Julian and Sam Ellis enjoy a trip to Wales
The weather has been very favourable for making silage this year. We managed to get through fairly comfortably until a leaf spring broke on the wagon. Fortunately, they had one in Devon so the workman and dad as co-pilot, eagerly set off to fetch it. Within an hour or two we were up and running again. I’m not so sure they would have been so keen if the nearest part was in Austria.
Being caught up with most of the jobs, Sam and I seized a couple of days away in Wales. The short break had been promised for a while and was much appreciated. It turned out to be more of a busman’s holiday than intended and we ended up buying a Guernsey bull. Hopefully now that we have had our second clear TB test, bringing him home shouldn’t be too complicated.
I recently read an article mentioning how they propose greening the CAP reform – not an easy task I am sure. In my opinion, there should be more emphasis on reasonable rotation of crops and animals. It seems crazy that we are focusing a lot of attention to the health of the hedgerow and banks, and yet ignoring the fact that a lot of soil is becoming lifeless and tired.
Moan over – I must get to cutting our newly seeded out garden. Sadly the grass seed I used turned out to be a short term cutting ley and it’s proving to be quite a challenge for a 16in Honda mower.
Julian Ellis milks 150 Guernsey cows on 158ha (390 acres) at Land’s End, Cornwall, in partnership with his father and two part-time staff. The farm rears followers and store cattle, with 36ha (90 acres) used for growing spring barley, 12ha (30 acres) for spring cabbage and several acres for fodder beat and kale.
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