Talking cure works wonders for drought-hit Adrian Harrison

Since my last article things have heated up somewhat and, for once, Yorkshire became a viable holiday location for those seeking a tan – well almost. It resulted in grass growth shooting up at a rapid rate, and all of a sudden the cows were not keeping pace with the available grass. That was until we had no rainfall at all in April, the ground became like concrete and it was beginning to look a little worrying – particularly after the hard winter.

Anyway, the brother-in-law suggested that if we started talking about silaging it was bound to rain, so big thanks to Harry Weatherald, the rain has come in fine style… In fact, it has barely stopped since.

Our cows are performing well and we are averaging 22 litres a cow. I am a bit concerned about the fat dropping to 5.07 and protein 3.65, in answer to this we are cutting out the filter mash grains from the TMR.

May bank holiday brings with it the Dales Festival of Food and Drink. This year we were exhibiting in the form of Moor & Dale Ltd. We have joined forces with another Jersey farmer in an effort to find a market for Rose Veal. We have a third partner in Sarah Liddle of The Farm Organisation who we must thank for her serious hard work and efforts on the marketing front.

Well the youngstock saga goes on, but I hope I will be in a position to tell you where they have gone in my next article.

The rain seems to be holding off so with a bit of luck the contractors will be here on 18 May.