Farm Life

The Farming Community Network (FCN) has raised over £500 in a 25 mile sponsored walk to celebrate 25 years of helping those in need.

Diversified farm businesses have been hit hard by the Government’s unprecedented lockdown restrictions, but industry experts claim agritourism is set to ‘bounce back’ post Covid-19. Mollie Leach reports. 

Now spring has nearly passed, our mid-term report card has seen some revisions, having looked very promising at the early stages with lambing and calving going very well and spring barley establishment looking very good. We now find ourselves wondering how things turned around and became difficult.

In somewhat strange times, it has been heartening to see communities pull together and people appreciating the key workers that, fundamentally, are the backbone to this country.

Shearing is in full swing and the second-hand race trailer I bought is proving ideal. Even the Dorsets and Texel rams run through it with only gentle encouragement and the load on the body shearing from it is massively reduced, compared to dragging from a pen trailer.

A dairy and sheep farmer from Somerset has created a social media campaign to highlight the work being done behind the scenes by female farmers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Herd size may have upped together with development of a thriving direct sales brand, but an early established ethos at Riverford Organic Dairy remains at its heart. Rachel Lovell reports.

Gemma Duguid, 27, from Caithness, is an office supervisor with Aberdeen and Northern Marts and enjoys helping out on the family farm when possible.

Farmers Guardian has long campaigned for a change in the law around livestock worrying and, therefore, it is encouraging to see progress being made in Scotland with the introduction of the Livestock Worrying - Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill.