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Rachel and husband Stephen and family farm 66ha (163 acres) mainly tenanted at Baildon, West Yorkshire. They milk 85 pedigree Holstein and Jerseys, selling milk to Meadow Foods. They also have an on farm vending machine. Their son, Ben, works full-time on farm and daughters Felicity and Zoe also work in the agricultural sector. Rachel is a director of the local farmers’ market.

It has a while since I last wrote an article and there has been a lot going on, having taken on another farm and unfortunately suffering from Covid-19 along the way.

September finally saw the return of sunshine and warmer days which allowed us to finish the cereal harvest with some of the driest combining we had all season, which was a relief.

With the continued good weather, it has been easy to forget that the clocks will soon be changing, and winter will be upon us.

The first Saturday in October saw us attend our final farmers’ market in Huntly.

The leaves are turning and we have had 120mm of rain in the last week or so and we keep on finding mice in the cottage. Autumn is definitely here.

Let me tell you a story. It is old and has been retold many times.

Stephen and Ben have what I think is a fairly typical father/son working relationship; they usually work very well together but occasionally there is a little wobble.

Silly season is upon us and we are right in the thick of it.

It is a sad fact that some of the most successful, life-saving agricultural advances were bitterly opposed by environmental groups when they were first created.