John Alpe
Cattle passports in apple pie order
STORE up to 80 cattle passports in conventional filing cabinets using a Passport File holder from Dumfriesshire producer Ben Graham.
Storing passports on their end allows individual ear tag numbers to be found quickly by thumbing through the file. Each file comes complete with integral hangers and two labelling tags to help sort passports into groups.
Files cost £9.99. A Filedrawer Kit 320 is available for £40 including post and packaging. It holds 320 passports and has sufficient capacity to hold all British Cattle Movement Service paperwork. Available by direct mail (01387-860227, fax 01387-860227).
Fodder figures
TOP tips for growing successful fodder crops including kale, fodder beet, swedes and stubble turnips are available in a set of husbandry booklets from Lincs-based seed supplier Advanta.
The guides identify which varieties are suitable for individual cropping programmes and provide detailed information on all aspects of husbandry from sowing on different soil types through to harvesting.
The guides are free and can be obtained from Advanta (01529-304630, fax 01529-303908).
Off-peak energy can cut fuel bills
TIME electric use to suit demand including extra cleaning of milk equipment with every other day collection using the 14-day Smiths timeswitch from electrical supplier Timeguard.
Allowing greater automation and use of off-peak electricity to cut energy bills, the TR610-14 timeswitch is programmed at installation to control power supply to equipment such as water heaters, tank cleaners and other dairy equipment.
Carrying a five-year guarantee, the TR610-14 costs about £60 and is available from electrical wholesalers nationwide (0181-452 1112, fax 0181-452 5143).
Self-service for a dozen hungry pigs
ALLOW growing pigs to prepare their own feed using the Singleporc V wet/dry feeder from equipment supplier Sterling.
Designed for up to 12 pigs/feeder from 25kg liveweight, the stainless steel and plastic feeder features a water nozzle beside the feed bowl. Pigs decide how much water is needed to go with feed in the bowl below.
With a capacity of up to 30kg feed, the unit has 10 graduations to limit feed flow. The unit can be completely closed to prevent contamination of feed during routine pen cleaning.
It costs £91 and is available direct (01765-605999, fax 01765-608014).
Peter Wastenage
Peter Wastenage, in
partnership with his parents,
farms a 121ha (300-acre)
farm tenanted from Clinton
Devon Estates. He milks 175
cows, rears his own
replacements and grows
40ha (100 acres) of maize
AT long last weve had two fairly dry weeks. This allowed milking cows and heifers to come off their winter rations and go out to grass in mid-February.
It has been important for us to get followers onto grass as soon as possible, as we have been buying in expensive hay for the last few weeks.
We have also sold some freshly calved cows, which will reduce the stocking density in our organic conversion period.
The Soil Association has now confirmed our organic conversion date of September 2000. The only condition which is irregular is that we have to test fields in which we previously grew maize for atrazine residues.
I dont expect any problem with these tests as weve always used reduced rates of Atrazine and grown our maize in a rotation rather than continually on the same field.
Having just opened a new maize silage pit, I was shocked to see a brown line running through it. This must be due to harvesting last years maize silage over two days.
The pit was sheeted the first night and not rolled again the following morning before adding new maize, both of which I understood were good practices. Yet the change-over line can still be seen. At this years maize harvest we will strive to fill and seal the silage pits in one day.
Kale has once again proved tremendously high yielding and soon will be in the same position as last year as flower buds have already started to appear.
A few weeks of warm weather and well be candidates for Britain in Bloom. Kale that is not used by the milking cows in the next two weeks will be eaten by the remaining dry cows. *
Dennis Bridgeford
Dennis Bridgeford farms
50ha (125 acres) at Petley
Farm in Easter Ross, north
of Inverness. The farm
comprises of a 480-sow
indoor unit producing 95kg
pigs for one outlet and 85kg
pigs for a local abattoir. A
further 320 sows are run
outdoors. Land not used for
pigs grows spring barley
ARE we at the crossroads of the pig industry? Do we go in one direction, do we all disappear, or do we go with the trade, allowing prices to firm?
Then buyers get quality home produced product to their required specification, delivered to their doorstep, with every possible assurance and traceability in place.
There is no argument, so why are they doing everything in their power to suppress the price? Now is the time when marketing groups should be starting to flex their muscles.
There is no reason why any live pigs should be allowed into this country. No one will convince me that pigs vaccinated for Aujeszkys are safe. It will only take one pig, that lands where it shouldnt, to wipe out all the hard work that UK pig producers have funded.
We have reached a stage where any plant that is importing live pigs should be highlighted and no home produced product be delivered to it.
