Blog

I think 2022 perfectly encapsulates the challenges we now face when planning out our year ahead.

This In Your Field article might feel slightly different from me and might only resonate with younger readers, however, do not worry, I will be back with silly family farming stories next time.

The clocks have changed and the nights are well and truly drawing in. As I write this, I have just come in from preparing the cattle sheds for winter.

In a new series for Farmers Guardian, the 11 new recruits on the McDonald’s Progressive Young Farmer (PYF) programme. Each month we follow one of the PYF’s to see what they are doing.

Claire Eastham farms with her husband Martyn in Dorset, where they milk 120-spring calving cows. After gaining knowledge and experience working for other businesses, the couple started their own dairy farming journey in 2015 by taking on a share farming agreement before progressing to their current county council farm.

Fraser Jones milks 1,500 Holstein Friesians across two sites near Welshpool. As a Disease? Not On My Farm! ambassador, he works closely with his vet Oli Hodgkinson, of Trefaldwyn Vets, to prioritise animal health and welfare. Here he provides a farmer’s perspective on the recently launched National Office of Animal Health Livestock Vaccination Guidelines and considers their potential impact on the dairy sector.

This month Roger Evans discusses the current farming situation at home, this year’s grass growth, milk prices and milk quotas.

As we are now well into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, there’s one word which gladdens the heart of your average milk vending machine owner: porridge.

Winter housing is rapidly approaching and, despite the lack of any decent frosts yet, each morning is becoming more autumnal, mists hang in the bottom of the valley and gateways are getting a bit ‘clartier’ with every day.

Mid-October and Cheshire is looking reasonably on top of the job. Maize is all but finished, although some crops have been disappointing in terms of yield.