College Calendar Blog

Revision

rob cotton — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:38:00 GMT

With lectures now over for the second year, finding a excuse not to revise is getting harder. Luckily the weather has been a bit unsettled meaning that I’m house bound most of the time anyway. It also amazing how many cups of tea you get through at this time of year, it seems that any welcome distraction is always jumped at. Even the kitchen is looking tidier that normal!

Saturday Stockmanship Show

lizzie j — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:19:00 GMT

My sister Alice Rose (8) with Rose the calf, at the Bishop Burton College Stockmanship competition.

Me with Rosie. Both looking unusually smart and muck-free!! We were placed 4th in the ring and 6th overall in the calf entries (taking into account the effort put in before the day itself). She's a gem.

The event was good fun. Everyone pulled together to help everyone else out - sharing clippers, Fairy washing up liquid, WD40 and expertise. A mate of mine said it's always sunny at the stockmanship - and that philosophy has yet to be disproved.

College Stockmanship Competition

lizzie j — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:10:00 GMT

The stockmanship competition at Bishop Burton college is being held tomorrow. With a variety of animals, some quiet and some volatile, it should be a lot of fun - for the spectators at least.

One of the bullocks had to be withdrawn early on in training as it broke his handler's wrist and knocked a tutor to the ground. I'm now thanking my lucky stars I was landed with a relatively small and quiet animal.

In a previous blog post I said I was getting a sheep to train for the competition. In fact, there was the opportunity to take on a heifer calf. She is 97% Holstein and was born on the 20 February. Her official name is Bishop Burton Amateur Magpie. Unofficially, she's Rosie.

Among other entries, there is a Sharon, an Alice and a Pauline (sheep); a Susie, Betty and Fudge (calves); and a Boff and a Buster (bullocks).

I've spent yesterday evening and this afternoon washing and clipping. I hadn't realised what an art that is. Getting the top line just right was tricky and we left that until last. She looks beautiful now she's clipped. She had looked wooly, big-bellied and just a little plain before. Now she's glossy-coated and looking stunning. You can see why clipped animals often do better at sales.

The sheep shed (now full of show sheep and calves) was full of the sounds of people, animals, whooshing hairdryers and whirring clippers. Despite the fact it's a competition, everyone mucks in and helps everyone else. The atmosphere is brilliant and I'm going to miss it after tomorrow.

AGM

rob cotton — Sun, 03 May 2009 11:38:00 GMT

As I couldn't make it to the AGM, does anyone have any thoughts on how the weekend went?

A busy Easter break

rob cotton — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:51:00 GMT

We've been flat out here on the farm over the last few weeks; maize drilling is well under way and the good conditions mean we have been getting on well. The night shifts are nearly at a end as we only have nine more heifers left to calf; it will be welcomed by everyone on the farm and the calves all look really well running around in the field infront of the house in the evening sun. With only one week left until the return to harper the break seems to have flown by, but i'm looking forward to the Summer Term.

Back from the Emerald Isle

lizzie j — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:40:00 GMT

The "Sportsman's" was the glitzy finale of the last term. On Monday we start back at college for the last term of my first year at college.

As well as preparing machinery inventories and essays on soil aeration, the main thing I'm looking forward to is the Stockmanship Competition (3rd May?? - I'll check that date). Bishop Burton is the only college of its kind in the UK to host this sort of competition.

I've been designated a sheep, and I have the next few weeks to halter-train and prepare it for the show. My only previous experience of showing has been visiting shows and helping out at the Malton Livestock Show and Sales. So I'm looking forward to my first time being the one in the white coat.

The Croatia study tour is off. The costs were too great with the current economic climate being what it is. So we're looking at the possibility of touring some area in this country (Go British!!). I went to visit family in Ireland for a week and the costs seemed incredible when you could just about equate 1 euro to 1 pound. Buying food and drink cost an alarming amount, and just paying the toll to go through the tunnel near Dublin port cost us 12 Euros. Ouch. (We did hit it at a peak time.)

