This Week in Farming: Bluetongue, Ensus and super mechanics
© Adobe Stock Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.
First, here’s your markets (opens as PDF), with lambs slipping sharply in the live ring but red diesel fortunately not showing further gains as the number of strikes between the US and Iran diminish this week.
Now, on with the show.
About the author
Bluetongue outbreak
The bluetongue outbreak in sheep, which was first reported at the start of this week to be centred on the south west of England, now looks to be spreading.
Compared with previous UK outbreaks, clinical signs are present in a higher proportion of sheep per affected flock and are more severe, vets say.
In my editorial, I echo their calls for flock keepers throughout the UK to urgently speak to their vets and consider whether to urgently vaccinate prior to breeding season.
We’ll have more on this developing situation next week after a briefing from the chief vets for each nation on Wednesday (5 August).
Relentless heat
Tinder-dry conditions continued to pose serious challenges across the UK this week, with a wildfire igniting a fertiliser store in Essex and causing a major explosion that fortunately did not injure firefighters tackling the blaze.
In Oxfordshire, a buzzard died after electrocuting itself on a power line and ignited a standing crop, sending farmers and firefighters rushing to tackle the blaze.
In this piece on tackling extreme weather of all types, we spoke to Elveden Estate farm manager Andrew Blenkiron who is putting in a third 500,000cu m reservoir to serve the 4,500ha farm.
It’s far from all being doom and gloom though – just look at these seven spectacular entries to our harvest photo competition. Entries before 1 September are in with a chance to feature on the magazine front cover.
Keeping kit moving
It’s the time of year when good engineers really show their value, with the machinery team speaking to two great examples this week.
In the latest edition of Contractor Comment, machinery editor Oli Mark spoke to Dan Fabb, owner of a Cambridgeshire contracting business centred on baling – who talked him through the highs and lows of Loadalls and the rest of his fleet.
And we also visited Aaron Scott, workshop manager on the Lilburn Estate in Northumberland.
He explained just how he and two colleagues keep 39 vehicles (pickups, 4x4s and vans), 23 quad bikes, 14 all-terrain vehicles, 19 other pieces of self-propelled kit and a host of farming implements up and running.
Business planning
Machinery represents a major component of fixed costs, which many businesses are grappling with in a bid to stay in the black, so this week we take an in-depth look at the nitty gritty of establishing and managing a machinery sharing partnership.
When done right, it can free up capital, reduce fixed costs and create economies of scale, says Strutt and Parker’s Ian Ashbridge.
Dairy is one sector that has seen extreme business volatility in the past 12 months, see-sawing from brilliant margins for many milk producers in 2025 to the opposite now.
Business editor Suzie Horne digs into the business planning priorities for dairy farmers for the next 12 months with accountancy firm Old Mill and the Farm Consultancy Group, who have just published a major report on the topic.
Who’s up and who’s down?
On the up this week is major bioethanol producer Ensus, which has seen its financial support from the government extended until the end of October – although both sides are remaining tight-lipped on the details.
Feeling less cheerful is major feed compounder ABN, after it revealed this week it will no longer supply rations to the pig or poultry sector.
Listen to the FW Podcast
Don’t forget to listen to the latest Farmers Weekly Podcast, brought to you by Johann Tasker, Hugh Broom and Louise Impey.
You’ll find it anywhere you get your podcasts, or listen free on the FW website.