1, J. Relph (Borrowdale) Liz, 86 of 90; 2, S. Cropper (Deerplay) Roy, 85; 3, S. Holt (Rawtenstall) Harvey, 84; 4, J. Relph Eve, 83; 5, A. Leak (Gaisgill) Bess, 83; 6, R. Fawcett (Hardraw) Patch, 82.

  • Entries up at Ponies UK

    September 1st 2006

    Ponies (UK) Summer Championships August 15-19, 2006

  • Fair play: Donate a lamb

    September 1st 2006

    SHEEP exhibitors at this year’s Royal Smithfield Christmas Fair are being asked to help those in need in the farming community by donating a lamb to raise funds for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.

  • Farmer’s plans for biofuel

    September 1st 2006

    ISLE of Man farmers could be growing oilseed rape for biofuel in the near future following one man’s development of a production unit using, currently, waste cooking oil.

  • Fate lends a hand to grow a successful pedigree herd

    September 1st 2006

    The Rumsden pedigree beef herd in East Sussex is looking far beyond the farm gate to widen its business frontiers. BEN BRIGGS met managers Robert and Fiona Temple to find out about their work in the UK, Ireland and France.

  • Fewer but bigger herds in Scotland

    September 1st 2006

    THE average dairy herd size in Scotland is now officially listed at 133 cows, writes DAN BUGLASS.

  • Fighting for better prices

    September 1st 2006

    WOMEN’S Institutes across the country were out in force last week in a bid to raise public awareness about the situation faced by British dairy farmers.

  • Final Pony Club team qualifies for HOYS

    6 September 2006

    At the Pony Club Championships at Sansaw Park, the Atherstone Hunt mounted games team made the most of their second chance to qualify for HOYS and beat off close competition to claim their place.

  • Forestry scheme creates diverse opportunities

    September 1st 2006

    Established woodlands don’t just happen; in their infancy they need nurturing and managing. The Forestry Commission’s London Chase scheme – to plant acres of new woodland in North London – is providing one farmer with an extra income.

  • Further work imminent to find a better skin finish

    September 1st 2006

    FURTHER work to help potato growers achieve better skin finish could be on the cards following a British Potato Council-funded review of the research in this area.

  • Future of ram genotyping under spotlight

    September 1st 2006

    DEFRA has summoned together leading figures from across the sheep industry as it contemplates the future of the ram genotyping scheme-designed to reduce those animals least resistant to scrapie.

  • Graeme Matravers: Leicestershire organic farmer. Ex-NFU county chairman who left the union partly because of its stance on GM

    September 1st 2006

    THE arguments surrounding the environmental and health impacts of growing GM crops, in particular potatoes, are well documented and have resulted in the UK consumer exercising the precautionary principle and choosing to have nothing to do with them.

  • Growers get early start to sugar beet campaign

    September 1st 2006

    SUGAR beet growers in the Newark factory area have welcomed British Sugar’s decision to open the factory earlier than last year. The 2006 campaign will begin on September 18, six days before last year’s September 24 start.

  • Gundula Azeez: Soil Association Policy Manager

    September 1st 2006

    POTATOES must be one of the most unlikely and undesirable crops to envisage introducing GM varieties into the UK.

  • Gutsier later Gator

    September 1st 2006

    It is little more than a year since we tested John Deere’s significant new addition to the off-road utility vehicle market but already, the HPX Gator has been updated.

  • HAWKSHEAD SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Andrew’s home-bred wins as newcomers taste success

  • High ’n dry in the ‘bubbly’ Ardennes region

    September 1st 2006

    It’s the largest grass drying plant in Europe – one which processes the lucerne grown on 40,000ha. ANDY COLLINGS takes a look at the France-based Eroluz plant, based near Reims, which has an output of over 120,000 tonnes of grass pellets each year.

  • Highline’s range delivers a closer cut plus an added flexibility bonus

    September 1st 2006

    BISO has extended its combine cutterbar range to give a closer shave. Joining the Crop Ranger Highline that has been marketed by Abrey and Son since 2002, is the Premium and Premium Plus versions.