Travelling over to Galway in the latter part of the week, I noticed there seemed to be a lot of dairy farms - certainly a lot more than I've been used to seeing in Yorkshire. There were black-and-whites everywhere. On the other hand, all the way from Wicklow to Galway, there were hardly any sheep to be seen. Apparently the Irish national flock has decreased by about a third in the past decade so that might have a lot to do with it.

That hasn't stopped a surprising amount of tourist mechandise having a sheep theme. Other themes of course included Guinness, leprechauns and rugby. And talking about Guinness..... you haven't tasted it until you've tried a true draught Guinness in its home country.

Lambs and lectures....

lizzie j — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

It's not safe to drive on the same road as an Agric. Not with all the distractions in most of the fields during the past few days. With the sun out and conditions the best they've been in what feels like a long time, everyone seems to be starting up the tractors and getting to work.

I was grass rolling on Friday and trying to keep as straight as possible. Try as I might, I still managed to create a curve by the time I'd got half way. I now look at grass rolled or cultivated fields marked out straight as a die, and can't help thinking we're surrounded by artistic genius which we normally take for granted or don't even see.

We've had a busy couple of weeks. There have been assignments to catch up on and a variety of talks on all sorts from beef rationing to precision farming. Mastock have had a farmers' open day and there were some interesting speakers (including someone from Monsanto listing the benefits of GM) and walks around the crop trial plots on site. We're taking a trip down to the Potato Council next Monday to look at potato storage.

Socially, there is the St Patricks celebration tomorrow night and people are looking forward to the Spotsmans' award ceremony, dinner and dance which is happening next week.

Then there's lambing at the college farm, which has been going well with lambs coming thick and fast! I've started doing some evening and early morning shifts.

Yesterday afternoon, I went back to the farm I was working at about a month ago. It was time to drench ewes and lambs and administer Ovivac. There's one lamb's progress in particular I've been following - one named Lucky. A charollais gimmer, she managed to get through a difficult first few hours struggling to breathe and lacking any sucking reflex.

She responded well to being stomach tubed some colostrum, but then (with the typical suicidal tendencies of a lamb) managed to get herself into a water bucket. Rejected by her Mum, she was successfully adopted on to another and is now a stonking great lamb, with lovely potential and lively attitude. I wouldn't have thought it possible when she was born.

So there's hope for her yet. But, as the college farm manager pointed out, "God must have a lovely flock up there - he always chooses the best".

Mr. Brown went to town

lizzie j — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:24:00 GMT

Here is a poem taken from Monthly Farming Update (Chavereys)........

"Brown is my shepherd, I shall not work

He leadeth me beside still factories

He restoreth my faith in the conservative party

He guideth me to the path of unemployment

Yea, though I wait for my dole

I own the bank that refuses me

Brown has anointed my income with taxes

My expenses runneth over my income

Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of his term

From hence forth we will live all the days of our lives in a rented home with an overseas landlord

I am glad I am British

I am glad I am free

But I wish I was a dog

And Brown was a tree".

Hey-oop!! It's stopped snowin!!

lizzie j — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:01:00 GMT

Finally, after days of whiteness that quickly lost their novelty factor, the landscape has returned to various shades of khaki, brown and grey. Lovely. News that temperatures could reach somewhere in the region of 9 degrees centigrade in the South-West seem far-fetched - and make me feel too hot just thinking about it.

It's been surprisingly warm today. I've been helping with lambing near Gilling East in Ryedale and it's been a good day's work. I had a few minutes practicing reversing an ATV trailer this evening. I've always struggled with this, and today I was given time to try and figure it out. Alright if you keep it going pretty much straight - but hopeless if you let it out of that range and have to pull forward to correct it. Embarrassing.

I'd like to be at least unlaughable at backing short-wheel-based trailers by the end of the week. Possible? I'll let you know how I do.

The Valentines' do on Thursday night was good fun, though that custard some of us drank/chewed for the Mr and Miss competition was disgusting. Yuck. Why did we do that? The DJ was excellent and the dance finished off - as always - with "I've Got a Brand New Combine Harvester" and a slow dance.

