Jan 2026
As I listen to Frank Sinatra whilst typing this, I’m reminded of the simpler days when farming was just farming: no phones, no computers and certainly no .gov website that does my absolute head in. I grew up on a farm that was run by my grandad and dad, a relationship that was harmonious most of the time. The farm was happy, the staff were happy (for the most part) and we took time to admire the landscapes and changing seasons around us. Since I’ve taken on the farm there has been little time for landscape viewing. I feel like I’ve been run off my feet lately finding a multitude of pipelines and cables so that, during fencing this winter, we don’t hit the Northern Power cable (again).
I’ve made a few bold changes on the farm, including stopping ordering sheep feed, a subject that’s still brought up with uncertainty every winter without question. However, I have stuck to my guns and as we enter our third lambing using pasture-fed only, so far each year the lambing has improved. I usually move the mineral bar into the field around now so that they have the right amount of minerals leading up to Christmas and they rotate around herbal leys and crops until lambing so we have more than enough food for them. Just keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t snow.
I’ve decided this year to sell my sheep in lamb boxes via the TinyShop app. Customers can easily buy through the app and they come and collect, so it makes it hassle-free for me. I’ve been waiting for a platform where farmers can sell directly from the farm without losing any profit, something I’m very passionate about.
Sheep have been the main focus this winter, a statement I never thought I’d say. We had a slight miscalculation with our winter wheat and someone (naming no names) put the seed rate up to double by accident, leading to a supremely luscious crop of wheat. This, as most of you will know, has its downfall and if I don’t get sheep on there pronto we have a huge risk of disease in the crop. Getting sheep to certain areas of the farm has been tricky with only a wheelbarrow fencer and my limited number of sheep. So, making friends with more sheep farmers is my main goal for 2026.
Our primary aim is to graze all the cover crops. Speaking of which, we had our most successful cover crop ever! On this farm we class a successful cover crop by the height of the cover. Usually, our height is 0cm but this year it’s at least 3cm, even 6cm in some places. So, the bar isn’t very high, but we are chuffed. I’ve been dabbling in different seed mixtures and looking up old seed purchases that my grandad and great grandad made to see what crops work with our soil and which were profitable for them. So far, the mixture that’s worked best is spring beans, herbal mix and linseed. When I took over, we had an abundance of seed all over. I consolidated it all into steel hoppers and used most of it for covers, which has saved us a ton of money.
Our primary income will hopefully come from Wildfarmed this year if we hit protein but it seems very scary to put all our eggs in one basket. They have supported us immensely with local grower groups and walks and we’ve learnt from other farms. Our main goal this year is hitting protein and making sure our oats make weight. We will be using SAPs again to measure N and nutrients. My overall aim is to try and reduce N every year, as we have done for the last five years. But if anyone knows a secret ingredient to hit protein with less N, I’m all ears. We are moving towards foliar in a significant way; each year we are tweaking the recipe to try and find the perfect mixture.
This winter we are carrying on with our fencing grant from the government, and you’d think after three years of fencing every winter we’d be pros by now. However, every year we start again and forget everything we learnt from the previous year. We’ve been using Clipex fencing and so far I can highly recommend it. They are easy to push into the ground, with a sleek design and very easy to clip into place. However, this advice comes with caution: I am a millennial farmer and have never fenced with wooden posts, so I’m probably not the best person to give advice!
Looking forward, the plan is to keep costs low and margins high; I want my first year in farming to at least make a little bit of money. As a woman, I feel a lot of pressure to do this because truth be told, there just aren’t many female arable farmers around. But I’m determined to do us proud and try my damn hardest to make farming work in this unruly economy.
@farmerannajackson @thepinkpigfarm