  • Holsteins bid to 1,550gns at Taunton

    September 1st 2006

    TRADE was strong with a top price of 1,550gns when Roger Hobbs, Truro, Cornwall, dispersed his Kea herd of Holsteins at Taunton Livestock Centre last week.

  • HOLSWORTHY AND STRATTON SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Tamhorn Wee Roma is a big champ

  • Honey Programme’s £300,000 sweetener

    September 1st 2006

    DEFRA received more than £300,000 from Brussels in CAP subsidy payments in 2004/05, it emerged this week.

  • HOPE SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Show’s centenary celebrations

  • Horse organisations set up communications network

    4 September 2006

    More than a dozen equine organisations have established a network to improve communications with each other, the media and the public - in line with recommendations in the British Horse Industry Confederation's Strategy for the Horse Industry in England and Wales.

  • Importance of hedges

    September 1st 2006

    The importance of hedges in the environment is the main aim of the 12th annual Devon Hedge Week (October 21-29).

  • Industry unites over a seven-point culling plan

    September 1st 2006

    THE farming and veterinary industries have laid down the gauntlet to Defra Ministers by presenting them with a united seven-point plan on badger culling.

  • It’s a country life for England prop

    September 1st 2006

    What would you rather be – a World Cup winning international sports star or a farmer? Rugby player Julian White appears to prefer the latter. ALISTAIR DRIVER met him to find out why.

  • JCB gets up to speed

    September 1st 2006

    JCB last week smashed the world land speed record twice for a diesel powered streamliner car on Bonneville salt flats by exceeding 350mph and snatched the 33-year old record of 235.756mph from the hands of American record holder Virgil Snyder.

  • Jersey secures best price at Carlisle coloured breeds sale

    September 1st 2006

    ALL mature cattle averaged over £1,000 at the amalgamated coloured breeds sale at Borderway Mart, Carlisle, last week.

  • KESWICK SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Tony’s hard to Beattie

  • Kit Papworth: Part of family business, L.F Papworth that grows potatoes in north Norfolk

    September 1st 2006

    THE news that BASF has applied for permission for a GM trial of a potato with enhanced resistance to late blight should be welcomed at one level, but in a sense it only serves to open up a much wider debate.

  • Launch of National Trust – the food brand

    September 1st 2006

    THE National Trust will launch a major branding initiative this month to promote local and seasonal food produced at its properties.

  • Launch of unique British venture to help women and animals in earthquake-hit Pakistan

    6 September 2006

    The Brooke, the UK's largest overseas equine welfare charity, and Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian organisation, have collaborated in a unique venture to help thousands of women and their working animals in North West Pakistan, the region that was devastated by an enormous earthquake one year ago.

  • Liz makes her point to win Threlkeld title

    September 1st 2006

    WITH a single point advantage Joseph Relph and Liz took the title at the Threlkeld open trial held on Wednesday near Keswick, Cumbria.

  • LLANDARROG SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    No doubting the Thomas’s as they take cattle honours

  • Maize Monitor: Countdown to harvest 2006

    September 1st 2006

    IN southern and southwestern counties, starch deposition is now well underway in the more forward crops and farmers are urged to be vigilant as optimum maturity may be imminent.

  • MARTLETWY SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Livestock entries push past 1,000 barrier

  • Meikle Laught Ayrshire maidens

    September 1st 2006

    WITH the new owners of William and Muriel Parker’s Meikle Laught Farm, Ayrshire, having bought the milking portion and in-calf heifers in their 60-year-old Meikle Laught Ayrshire herd, the remaining maiden heifers came under the hammer in Borderway Mart.

  • Meirionnydd County Show

    September 1st 2006

    Behind-the-scenes discussions could see the only county show in Wales that still moves around settling down on a permanent site – with Bala the most likely choice. Next year’s Meirionnydd County Show is scheduled for Tywyn – but from 2008 onwards who knows? BARRY ALSTON reports.

  • Meironnydd County Show Results

    September 1st 2006

    CATTLE

  • MFs new diesel quad:What we’ve waited for?

