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Money, money, money is the talk of the media. Even Samuel Pepys seems obsessed with money on today’s entry in 1663.
I was asked a question this week. Who is richer in times of financial crisis: the man with the gold bullion or the man with the tins of baked beans?
Taking Maslow’s hierarchical needs food and shelter come first. Land is needed to grow food as is knowledge. Is knowledge power? What will happen to the UK land prices as house prices continue to slip? Will skilled agricultural knowledge [farming] become a respected profession once more?
I cannot answer these questions right now, but time will answer them for us. In the meantime I think more and more people will dig for themselves as opposed to digging for Britain. This will naturally increase individual knowledge about land and production even if just from small plots and window boxes.
We have lost our two long rows of main crop potatoes to blight this year. The stinking oozing tubers are a total write off, and one cannot help but think of the plight of those affected by the potato famines in Ireland and Scotland. It is such a terrible waste of good food [and effort], but nature is unpredictable and can be the final determining factor of food production. We are fortunate however, our early crop, although planted late, seems to be least affected and we have plenty of other vegetables to see us through the winter.
Farming, as a career, has always required courage and ingenuity by those involved and I am not sure in recent times that this has always been recognised. However, perhaps as the credit crunch bites a bit harder people will reflect a bit more on what they buy to eat and how it is produced. I hope this will develop into a new found respect for those that are coping with the double challenges of this awful weather and diseases such as Bluetongue and Bovine TB.
This long running spell of poor weather has also impacted considerably on the livestock industry as both hay for feed and straw for bedding are in very short supply, and the quality of the grass for grazing animals is also affected by the incessant wet and lack of sun. We have enough hay, straw and silage here but there are many farms, particularly those in the Upland areas including England, Wales and Scotland who do not. This will feel like a very long winter for all of us as we all feel we missed out on enough sun and it has been a hard struggle since July.
Nevertheless the days are so busy, and so long, that there is no time to dwell on the latest disaster as there is always another chore to do. This is what keeps Jethro and all the other farmers going.
On top of moving yet more grain around, and finally finishing harvesting the wheat this afternoon [at only 16 % moisture] the ewe flock were all sorted today into the ones to keep and the ones to sell. A top up dose of fly repellent was administered before they went back to the fields.
Later this week they will be sorted again into: the few ‘fatties’ to go on a diet with less grass and tighter grazing; the normal ones just turned back out into the fields; and the ‘thinnies’ to get some extra feed. All will be given a dose of wormer too. These vital elements of good flock management enable the majority of the sheep to be in the right condition for mating [tupping] in 8 weeks time. [NB: We lamb later than many sheep farmers on purpose to reduce costs and get the most from the spring grass.]
No year is ever the same and in truth probably no day the same either. An email message has gone around from the National Farmers Union and the RABI asking for farmers to help others in their area with either combining or drying corn. In this area we have not had it anything like as bad as many other areas. Some of the pictures posted on this page show just how the weather has impacted on harvest 2008.
Right now I know everyone would welcome a chance to draw breath and to know for certain that the weather was about to stay dry long enough to progress the work. Crystal ball anyone? Nevertheless wishful thinking must be better than being downhearted.
Today food and farming is in the news.
Compulsory cooking in schools, and free recipe books for 11 year olds, BRILLIANT. Cooking, or domestic science as it used to be called should never have been abolished.
There is also in depth harvest coverage on the TV news, or rather the lack of harvest of on account of the weather and the fact that farmers now have until 4th October to go on their waterlogged fields with extra permission from the EU. However, the media, EU and DEFRA probably do not realise that actually farmers do still decide for themselves if they are able [will] go onto the fields or not, whether to try to save a crop or write it off…
Boris is speaking out for farmers, and writes once again with knowledge and passion. There is so much extensively livestock production in this country on land that cannot be ploughed. It is what makes our countryside famous; think of the moorland and the hills from one end of the country to the other [Dartmoor, Peak District, Lake District, Pennines, Highlands, Southdowns etc], there are so many beautiful areas which have been shaped and cared for by farmers grazing livestock. Boris is right: it is not the animals that are the problem, it is the people.
My suggestion is: keep eating meat, but ASK where and how it is produced. And if you are able please choose local and extensively reared meat whenever you can. These types of systems are utilising the land in the best way possible and should be supported.
Grey and wet yesterday, and today we woke to a nondescript morning, is there any other type of weather?
Nevertheless we do feel very lucky compared to many others in parts of the country especially the NE and the West. To date we have had 19 inches of rain already this year [average is 22 inches], and already in September we have had over 1.5 ins [40 mm] , and over 3 inches [80mm] in August.
This afternoon is much brighter and drier although the wheat still tests at a depressing 24% moisture, which would normally be too wet for Jethro to cope with. However he has come up with a cunning plan involving the hire of space heaters and all manner of inventions in order to try to keep moving forward and dry the grains. The combine is presently , as I update this, moving forward, and we just hope it doesn’t get stuck.
The ploughing has restarted over the last few days and has been going quite well; it is what to do next that is Jethro’s current problem. The beans are too soft to harvest and the ground is too wet. These clay soils are the very worst in these sort of damp ongoing conditions and the quandary is not knowing whether it will continue to be wet or might we get a dry spell, and if so for how long?
