Blogs

There is a distinctly autumnal feel in the air now. August has come and gone in a flash, and with September now upon us, the nights are well and truly drawing in.

Summer harvest 2021 has been busier than ever. Labour shortages combined with few ‘good combining days’ have certainly seen the grey hair count increase rapidly.

This week marks 91 years since the last full time inhabitants on the islands of St Kilda were evacuated.

Spring barley harvest started for us last week and has so far been very stop start, with the opportunity to cut reasonably dry malting barley limited to three sunny afternoons.

We finally felt like we had turned a corner with our farming enterprise. We were above target for the year in terms of silage, cattle growth and our bank balance.

In what has been an all or nothing sort of year when it comes to grass growing weather, August is defying expectations and turning out to be bang on, with plenty of rain and warmth to boot.

Is there a case for private bTB testing in cattle in GB? The answer isn’t straightforward.

As the year continues on apace, we entered the whirl of second cut. I’m sure I’m not the only wife/mother who goes through these times in an anxious state.

Put in layman’s terms, an agricultural common is an area of land which has an owner, usually described as The Lord of the Manor, who doesn’t farm it but  allows another farmer to graze it if they have either bought the right to graze it when they bought his/her farm, or else pays for the right via the tenancy of the farm he/she farms.

Mid-August and the often-talked-about ’mid-summer dip’ arrived.