    September 1st 2006

    Potentially, the most exciting development in ATVs for some years, Massey Ferguson is introducing a diesel-engined machine using a 686cc liquid cooled Lombardini twin cylinder engine.

  • MINSTERLEY SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Warninglidgold Jersey is the cream of dairy section

  • MOORGREEN SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Inter-breed beef for Blonde Burghwallis Star

  • Not all couch is common variety – warning

    September 1st 2006

    FARMERS across the country are failing to get on top of couch grass problems because it’s not the weed they think it is.

  • OLF rule decides St Dogmaels Open and Novice trials

    September 1st 2006

    IF the organisers of the trials at St. Dogmaels and Crosswell, both in Pembrokeshire, feared that handlers would not travel that far, they were proved wrong when over 90 runs were booked in at each venue. Their close proximity meant that almost all handlers were able to compete at both trials.

  • OTM fat is costly to put on and take off

    September 1st 2006

    OVER thirty months and over-fat – one of the most common problems in many of the abattoirs processing older cattle.

  • Paul Temple: NFU vice president. Grows potatoes alongside other crops in East Yorkshire and was involved in GM FSE trials

    September 1st 2006

    TRIALS involving GM blight resistance in potatoes will be an important step in assessing this particular trait in our climatic circumstances.

  • Performance of new blight fungicide looks ‘very impressive’ after international trials

    1 September 2006

    POTATO growers had the first opportunity to see the performance of a new blight fungicide, mandipropamid, at Syngenta’s Whittlesford trials site in Cambridgeshire last week.

  • Pete Riley: Campaign Director, GM Freeze

    September 1st 2006

    GM chips, crisps and potatoes will be about as popular as previous attempts to introduce GM food into the UK.

  • Pontardulais Show

    September 1st 2006

    Holstein Spirits top title

  • POYNTON SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Bilsborrow’s Suffolk excels

  • Professor Vivian Moses: Biochemisty Professor, King’s College London and spokesman for CropGen, which promotes crop biotechnology

    September 1st 2006

    SINCE agriculture began, farmers and breeders have improved their crops, first by selective cross-pollination and, for the past 80 years or so, also by mutation breeding. They did so empirically, knowing that what they did worked but with no understanding of why.

  • Reappraise mycotoxin risks with changeable weather

    September 1st 2006

    WITH rainfall affecting harvest in many areas and changeable weather prospects for the next fortnight, there is a need to reappraise the mycotoxin risks this harvest, according to HGCA.

  • RPA neglecting hill farmers

    4 September 2006

    AROUND 2,000 hill farmers have still not received their HFA payments, the NFU said. The Rural Payments Agency has told farmers, who have been waiting since Spring, that it cannot guarantee the outstanding payments will be made before the end of September.

  • Sainsbury’s back bumblebee scheme

    September 1st 2006

    SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s has given its support to Operation Bumblebee, the Syngenta initiative designed to boost UK bumblebee numbers.

  • Scottish Sheepdog Trial Results

    September 1st 2006

    STRATHLACHAN (Judge: M. Wyllie, Luss), Open, 68 ran, 1, R. MacDiarmid (Cairndow) Bill, 97; 2, N. Campbell (Kinross) Moss, 94 Outbye; 3, J.A. MacLeod (Killin) Moss, 94; 4, D. Robertson (Luss) Cap I, 91; 5, S.L. Davidson (Sandbank) Jim, 91 Outbye; 6, C. Davidson,(Sandbank) Taff, 88.

  • Second Beef and Growers cattle event

    September 1st 2006

    THE second Beef and Growing Cattle South West takes place at Hatherleigh in Devon on next Thursday (September 7).

  • Single Payment update

    September 1st 2006

    A TOTAL of 4,645 Single Payment claimants, 4 per cent of the total, have still not received a penny.

  • Stonefieldhill Texel ram to 5,200gns

    September 1st 2006

    A TEXEL ram realised 5,200gns at the retiral sale from the Stonefieldhill flock owned by Alex Brown and the draft sale from Gemma Brown’s Brookhill flock last week at Rosewell, Mid Lothian.