Despite modern 21st Century agriculture having the most up to date equipment and technology when nature intervenes [or is it determined by a Higher Power?] there is nothing to be done except revert to old farming principles and make it up as best as you can as you go along. Just wait and see, there will be many fewer yellow fields next year as the oil seed rape cannot be easily sown this year.
It appears not just to be nature [or even a Higher Power] that is making decisions, farmers are ruled by the European Commission rules on almost everything. This article shows how very ludicrous it all is… allowing it is one thing but whether the wheels will be able to turn is another matter altogether.
Once upon a time farming was simpler, now I am not at all sure that the huge workload combined with the weather, the effort, and dealing with the POLITICS of it all makes it worthwhile. Perhaps I am just feeling my great age.
Later edit: 7.30pm The combine is now trying to open up a path through the bean field next to the wheat, as the wheat field is now too sticky to turn in.
Jethro says it will take 1 million BTU’s of heat to dry this wheat cut at 24% moisture…. what ever will the cost of that be?
My Jethro is famous for his invention - a seed drill that revolutionised agriculture and still in the 21st Century he has not lost the desire to improve on the latest designs.
Inventing is never easy, and yesterday was a particularly frustrating day for him. While the combine harvested the oats on one part of the farm, and the local water company spread their sewage sludge on the wheat stubbles, Jethro tried his newly designed subsoiler drill. Unfortunately, the drill could not cope with the combination of the current wet conditions in the field, the trash [chopped up straw], and the thin coating of the sewage sludge on the top, even when pulled by a massive 350 horsepower tractor it simply would not work. Today Jethro has reverted to last year’s design which simply distributes the seed behind the subsoiler and in order for this to work properly the oil seed rape seeds, which are tiny anyway must be thoroughly cleaned. He has been on the latest [new to us via ebay, but actually very old] seed cleaner since 8am this morning, and was before lunch sitting at his computer, covered in thick dust and organic particles [which covered the floor too], while trying to order more parts through his computer. Modern farming, like all aspects of our hectic lives is becoming more and more reliant upon the internet. What would we do without it?
I hope to post photographs on here to illustrate this blog soon but I am learning how to work the blogging technology just as fast as I can, while keeping up with all the work that I also have to do.
Hay crops in many parts of the country have been totally written off with many farmers simply waiting to dry it sufficiently to burn the stinking blackened remains, whilst still hoping that September will give enough dry weather to cut, dry and bale any remaining uncut fields. The lateness of the forage making season has an impact on the animals too. Traditionally, the grass that grows after a crop of hay or silage is made is known as the aftermath. This grass is normally best utilized for finishing fat lambs, or ‘flushing’ ewes to ensure the sheep is in peak condition for the breeding season. If the hay is made too late, unless we have a very warm autumn then the grass will not grow sufficiently to be of value to the livestock or the farmer. [It is a combination of day length and the night time temperature that controls the growth.]
Genuine tiredness is becoming a problem, on top of this there are many unfinished conversations and consequently many unanswered questions, as the intense daily work load does not lessen. Meals are eaten quickly and are uncharacteristically quiet as the logistics and problem solving over machines and weather related issues never ceases.
I have been asked by a blog reader about sewage sludge. There are many myths and worries about the application of this and there is a lot or prejudice against it. I can confirm it does smell, as it is being applied to all the fields around Prosperous Farm this year, but as it is soon turned over and incorporated into the ground the distinct pong soon disperses.
Careful record keeping over many years of sludge application done in strict rotation all over Prosperous Farm has shown increases in soil fertility and a significant reduction in the application of artificially manufactured fertilizers, which currently costs £390 per tonne for nitrogen. The structure of both the heavy clay soil and lighter chalk land is also improved and this in turn improves crop yields. Yield mapping technology on the combines allows for careful monitoring of every part of every field in the hope of improving the crops and also cutting costs.
In farming some things never change and yet others vastly improve with the appliance of tried and tested science.
Harvest update: The oat crop is now in one of the grain stores and we have started to gather in the Spring barley. It was a relief to everyone to be making steady progress, albeit slow, however with the weather slightly more settled it is now the turn of the machinery to cause problems. At dusk tonight the combine broke down and we need spare parts, however it is not too serious, and providing we can get the parts quickly we should be going again tomorrow.
This is the start of a blog, one designed to enthuse, inform and comment on all things rural and agricultural, covering:
farming, how food is produced, local food, food security, food miles, countryside, fly tipping, animals, people, regulations, nature, bio fuels, AND all sorts of other things.
It is brought to you by Dorothy Tull [nee Buckeridge] – the mother of one of the greatest agriculturalists of all time – Jethro Tull.
Jethro Tull has on occasion been called the father of English agriculture so does that make Dorothy the mother of agriculture by default?
The original Jethro Tull is famous, hardworking, honest and known the whole world over for revolutionizing agricultural methods in the 1700’s by designing a seed drill to sow several rows at once. This device saved time and improved germination rates at a time when food was in short supply. Now in 2008 food and farming is once again an important topic.
Up until now her daily tasks have been to look after the family, keep careful accounts and also in busy times to help outside on the farm. However, she currently feels so strongly that both farmers and farming are constantly misrepresented she has taken off her pinny (apron) and picked up her pen.
Dorothy is learning to cope with the technology, the language, and hardest of all – 21st Century life both on the farm as well and in society in general.
Now she is to adapt and speak out in public will her life ever be the same?
Please bookmark this page to be sure to read the next installment from the one and only Mrs Dorothy Tull.
