Competitions galore for Julian Ellis

Tremendous grass growth and favourable conditions under foot have meant that the cows were still out day and night until the end of October – great for keeping the workload to a minimum and also for the Guernsey herd’s competition that was judged last week, despite the heavy rain that arrived the same day as the judges. I’m sure the cows looked better in the field than on concrete.

Being a non-pedigree herd, entering this competition is not high on my agenda, although I seem to buckle and enter to make up numbers every year. I don’t however take quite so much persuading to enter the local ploughing match, although my ploughing sometimes may lead the spectators to think I’m only there just to make up numbers.

Fortunately my tractor’s dodgy clutch held out until the last bout, when it failed to disengage. I had to revert to the pull stop to avoid ploughing through the headland and the opposite plot. The little Fergie is well worth a new clutch so will have to be a project for the winter.

Sadly the same cannot be said for our scraper tractor which has got to the point of no repair and has been sold to a breaker after 15,000 relatively trouble-free hours; I think it’s done us well. It was purchased new in 1994 when we were getting nearly 30p/litre. The milk price needs to increase 300% if it’s going to be relative to the last new tractor we bought. Bring it on.

Farmer Focus: Julian Ellis