Farmer Focus: New farm sign prompts neighbour comment

I had an interesting conversation with one of our neighbours who lives along the farm road.

I had recently installed a new farm sign with the usual notices – CCTV in operation, please don’t drive on the grass, and so on. It also included our farm name and business name: WB Hamilton & Sons.

As the business was established by my grandfather and his two sons, it seemed the obvious name at the time. My neighbour commented on it and asked how I felt about the name today?

See also: A day in the life: Managing 100,000t of grain at PX Farms

About the author

Annabel Hamilton

Annabel Hamilton farms 1,030ha of arable in the Scottish Borders with her parents. The arable area grows 65% winter and 35% spring crops. She is Basis and Facts qualified and runs a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. The farm finishes more than 300 Limousin cattle a year.  Follow Annabel on Twitter @annabelhami11

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My honest answer was that I hadn’t really given it much thought. Looking at it now, it does perhaps feel a little dated that businesses are still named around the gender of those running them.

I’m sure anyone who has changed a business name knows it is far from a five-minute job, and, like most things these days, it comes with a significant cost.

In the end, I prefer to see it as a piece of the farm’s history – a reminder of where the business began and the generations that built it.

July was a successful month as we won the Overall Lowland Farm title in our local Border Crop and Grassland Management Competition.

The competition has been revived after a few years’ absence, and it is good to have it back. It remains a friendly local event, with judges travelling far and wide to visit the farms entered across four different categories.

I couldn’t write this month’s update without mentioning harvest.

We started combining on 12 July, just one day later than last year. Winter barley was something of a mixed bag. The feed barley performed well, with Kitty producing specific weights of up to 72kg/hl.

Unfortunately, the malting barley told a different story. Buccaneer produced screenings of up to 40% for a variety of reasons, so I think it’s fair to say it has made its last appearance on our farm.

We finished cutting the oilseed rape on 2 August, and once again the results were mixed but that’s farming for you. “It’s no what ye hae, it’s what ye dae wi what ye hae” as someone once told me!