Farmer Focus: Composted muck makes light work of carting

There is always a sense of relief here as we progress through May.

I imagine everyone is glad to see the back of the gloomy winter and benefit from the bloom of spring with its warmth and colour.

Calving mainly occurred during April, and, overall, it went OK. Last year was something of a highlight for us when they all calved in six weeks. However, this year we were let down by a few stragglers.

See also: 6 tips on dealing with poor spring grass growth

About the author

Dafydd Parry Jones

Dafydd Parry Jones and wife Glenys, Machynlleth, Powys, run a closed flock of 750 Texel and Aberfield cross ewes and 70 Hereford cross sucklers cows on 180ha. Their upland organic system uses Hereford bulls, Charollais terminal sires and red clover silage, multispecies leys and rotational grazing.

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They are still in the field next to the house and, as I write, we are still waiting for them to calve.

It dried up enough at the end of April (just) for us to venture out with the muck spreader to spread some slurry.

We had composted about half of last year’s muck in covered storage, so we could also spread that, as it was well broken down.

It was also denser, so there were fewer loads to carry around, which helped as one field is three miles from the yard.

A week or so later than schedule, our arable silage, undersown with a red clover mix, was drilled on one of our silage fields.

As I was leaving the field with a roller, the heavens opened to a brisk thunderstorm, which gave it a good soaking.

Getting all the cultivating and reseeding work done in early May gives us the opportunity to capitalise on any windows of fine weather in midsummer for silaging.

At the end of May, a youth festival, Eisteddfod yr Urdd, will be held in a field in Meifod in mid-Montgomeryshire. School children and young people from all over Wales will be competing in various competitions.

Montgomery NFU will be sponsoring the Bardic Chair, which will be presented to the best literature in a ceremony at the end of the week.

Over the winter months, it’s been my responsibility to liaise with two local craftsmen to come up with a design for the chair – made from local oak –  that will reflect the best of Montgomery (or Maldwyn in Welsh).

Sion Jones and his friend Rob usually construct kitchens from their old farm buildings in Caersws, but gladly took up our invitation to create this beautiful chair.

Gobeithio bydd yr ennillwr yn ei mwynhau. (I hope the winner will enjoy it.)