The New Holland hydrogen-powered tractor featured in this week's Farmers Weekly. Here are two links to see more about it and watch some recordings of it in action: http://www.terre-net.fr/materiel-agricole/tracteur-quad/article-new-holland-hydrogene-pile-a-combustible-nh2-harris-ihrig-tracteur-hydrogene-prototype-hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered-tractor-207-53740.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBG9BRlfpIY

Proud to be Yorkshire!! Or happy to have a good laugh at us, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg to see an advert for Yorkshire Airlines.

Snow at Harper

rob cotton — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:41:00 GMT

This was the result a long afternoon at Harper Adams.

RAGs to Life's Riches

lizzie j — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:58:00 GMT

It's RAG week at Bishop Burton (Raise and Give Week) and on a scale of noise level, we've got everything from a sponsored silence tomorrow to a big disco on Thursday night - the Valentines' Ball. The Valentines event really starts on the night before when there's a Blind Date competition and the winners get free tickets to the romantic meal and dance the following day. There, everyone gets a chance to enter the Mr and Miss competition (with a lot of custard and balloons involved). Who wouldn't want to be a student?

On Tuesday a few of the first year agric. students are doing their powerpoint presentations about their work placements. This tends to make for a really informative and entertaining session, when everyone comes in and shares their own diverse experiences and viewpoints. Over the next few Tuesdays we'll see seventeen different powerpoints summarising seventeen different businesses and experiences.

While some lecture subjects manage to accommodate the different levels of experience in the group, others struggle. We had a machinery lecture last Thursday. We were studying the parts of the plough and power harrow. I hadn't known there was a part of the plough called the 'frog', but for some of the group it felt like they were stepping several years back. In the space of a once-a-week lecture it's impossible for the tutor to bring those few of us up to scratch and do something for the others that isn't hindered by explaining everything to us.

Most of our group have been working with tractors (and been at least passengers in them) since the earliest possible moment. Me - well I was practising on a tricycle from the age of 2, graduating to a pedal tractor at about the age of 5, but working real machinery came in only fairly recently.

I spent Friday milking cows and plastering a ceiling. In both cases, the biggest job was cleaning up afterwards. Some say that builders are messy, but I have a deep-founded respect for just how clean and tidy many of them are despite working with plaster. What a mess we made! Sssh, don't tell.

The highlight on Friday for me, was setting up the milking parlour and tank and starting everything going on my own. I breathed such a sigh of relief when everything worked and nothing exploded. The next best thing had to be coming home through the snow to be greeted with a hot chocolate from Mum.

With more snow on its way, I hope it doesn't cause problems for any of you. My car hasn't been starting properly on extra cold mornings and evenings. I wonder if any of you out there have a theory as to what's happening. My car is a Nissan Micra. The problem seems to be associated with icy weather, as she starts fine during the day when she's been sitting in sunlight. The starter motor takes a while to start the engine and when it comes to life, the whole car judders for a few seconds and she stalls. When the engine's going there's no response at all when I press the throttle until finally it starts to choke and when the revs are up she's absolutely fine.

The garage have looked at her and everything seems to be in place. We're perplexed.........

Update

lizzie j — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:22:00 GMT

Not normally one for fashion and enjoying buying clothes, I have had two exciting additions to my wardrobe. One was a JCB jacket from LAMMA, with a free hat. The other was a birthday present from my uncle and aunt in Co. Galway. This was a t-shirt they got specially designed and printed (pictureparcel.com), with the front and back profiles of a grey Fergie. I love it.

I've had one of those homework and tv weekends. I've been compiling a poster on Bluetongue in sheep, bringing together a work file to take in tomorrow, researching the diseases of the ruminent system and watching Babe and George of the Jungle with my little sister.

Life's hard isn't it?

Life does feel hard when you get a bill that equates to hours and hours of work. My car went in for a service last week; add the fact I'd lost my key and needed a spare = far too much money going out.

I was watching Jamie Saves Our Bacon yesterday evening and was impressed by the Buy British message. I wish it wasn't done in such a gimmicky way (Pig Brother etc.) but if it works then I suppose I shouldn't knock it. Apparently sales of pork have gone up.