Our report from our last SPII farm assurance inspection did not go down well with the staff. We sold extra pigs to meet space requirements but it has still asked for another inspection to be carried out. I gather its farm panel feels it needs stern action to bring everyone to heel, but that might just tip some producers out of the scheme.
We have had some snow, but little compared with the far north. The only real problem it has caused is that the outdoor paddocks are very wet. The beauty of snow usually means that frosts are not hard; carting water is time consuming and laborious.
If there are any bright spots at the moment, it is the fall in soya and fishmeal prices. Soya is a real bonus when you consider it was well over £230/t, but with the price falling were saving more than a £100/t. We use over 40t a month, so the saving is considerable. Fishmeal will not have such a dramatic effect – we only use 5% in our lactating and starter diets.
At a time when we are trying to cut costs in all directions our water pump has been giving us a lot of problems. We really miss our own water supply and this was really driven home when I received our water account for the period we were without the pump. I can see why the meter reader drives a new van and they go around in pairs. *
Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy runs a 107ha
(275-acre) farm in partner-
ship with his parents in
County Waterford on the
south-east coast of Ireland.
The main enterprise is 110
Holstein Friesian cows with
emphasis on milk from
grass. Forage maize and
cereals are grown for home
consumption
OUR cows were at last turned out on Feb 23, two weeks later than planned.
The weather caused the first delay by holding up nitrogen application, the second delay was more welcome: Tom our local Teagasc adviser came and walked the farm and took some weighings of grass covers and found they were too low for turnout on Feb 15 as planned.
We decided to hold off for another week and turn out on Feb 23. Grass silage was cut by 10kg a head, but perhaps we should have cut it by 5kg the day before turnout to encourage appetite, as all they did after their run around the maize stubble was graze for 20 minutes and lie down.
Spring calving is going well, with almost half the spring group calving in the first month. We have had few black-and-white heifers, but that is easy to explain.
One afternoon in late January we were tagging some calves with our own tags. We were still waiting for the official tags to arrive when my father remarked on the great run of heifers since Christmas and from then on we have had 17 black-and-white bulls and one Hereford cross heifer.
Scanning of winter calvers is the next important job. We have heard some horror stories of cows showing heats as normal early in the breeding season and then having silent repeats after service. Everything seems to be going too well here at the moment, so we want to check to make sure it is not happening to us.
As this is my last contribution, I would like to wish the next contributor to these pages the best of luck. I am sure it will be easy to follow in my footsteps.
I would also like to thank the FW staff who have put up with me over the past almost four years. And to all FW readers, all the best in the future with beef at £150/100kg liveweight and milk at 30p/litre: I wish. Goodbye and good luck. *
John Alpe
John Alpe farms with his
parents at New Laund Farm,
near Clitheroe in Lancashire.
Besides the tenanted 80ha
(200 acres) the family own
36ha (90 acres) and rent a
further 40ha (100 acres).
Stocking is 60 dairy cows
and 60 followers, 500
Swaledale and Mule ewes
and 250 store lambs
WE sold the last of our 98/99 seasons fat lambs at the end of February. By then the market had improved slightly, so let us hope this can be sustained into the new season. But, overall, the average price a lamb is down £7 on last year.
The gimmer hogs will be brought home on March 1. They seemed in good condition the last time I got a chance to see them at their overwintering, and their grass keep has been good due to a reasonably mild winter.
At home, concentrates have been introduced to our Swaledale ewes and Mule shearlings which winter on the limestone outcrop land. The rocky peaks provide hard, dry areas so we hand feed sheep-rolls directly on to the ground. This is convenient and relatively waste free.
We use the quad-bike to transport feed bags, so from now until the end of the lambing season it will work hard, and is proving to be a valuable piece of equipment.
In fact, if I had to make a choice of parting with the quad or a tractor, I would definitely choose to have one less tractor. Quad bikes have been revolutionary to upland farms and certainly make our lives easier.
Our bike is serviced twice a year, before winter and after lambing. We seem to have a gift of wearing out tyres on a yearly basis. By the end of summer they are completely bald. It is little wonder when you see some of its operators who show a turn of speed that would impress Nigel Mansell.
We have just received our dip disposal form. The temptation is to put it behind the clock on the mantelpiece and try to forget about it. But ultimately it will have to be completed. Along with other relevant information, the Environment Agency want specific grid references of fields where the waste effluent will be spread.
This is yet another form to add to the pile. The ministry recently carried out a farm waste management plan in our area which was quite in-depth. IACS forms will be arriving shortly, not to mention cattle passports, which are ongoing.
Form filling is becoming a nightmare. Agriculture is certainly affecting the environment; all the paper involved must be making a big hole in the rain forests. *