A life beyond the parlour?

Well, it is still raining and it is difficult in the current climate, both work and weather, to be optimistic. It is close to the end of an era in dairying at Manor Farm.

Unless things radically change for the better, we just can’t keep taking less and paying out more. Having spent the weekend elsewhere in the Dales with not a dairy cow in sight, I could see there is life beyond the parlour.

On a positive note, we managed to get our silage in reasonably dry. Our minds now turn to second cut, which, by the time you read this, we may have started if the weather can hold out.

I am busy working on a new project, which I will talk about further when it is ready to go, so gossip to follow in my next article.

We have managed to find a dry spell in between the showers to get our huge flock of 12 sheep clipped and 22 lambs dosed. We thought we had better get in some practise just in case this becomes our future.

Adrian Harrison farms 81ha in partnership with his father Maurice in Wensleydale, Yorkshire. He runs 130 pedigree Jersey cows with 70 followers, with milk sold to Wensleydale Creamery, Hawes

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