And talking of sales, I've been following the market lamb prices and last Tuesday in Malton saw Suffolk x store lambs to £82.20 and Charolais x lambs to £79. In Thirsk there was a top price of £93.50 for a Texel x and 323 hoggs were sold at prices of £80 and above. I hear the £100 mark has been hit in some parts of the country. I just hope these prices don't slump any time soon - it's about time the lamb trade saw some fair returns.

Ag shows; what's your opinion?

rob cotton — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:56:00 GMT

I've been back at uni for about a week now and I've been trying my hardest to crack on with assignments, but my flatmate came back from Christmas with a Wii, something which seems very tempting when faced with an afternoon of writing essays.

Like Lizzie I'm also looking forward to going to LAMMA, and walking around with my Dad as I used to when I was younger. I remember when I was about 5 or 6, walking around the Smithfield Show with my Dad, finding London a bit overwhelming with all of the traffic, people and large buildings, but always coming away having had a great time.

These large agricultural shows are always a big date on the agricultural calendar, and I'm therefore excited that as part of my placement job next year I will actually get to be behind a stall at Cereals, enjoying the day from a different perspective. Everyone at Harper has a different opinion as to which is the best show, with many people loyally favouring their local county shows; what's everyone else's view on the best of the shows?

Livestock Wagons

lizzie j — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:09:00 GMT

Livestock Wagons. I pass a lot of these on the way between Malton and college, over the Wolds. I've discovered I've got a love for them in the same way a good few of my mates do for Fastracs or John Deeres. It stems from working at Malton market and getting to know the hauliers and their wagons. J M Bell & Son with their big yellow and sky blue beast. Patrick Foxton and his dark blue one, name proudly displayed. Always so much pride in them.

It's one of the best feelings in the world to pass a wagon and find the driver's recognised you in time to flash all the lights and sound the horn. It happens very rarely but talk about feeling top of the world!

Maybe I'll try to get some work experience during this next couple of years in the agricultural haulage industry...?They're an essential part to so much, it's likely I'd meet a lot of different people and learn all sorts of diverse things. We'll have to wait and see.

College going well and it was fantastic getting back to some lambing. Won't say too much just now because the magazine article will be out this week There are a lot of assignments, but to help us through we've got the LAMMA show to look forward to next Wednesday.

Christmas Time

rob cotton — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:27:00 GMT

Nothing quite beats being at home for Christmas and this year has been no exception. Mum's cooking, home comforts and a proper log fire are all things that you grow to miss while away at university. My brother has missed out on all of this this year as he is still away in New Zealand, but at least he has the weather on his side.

Although living on an arable farm, this is a quieter time of year for us, we are still kept fairly busy with all of the cattle. For the first time, we have tried 'out-wintering' some of the heifers, and it has gone very well with the dry conditions. The system of feeding on maize stubbles, where poaching is not an issue, means the cattle are free to return to the grass over-night, and I'm very pleased with both the condition of the cattle and the ground.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Happy New Year.

Foam Fun and Flu

lizzie j — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Winter flu. Everyone seems to have it and I've never known an illness of the like. It just clings on and on, no matter what you chuck at it, from cough mixtures and strepsils to whisky with sugar and cloves and mountains of tissues. It is at depressing times like this that you are reminded how many industries profit from you being unwell and miserable. All those innocently white tissues relying on disease and tragic films for their sales.

Thankfully, we reached end of term before coming down with flu. Which meant I didn't miss the Bishop Burton College Christmas Foam Party. There was also a bucking bronco, which had been rumoured to be a sheep and then turned out to be a reindeer. This was good fun until the foam machine started up and then everyone was too wet to get on - let alone stay on - the bronco. This didn't really bother anyone as there was too much fun to be had rolling about and surfing in the foam.

Decorating the hall beforehand was one of the highlights, with the DJ setting up at the front and paper chains and duct tape everywhere. At the actual event, everyone was in Christmas fancy dress. Most notably, there was a group of snowmen in white boiler suits and with carrot noses and black eyes. Someone forgot to tell them we had already had the halloween do.

