Farmer focus Livestock: Iain Green’s New Year’s resolutions
Iain Green farms 1110ha (2740 acres) as a family partnership. Stock includes 130 pedigree Simmentals, 330 Simmental crosses, plus followers, 500 Highland Mule ewes and 340 sows. The partnership also runs a large haulage business
Hopefully you have managed to maintain and fulfil your New Year’s resolutions, sadly I’m struggling with my one, which was to lose a few kilos. I am reassuring myself and others that it will happen once the days get longer and we get into our spring workload.
The ground is wet and soft and no ploughing for spring cereals has been done. We were fortunate in this area to only receive 100 to 120mm of snow, but you only had to travel three or four miles and there was twice as much. However, with temperatures down to -19, the snow did not move for several weeks, thus bringing down many farm buildings and large whisky warehouses.
On higher ground, helicopters were used to feed hill sheep and also to spray aircraft de-icer onto some distillery warehouses. Over the festive period it was so frosty even the whisky vapour on my breath didn’t defrost the water pipes in the buildings and I had to resort to using the gas torch.
Lambs have been on concentrates and hay for several weeks; hopefully the prices will keep justify costs. One building on our upland unit collapsed under the weight of the snow; hopefully a replacement will be ready in time for lambing.
The pig price is staying at recent levels, which is unusual, but I think this is a reflection of the reduction of sow numbers in the UK and Europe. We have recently applied for a SRDP grant to enable us to store six months of slurry to comply with NVZ regulations. Unfortunately we will have to wait until April to know if we have been successful in our application.
Meanwhile we have been busy preparing our entry of 10 Simmental bulls and three heifers for Stirling Bull Sales. Hopefully snow will stay away and the buyers will part with their hard-earned income from buoyant calf sales.
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