Julian Ellis is NVZ ready

We should now be NVZ compliant, as we have just extended our slurry pit. Luckily for us, our neighbour wanted some subsoil to make a track, so the job didn’t cost so much as we thought.

We have been inquiring about installing mats in the cubicles to try and save some straw, but with harvest completed now and an average of 10 round bales/acre we may just do some of the cubicles to see how we get on. Or perhaps, with the extra penny for our milk, we could afford water beds – although filling them could be a problem as we are still waiting for our borehole to be connected and, at home, our well is running very low.

This month we have sold some cull cows to ease our stock numbers slightly, although my wife seems to have different ideas when she came home with three fish, two ferrets and nearly a Portuguese water dog, which resembled a Welsh Black yearling rather than a house pet.

Cabbage was all drilled by 18 August, although we had seven acres that mysteriously didn’t germinate very well. I re-drilled some of it and have ordered modules for the rest.

I have recently been in the local press about a grant funding scheme aiding farms to become more efficient. Sadly the picture of me sat on our 50-year-old tractor made me look more like something from Postman Pat rather than a progressive, forward-thinking farmer.

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