And then we all came down with End-of-term-itis. Christmas day arrived at just the right time to cheer us up. Nothing like opening presents and eating a full Christmas dinner to make you feel just a bit better. From my parents, I got a remote controlled fork-lift and the Veterinary Book for Dairy Farmers so I was happy.

Boxing Day was spent sleeping and the 27th was my birthday so we had three days of complete laziness and indulgence. Fingers crossed, we'll be feeling right as rain again in no time. Better be before lambing starts.

Hoping you and yours have had a good Christmas and have avoided illness. Here's to the new year - Cheers!

Christmas time is coming

lizzie j — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:19:00 GMT

Last night was the Malton market staff's Christmas do. We met up at 8.00pm and went for a night on the town. From the thoroughly traditional pub (one of a dying breed) the Spotted Cow in the cattle market place, to the pub and brewery Suddabys, and the modern-feeling George and Will's Bar. When I say 'modern' I mean by Malton standards, which is still stuck in a relaxed, friendly world of its own.

Last night put us all in the mood for Christmas. Christmas lights and decorations, old and new friends, jokes and stories flying, lively debates on football vs. rugby, and one marriage proposal I don't think the guy will remember today. I've also got another lambing job organised (this time for early January). At this rate I'll be lambing some time during every month through to May.

I watched some ewes being pregnancy scanned last week. The last time I saw a pregnacy scanning was when my little sister was on her way and my brother thought she looked like an elephant at the time. I can't say that I could make out anything more logical from the lamb images either. John could tell me, "There's a head and a body, and there's another head and body, there's the ewe's heart beating, and that white cloud there is gas". There were a few I made correct guesses at, but several I didn't, and it remains a mystery to me how John could make sense of the many pulsating blobs on screen. Respect.

It has been raining hard and constantly here. The river below our house is flooded. The roads yesterday were like rivers, with some roads blocked off by police. Earlier this week, we were having problems with very icy roads. No sooner would the gritting lorries come out but the rain would wash their work away. On the way to college on Wednesday, I passed a bus being pulled out of a ditch, an abandoned 4x4 through a fence, another vehicle off the road at the bottom of a hill, and had to pull over several times to allow ambulances past.

I'm far from wishing it to be a white Christmas.

That time of year again....

lizzie j — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:35:00 GMT

Fog, snow and ice. Driving has been extra interesting in the last couple of weeks. The fog has been soup-thick at times so that you can hardly see a thing ahead of you. Someone narrowly escaped going into the side of my car yesterday as they slid their way down a hill, onto the main road and pavement. On the upside, I've just got back from working on one farm (drenching sheep) and having fun on the ice and snow with a quadbike. Brilliant!

Yesterday was the Christmas Fatstock Show at Malton Livestock Market. People came all at once when the sun had been up for a while and the roads were a bit safer, so it was a hectic morning when it all got going. I had the day off from college to work, and was in the sheep shed for the day helping to sort and weigh lambs. It felt so good to be back in that job and among the friends I'd made last year. I miss it a lot.

If there was anything I'd recommend to someone going into the industry for the first time, it would be to work at your local livestock market. You meet so many different people; some of whom are very generous about sharing their knowledge and teaching you the skills for the job.

The next thing to look forward to at the market is the Christmas Dressed Poultry Sale on the 23rd. That's good fun. I was selling raffle tickets last year and was absolutely freezing. Helping with the poultry afterwards kept me surprisingly warm despite the coldness of the birds. Running up and down collecting people's buys soon gets you warmed up.

College Anecdotes

lizzie j — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:25:00 GMT

College life can appear just a bit strange sometimes when reflected on. Last week, for example, after an afternoon spent studying boar semen, and watching the sperm wriggle across the television screen linked to the microscope ("Make a good screen saver", says James), there was the Student Association meeting, a trip to Asda followed by checking the cows with a friend (Donna) and the evening finished with the 999 themed disco in aid of Children in Need.

