FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Paul Warburton
Paul Warburton farms
208ha (514 acres) of mostly
chalky loam at North Farm,
Shillingford Hill, near Oxford.
He is an owner-occupier,
running the business in
partnership with his wife
Hilary. Cropping includes
feed wheat, feed barley
and oilseed rape
BLAIR fiddles while farming burns – the headlines say it all. With the livestock industry in such turmoil it is very hard to put words on paper that match the desperate scene – a scene of delay, ministerial buck-passing, and political presentation.
Statements that it is under control and the countryside is shut but open. Apparently the Army cannot be used without emergency powers legislation, legislation that would prevent a general election, hence the procrastination.
In 1170, King Henry II said: "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" He was referring to Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. One can imagine our Prime Minister asking: "Who can rid me of this turbulent industry?"
Since my last contribution we have had our fair share of worry. We had a suspect case of foot-and-mouth in a ewe, reported it to MAFF and had a Form A restriction clapped on us.
Four-and-a-half long days of waiting for blood test results followed, four-and-a-half days when the whole of south Oxon, with its large concentration of outdoor pigs, held its breath.
Fortunately, the result was negative. Another worry is the loss of up to £500/week in lost revenue from our bed and breakfast business.
I would like to thank David Orpwood, chairman of Berks, Bucks and Oxon NFU, for his concerns and support during this time, and for all that he is doing on behalf of members in daily representations to NFU Headquarters and MAFF. The NFU is fortunate to have members with his intense commitment to farming.
Amid all this, the arable crops provide a welcome distraction but there is very little to report.
Excessive rain and some hard frosts have held back all crops. Varying doses of N have had very little effect. Wheat and barley have both been sprayed with Route, a zinc plus nitrogen crop tonic, at 0.8 litres/ha. Early-drilled Consort has had a pgr and 0.5 litres/ha of Landmark (epoxiconazole + kresoxim-methyl) to clean up eyespot and septoria.
But still has no spring drilling…n
Tim Piper
Tim Piper farms at
Churchlands on the edge
of Romney Marsh, Kent.
Wheat, barley, oilseed rape,
herbage seed and vining
peas occupy 890ha
(2200 acres) of the
1105ha (2730 acre) unit
LAST week, in the midst of the gloom that surrounds our industry, I had a vivid dream. I was appearing on Paul Mertons television programme Room 101. His guests list four things they would like to despatch to room 101, a place where all things or beings get their come-uppance. And this week I was his guest.
First on my list was the Met Office and all its forecasters. If they could forecast the weather correctly 12 hours in advance, let alone a week, it would be a miracle. The only thing they seem to get right is to consistently get it wrong. One would think todays technology would make the task easy but they seem to get progressively worse.
Second down the track to room 101 would be Oliver Walston and Sean Rickard. Both make claims to be the saviours of British agriculture, denouncing all subsidies. While I dont entirely disagree with that, I do object to the manner and the way in which they say it. Oliver Walston has been conspicuous by his absence of late, but Sean Rickards comments on the foot-and-mouth crisis and his callous statement that "farmers will get over it" show him in a true light. Ill despatch these two together so they can console each other as they descend into oblivion.
Third on my list is the majority of MAFF officials. They are pure jobsworths and their interpretation of rules and regulations above and beyond the call of duty, in most cases, defies belief. The well-known saying "rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools" springs to mind. Good riddance.
Fourth and finally on my list has got to be Neil Unger, the antipodean writer in another agricultural journal. For somebody who persistently criticises British agriculture, the way we do the job, the country we live in etc. he has got no right to call us whingeing Poms. I find his own continuous whinging offensive and no longer consider his articles worth reading. "On yer bike mate," as he might say. *
Ron Duncan
Ron Duncan farms 222ha
(550 acres) in partnership
with his wife and eldest son
at Begrow Farms, Duffus,
Elgin, Moray. Crops include
winter wheat, spring barley,
swedes and beetroot,
alongside a pedigree
Limousin suckler herd
THIS may be an arable column, but as a pedigree stockbreeder it is very hard not to mention foot-and-mouth. In fact, it is very hard to think clearly at all just now.
A few wet or frosty days seem so unimportant compared with the nightmare scenario raging across our land. I am sure we all know someone directly affected and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time.
However, I finished my last article hoping spring would be as normal as the winter we had just experienced. What I had not realised was that winter was far from over. We have had some brisk, sunny days in March, but these have been matched by raw, wet, sleety days.
As usual, I was caught out getting ahead of myself with land work. After five good days, I started "making" land on Mar 11. It looked perfect but 44mm (1.75in) of rain followed on Mar 12-13, putting a stop to the landwork and any thought of spraying or top-dressing wheat.
We did get on with the spreader on the grass, but I do not see the point of deep tracks in the wheat just yet.
We had our beetroot growers meeting last week to plan the season and study returns. Although we managed to store and sell all our product, last years results left us thinking "must do better".
However, they were still better than spring barley, which is our benchmark. We can still fine-tune here and there but seeding rate and grading must have been about right.
Lets hope the "field factor" is good this year so all vegetables germinate evenly. The carrot growers in the group certainly need a good year to be able to carry on.
I was speaking to my grain trader recently about forward prices and futures. The market is certainly difficult to follow right now with both wheat and feed barley fluctuating under and over £70/t. It seems that foot-and-mouths effects will be very far-reaching. *
Mark Ireland
Mark Ireland farms with
his father and brother at
Grange Farm, North
Rauceby, Lincs. Sugar beet
and barley are the core
crops on the 1004ha (2481
acres) heathland unit
IN previous articles I have tried to steer clear of commenting about the weather but my resolve has been broken. The fact is that we are still as wet as we were in January, with unusual amounts of snow and cold winds.
Without doubt there will be a detrimental effect on yield, but with everything going on in agriculture at present, the weather seems to pale into insignificance.
Both sugar beet and spring beans were drilled by Mar 20 last year but this year the seed is still in the shed. Much of the improvement in our beet yields over the past five years has been thanks to being able to drill between Mar 10 and 20.
Early establishment is half the battle in reaching full ground cover, which is so important on our soil type, and although April drilling is not a complete disaster I am getting uneasy.
Spring barley drilled in mid-January seemed to take a lifetime to emerge and when it did it looked thoroughly miserable. We have decided to split nitrogen this year and applied 40 kg/ha (32 units/acre) at GS11 with the remainder at GS13.
An extremely useful ARC course on spring barley agronomy has convinced me that using strobilurin fungicides does have an effect on reducing grain nitrogen. Couple that with the fact that we are now looking to supply barley at 1.85% N on a set premium, no sliding scales, and we are increasing nitrogen applied for the second year running, this time to 112 kg/ha (90 units/acre).
We have managed to drill 48ha (119 acres) of Flare combining peas. Peas are back in the rotation after a 10-year absence and they went in well with rolls and a pre-emergence herbicide following.
As arable farmers we cannot begin to imagine the horrors of foot-and-mouth. Locally it has been treated in a very responsible manner and I can only hope that from all the distress some good will emerge in the way the public views our livestock industry. *