This month Roger Evans provides us with an update on his familys farming business and tells of the devastation of losing rented land and the impact that will have on the farms future.
This month I have good news and bad news. Everything in life is relative, but if the good news were to be bad as well then the bad would be even worse.
I know Im talking in riddles, so lets address the good news: we passed our TB test in February. We are in a six-monthly testing area six months soon passes and six months in farming is no time at all.
I try very hard to guess the outcome of a test, but you cant help it and I didnt expect to go clear.
If we had even more time under restrictions I dont know if our business could have coped.
In the past they have found a few reactors here but those reactors have always been clear on post-mortem. This has been particularly frustrating because we have had movement restrictions placed on us anyway, which has always seemed unfair. But being fair doesnt come in to it.
TB was a part of my life when I was young and now its part of my grandsons life as well; some progress.
But it gets worse. For nearly 20 years we have rented land, about 200 acres a mile away. Firstly it was on a 10-year Farm Business Tenancy and then it was on a recurring 12-month tenancy. We knew it was only a short-term deal but you tend to forget that and it becomes a part of your life.
We have been given 12 months notice to quit that. No explanation, no reason, just a red card. I was very proud of how we farmed it. I used to want other farmers to see it.
When we went organic it was a picture; when the clovers were in flower it was a sea of colour. There were more insects and birds there than anywhere else on the estate and the landlord had remarked on this and said he liked it.
The two previous tenants had grown continuous cereals so when we took the land it was nearly all stubble. Now it is all down to extensive organic grass, the land is in better heart than when we took it and I take some pleasure from that because thats how it should be.
You will understand that I have to be careful what I say, but one person I told said it was unkind and that about sums it up.
So what do we do now? We havent thought it all through yet. Theres a sequence to it all. The first part of the sequence was to pass our TB test.
We have sold 100 cows. We could not take a chance on the next TB test, which will be next August or September, so the cows had to go before then.
I expect to soldier on for about two years to see how things go, but the 70 acres or so we have at home may not be viable. I dont know for how long this will be the case, but the next generation could well make a better living well out of farming, until food gets short, as it surely will.
Ill let you know how and as we get on.
Yesterday I was looking at a back copy of Dairy Farmer. Its a funny old feeling when you look at all those adverts and articles and wonder if they will apply to you in the future.
Will I be a dairy farmer in two years time or will I be a statistic of those which fell by the wayside when we stopped receiving our Basic Payment Scheme money? Only time will tell. But if you have milked cows you probably possess a resilience, so dont let the buggers beat you.
We have two poultry sheds and weve bought a milk vending machine which we intend to put in a local shop so there might be a living for once for us.
We thought that being organic would be a good place to be in todays green world, but it seems not.
Ive often said that farming goes in cycles. I started with 30 cows all those years ago and it looks as if that is where I will end up.
I have no funny stories for you this month, Im not really in the mood. Like most of my family I have found it all to be devastating and we all have a lot of thinking to do.