There were firemen and nurses all over the place. I was dressed in an Early Learning Centre DOCTOR outfit that I'd had since I was six years old. I was wearing high heels which I massively regretted by the end of the night. I'm always in trainers or boots so heels feel just a bit alien anyway - but these were torture. It was a good night though. Students (and agricultural students in particular) are not ones to put off having fun. Ex-students David and Tom are now building careers in the industry, but they haven't completely left college life yet. Many "old agrics."/ ex-students tend to appear at these events.

The following day, was my first time at Ganthorpe Gate Farm - my official work placement for this year. David and Angie Miller run the farm and a B&B business. First job, was loading the calves (limousin x belgian blue) to be taken to Leyburn market for the sales that day. That done, David, Ted (a friend of the Millers) and I set off North.

There was also a Holstein sale, so we were treated to a beauty parade of some very well bred and well turned out cows. Including from 'Dalesend Holsteins'. Top price was in the region of 2800 guineas, but prices for all stock that day were less than expected. David's calves got some of the best prices in the calf sale though.

(Canteen was good. Steak pie followed by blackberry cheesecake. Yum.)

We got back home for afternoon milking and bedding up. David explained properly how everything functioned and why, which made learning to do things a lot easier. Last job was feeding the calves and then it was home again. So all in all it was a lovely easy going first day.

Back to college, and tomorrow we're preparing powerpoint presentations and I'm in a group researching cultivating (traditional and minimum tillage); we have Science in the afternoon; a meeting of the Association again; a talk on "Controlled Traffic Farming" for the Bishop Burton Machinery Club; then there's birthday celebrations for Jonathan.

Sampling: soils and jobs

rob cotton — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:24:00 GMT

I'm finding suddenly that there is a lot more academic work to do, and not only this, but the pressure has increased as well, due to the fact that every mark now counts towards my final degree. This is much more intimidating than the first year, when all you needed was a 40% pass! On the up side, the advantage of doing an Agricultural degree is that I get set some work that is not just computer-based. This week I had to collect soil samples and evaluate sward densities, meaning that I'm not stuck inside staring at the computer screen all of the time.

The placement fair took place this week at Harper; an oppertunity for Fourth Year students to enquire about future jobs, and for Second Years to learn about the oppertunities available over their placement year. With over 90 companies present, it was encouraging to see the enthusiasm to employ agricultural students even with the current economic climate.

College Evenings

lizzie j — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:29:00 GMT

I went to a Student Association meeting for the first time this Thursday. I'd gone out of curiosity to see what it was all about, and ended up being assigned Health Rep. and put down on the list for a personalised Student Association hoody before I knew what was happening. I'm going to find out on Monday what my role entails.

The meeting was good fun, with topics for discussion covering all sorts from finance to events for Save the Children week (including Tug-of-War, Guess the Weight of the Cow, a cake stall, and a 999 themed disco).

Later on Thursday evening it was time for socialising at the student bar and playing pool. I discovered there were a few people who don't like sheep and don't see much point in them. Their argument is that caring for sheep entails too much work for animals that like dying so much. Also that sheep are stupid, and therefore even less worth bothering with. They prefer pigs as a more intelligent and entertaining species.

Personally (without disagreeing with everything that was said), I think sheep are great to work with, don't try to eat you and are not too heavy when they stand on your feet. I couldn't do without a good roast lamb every now and again. Plus, what would our landscape look like if it weren't for sheep? (Please no-one mention bracken.) I think they must be a very misunderstood species, as I know many sheep with quite distinct personalities and many who have a will of their own. At the moment, however, there is an anti-sheep movement of 5 to 1, with me being the one.

Princess Anne's Visit

lizzie j — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:37:00 GMT

Princess Anne visited our college on Monday. She came to officially open the impressive new Learning Centre and it was (literally) a flying visit, but with a lot of security and organisation involved. She arrived by helicopter while the first year agrics. were in the lab studying covalent bonding and molarity (cue plenty of jokes about the furry sort of mole as opposed to the atomical sort). The plan was to disect rats on Monday, but this wasn't possible with the arrival of the princess.

Her arrival also meant the removal of several bins off the campus, and fierce security meant students weren't allowed to go anywhere without an official escort on the day. Apparently,there were dogs sniffing round campus checking for bombs, and police everywhere over the weekend .

