Alan Carter farms in partnership with his parents, Paul and Christine, on a 400-acre, 400-cow dairy unit, at Constantine, Cornwall, supplying Suputo. Alan, also a Parish Councillor, and his wife Sarah, have two children, Ross and Dana.
Writing my first In Your Field column has filled me with nerves, but also with a huge amount of pride that I have the opportunity to fill this page every few weeks with my thoughts.
Trying to find the first sentences to start a piece can take longer than completing the rest of the article, so now that is out of the way, I will introduce myself, my family and what we do here.
I have lived on the family farm, which my grandad bought in the early 1960s, all my life.
My mum, Christine, has lived here since she was 12, and after marrying my dad, Paul, in 1983, took over the running of the farm.
I am now in partnership with my parents, having joined nearly five years ago. I live with my wife, Sarah, and our two children, Ross and Dana.
We met, like so many others, through our Young Farmers Club, and we will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this year. Sarah is a veterinary nurse, working part-time at a small animal practice.
I always think of ourselves as a family farm, with the work done between myself, my dad and Robert, who first started working here just after I was born.
We farm just under 162 hectares (400 acres) with 48.6ha (120 acres) being owned and the rest rented. The land ranges from the foreshore of the Helford River to one of the highest points in the parish, with about 15 minutes in the car between them and a 500ft difference.
We are a cattle farm, keeping 420 animals most of the time. Our herd is pedigree, with about 110 Holstein Friesians and 20 Jerseys, and the rest being dairy followers and Hereford cross cattle.
We keep all our calves because we have had a history of bovine TB breakdowns, and so farm as if we are under restrictions.
The cows calve from the last week of August until the start of April, with two-thirds calving in the first couple of months. All pregnancies are from natural service.
We keep two black-and-white bulls one with the cows and one with the bulling heifers. We also keep a Hereford that goes with the cows after nine weeks, and a Jersey bull. We only grow grass and some forage crops for summer and winter grazing, and our cows are fed grass silage and concentrate in the parlour; we try to keep it simple.
My parents diversified into self-catering in the mid-1990s, and Mum now runs three self-catering properties which I am a partner in.
Dad first got me interested in writing about the farm, as he was asked to write in the monthly village magazine during the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2001.
A couple of years later, I shared it with him and we took it in turns.
I titled mine Junior Edition as I was still in school at the time. This title stuck until my last piece in March 2020, at the age of 30.
To be able to continue writing about our farm, more than 20 years after Dad started, is something I am pleased to have the chance to do. Hopefully, the coming months will be enjoyable reading for you.
