No one wants to talk about the recent weather over the last 5-6Â months, in summary it has been bloody awful and relentless for farmers and non-farmers alike and I expect most farm records have all been smashed for the wrong reasons. The topic and the big consequences that farmers have endured and suffered has certainly been one way to get people feeling pretty down, with plenty of stress and worry added into the job.Â
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 …
April 2023 Edition When Chris asked me to write this article, I gravitated into panic mode because this is a quiet part of the year and I was not sure what to write about, however we seem to have been continuously busy, so I had better fill you in on our out of season activities. …
Written by Mike Abram When prices of nitrogen rocketed ahead of last season, and supply looked anything but assured for a time, there was an understandable interest and move towards alternative sources of nitrogen fertiliser. One of those was foliar nitrogen with plenty of growers either trialling or increasing its use. Foliar feeding, particularly of …
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Growing from a single 150 acre farm to 1400 owned hectares in 12 units across north Wiltshire and south Gloucestershire over the past seven years, Malmesbury-basedCP Farming is taking a fully-integrated, three-pronged approach to sustainability. Under the guidance of innovative young manager and NFU Student and Young Farmer Ambassador, Mike Wilkins, the current 900ha of …
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April 2023 Since my last article we have taken delivery of the new Horizon disc drill and used it for Autumn and Spring drilling of cereals and Beans. Initial results have been good and I have been pleased at the lack of blackgrass germination behind the drill ( One of the main reasons for the …
April 2023 Following on from my 1st article in Direct Driller last summer, a bit of a summary of what’s been happening since. Harvest 2022 was a bumper harvest for some, but I have also heard mixed results which is the camp we fell into. Our spring beans and maize were our crops that stood …
January 2023 After a very easy and early harvest, followed by a few stressful weeks of unbelievably dry conditions when most drilling and land work was impossible, we finally had the autumn we had all been waiting for. For us the rain fell little and often from mid-September until the beginning of November, when the …
Pasture and Profit in Protected Landscapes is a free, farmer-led programme of farm walks, events and webinars open to everyone farming in the Protected Landscapes of Surrey Hills, High Weald and Kent Downs. The programme is being run by Pasture for Life in partnership with the Protected Landscapes. We believe that farmers learn best from …
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