Unfortunately, our group didn't get to enjoy the princess's visit. The tight schedule ran late and our cold wait by the road side to meet her was little rewarded. Gathered up on a freezing cold day awaiting our escort, ID at the ready, I now know what it feels like to be a sheep.

Adjusting to Uni, and the cold

rob cotton — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:26:00 GMT

Life at Harper feels now completely back to normal, and I’m getting used to having a timetabled week again. I’m studying for a Bachelor of Science, and the second year is definitely proving this with a lot of my modules having a very scientific base. This does mean that sometimes I come out of the lectures with a sore head from all of the thinking, however this could also have something to do with the antics from the previous night!

Harper has a mixture of both four and three year courses, meaning that a number of people I was friends with last year, are now on placement. It’s therefore always good to hear from them, and get some advice on what to look for from a placement, as this is something I am now having to consider myself.

One of the only things that I’m not enjoying up here is the cold, which seems to be significantly different from the temperatures of Devon. Hockey training is held at 7pm on the astro, and every year a few training sessions have to be cancelled when it freezes. It doesn’t feel too far off to me.

Pub, Pool and Biofuel

lizzie j — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:27:00 GMT

Everything has changed a gear and life here is speeding past all of a sudden. We've settled into the week's timetable of lectures and have discovered the village pub.

The Altisidora (named after a famous race horse) is an pub much loved for miles around. On a Tuesday, we have lectures from 9.00am to 1.00pm, followed by a two hour break before tutorials in the afternoon. This is the opportunity to leave behind the canteen food and treat ourselves. Sitting next to the window, we fuel up while watching the ducks on the pond. As well as lots of activity on the surrounding farms (drilling etc.), there is construction and maintenance work going on in the village and on the college campus. So, we can also admire the range of machinery which regularly passes through the village.

There is disagreement on what the best makes of tractor are. I'm used to a Massey, so remain loyal to that make. The first time I was introduced to fork lift truck driving, about seven months ago, I rang my uncle (who's worked in a fork-lift factory for years) to tell him all about it. "What make was it?" he asked. And all I could say was, "Well, it was green." I learnt you can't be involved in agriculture and describe vehicles in terms of colour. I always try to check the make and model now.

As well as the pub, I've been introduced to playing pool. Initially rubbish at it, I think I might be improving. It helps being a girl as you're more likely to be helped rather than mocked.

This weekend I'm working on my first assessment, which is an essay and SWOT analysis on the "Biofuel Revolution". It'll conclude with looking specifically at the new biofuel plant which will be opened at Saltend, Hull, in 2009. This could have a big effect on East Yorkshire agriculture, including on this college farm. It was only last week that there was a big conference on biofuels and energy in Nottinghamshire. It's fascinating to look at the various angles and opinions on both the global and local scale, and watch an industry fast in the making - for good or bad.

A few weeks in...

rob cotton — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:31:00 GMT

I can remember from last year how fast the weeks went by, and this year is shaping up to be no exception. Monday is the start of the third week at Harper. BSc Agriculture at Harper is a four year course, of which the third year is spent in industry. This means that we are already being encouraged to think about a placement job for next year, and although all of my previous job experiences have been on farms, I'm considering applying for something a bit different, in order to gain some variation.

Talking of variation, this weekend I've been at Birmingham University, staying with my girlfriend. Even though we're not really 'city people', it's always interesting to view the contrast between our two Unis; one campus obviously being considerably bigger than the other. I think it's fair to say that there are definite pros and cons to each type of University, but for me I'm definitely happy with my choice of Harper!

At home the drilling is well underway, and the long hours of the summer seem to have continued for everyone on the farm. Both me and my brother left shortly after the late harvest; me to come back to Harper, and Matt leaving to work in New Zealand for 6 months. A larger portion of the acres are being ploughed this year, due to favourable conditions, and in an attempt to control the grass-weed issues left by the wet summer. As we crop grain maize our second harvest will soon begin, and I'm eager to get home one weekend to help out. I only hope that the weather is a little kinder this time!