  • Strengthening commodity market warrants milk price increase now

    September 1st 2006

    IN THE wake of rising commodity prices, milk producers must see a price increase of around 0.7ppl now if they are to believe that the market really works and that it not all just down to supermarket power, says an industry leader.

  • Supply chain inquiry underway

    September 1st 2006

    THE Competition Commission team working on the inquiry into the grocery market has asked the NFU for detailed examples of supply chain relations.

  • Texel tops trade in dispersal sale

    September 1st 2006

    A TOP price of 620gns was realised when 104 pedigree Texel and Suffolk females from two flocks went under the hammer at Welshpool last week.

  • Tom Rigby: Runs a mixed farm, including potatoes, in Cheshire. NFU member, but outspoken critic of its GM policies

    September 1st 2006

    NO. The problem with all GM crops is their instability. Every GM crop that has been approved has since been found to have undergone re-assortment. The first GM potatoes were grown in the US about 10 years ago. New Leaf Superior was hailed as a breakthrough being resistant to Colorado beetle, but now there are no GM varieties grown there at all.

  • Top of 450gns for Charollais

    September 1st 2006

    COMMERCIAL Charollais rams sold to a top of 450gns at Carlisle on Friday.

  • Top Texel bid of 12,000gns for Goldies Matador

    September 1st 2006

    A TOP price of 12,000gns was achieved when the Texel Sheep Society held its national show and sale at Worcester on Monday and Tuesday.

  • TRAWDEN SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Whitwell’s shearling takes the top prize

  • Tried and Tested - Horse Rugs

    September 1st 2006

    At this time of year horse owners have to start thinking about putting rugs on their horses, but with such an extensive range available, it can be hard to know what will suit your horse. Farmers Guardian staff test out six of the best rugs on the market to suit different conditions and budgets.

  • Unions unite to oppose possible cut in payments

    September 1st 2006

    BOTH farming unions in Wales made use of Meirioneth Show to highlight key issues affecting the farming industry, with condemnation of the proposed cuts in Tir Mynydd hill farming support payments – reported in last week’s Farmers Guardian – top of their lists.

  • Walter Simon: Pembrokeshire potato grower and NFU horticulture and potato board member

    September 1st 2006

    I welcome the fact that BASF is proposing to trial blight resistant GM potatoes in the UK.

  • Well-finished, stable Kymco

    September 1st 2006

    We hadn’t really seen a Kymco before the MXU 300 arrived and had certainly never looked at one in detail.

  • Welsh Sheepdog Trial Results

    September 1st 2006

    ST DOGMAEL’S SDT Open National: 1, I.G. Jones (Llangadog) Chip, 7 olf; 2, B. Evans (Bronant) Meg, 7; 3, R.B. Pugh (Nantmel) Jess, 8; 4, L.N. Watkins (Llangadog) Fly, 10 olf; 5, M. Jones (Maesybont) Joe, 19; 6, M.Jones, Nan, 14 olf. Novice National: 1, L.N. Watkins, Fly, 10 olf; 2, M. Jones, Joe, 10; 3, M. Hall (Glanaman) Beau, 15. Open South Wales: 1, W.G. Davies (Llangeitho) Rock, 6; 2, G. Thomas (Llanelli) Moss, 9; 3, I.G. Jones, Ross, 12; 4, M. Morgan (Tregaron) ...

  • WENSLEYDALE SHOW

    September 1st 2006

    Metcalfe takes inter-breed

  • What’s does the future hold for the RPA?

    September 1st 2006

    WE are at something of a crossroads. If you look back a couple of years the EU had scores of subsidy schemes. To run them member states were collecting more and more data, but unfortunately as each scheme was a separate entity the same data was often collected several times.

  • Wynnstay Group get Glasson for £2.5m

    September 1st 2006

    THE Wynnstay Group has bought the Glasson Group (Lancaster) in a £2.5m deal.

  • Young Jersey breeders aiming for the summit

    September 1st 2006

    IN the Midlands there is a pedigree Jersey enterprise with its sights set on competing at the highest level.

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