Mar 2025 Reflections on learnings and change. We are moving on to pastures new, after nearly 15 years at Balbirnie Home Farms in Fife, I have taken up a post managing an arable farming business a bit further north that has yet to begin the adventure that is regen ag. This is a great time …
Our first outdoor calving for a generation here at Balbirnie is complete. We managed to get the cows off kale and onto grass on the 15th March. The grass was deferred from July last year. Daily moves were planned, and due to the very wet conditions, absolutely necessary. On the worst of the days, we were moving twice daily. Calving, due to start 10th April, started as planned with few problems.
Dec 2023 So it’s back down to earth with a bump this year. We have had a run of favourable summers that have helped us succeed with our direct drilling and progress with cover cropping across the farm. Essentially the harvests have been earlier and drier, allowing timely straw baling and cover crop establishment. However, …
Written 1st June 2023 Trials and learnings of livestock integration at BHF. So, calving happened, with a few more issues than we expected. Through our breeding choices we have managed to significantly reduce the level of human intervention at calving over the last 5 years. However, we hit a small bump in the road this …
January 2023 What livestock means at BHF? Balbirnie Home Farms in hand farming operation comprises some 1200ha, two thirds of which is in an arable rotation, the remainder is permanent grass. Additionally, there is 380ha woodland and commercial forestry. The arable rotation currently consists of winter wheat, winter and spring beans, winter and spring oats, …
