Livestock Farmer Focus: Alistair Mackintosh is having tractor trouble
I wrote last month that we needed rain. Well we’ve had some, but it came too late to help the silage crop and was not enough to avoid a hosepipe ban, which after last years floods, we would never have believed would happen in Cumbria.
With the silage pit two-thirds full and only about a third of the usual amount of bales, we will need to have a larger than usual second cut. I have to say it is no comfort that many of my contemporaries are in the same boat.
The ewes and lambs weren’t doing so well under these dry conditions, however, they have all been OP dipped and the shine is starting to come back on them. Obviously the relief from being pestered by flies is having a lot to do with that.
We’ve had problems with both our main tractors; they both developed a grinding noise emanating from the back end. It appears that a bearing has given way in the back end. The first repair was costly and there will have to be some robust negotiating when it comes to the bill for the second as it looks to me to be a manufacturing fault rather than that of the driver. Fortunately, the service provided by the dealer has been second to none, which has ensured that downtime has been kept to a minimum.
The good weather has been advantageous to the local agricultural shows. One of the biggest and most successful. I have been to so far was the Cheshire Show. The well-balanced mix of countryside and town seems to be working well judging by the record number of people there. It’s an absolute credit to the hard work and planning of dedicated men and women on the show committee.