It is always quite difficult thinking what to write each month, so I must thank my neighbour for coming to the rescue.
Like the rest of the community I was pleased to read that the trees planted at Berridon have taken well, and I am sure we all look forward to the day when we can come and enjoy the service it will provide for the community, as well as providing a topic of conversation in the pub.
I can't remember what I may have said on the subject after a few pints, but like many others in the village I do from time to time read the Daily Mail, so it is likely that my (mental) health has been seriously damaged!
He is quite right when he says that converting farmland to woodland is a good alternative to hours of unpaid work to help supermarkets get richer. He is also right when he says it helps counter overproduction. The only problem with the latter argument is that those of us who are hoping to stay in farming need to expand and so if every farmer who ceased farming converted his land to forestry then it would make things very difficult for the rest of us.
Although I would not choose to put land into forestry because it seems to me a criminal waste of good agricultural land, I don't blame him for doing so because if grants are avaialble, there is no reason why he should not take full advantage of them. As I have been reminded, I too benefit from Government aid either directly or indirectly, so I am in no position to criticise.
It has been quite a difficult season so far this year. If you are trying to reduce costs by producing as much milk as possible from grass, then you need a continuous supply of fresh grass for the cows. To achieve this, it helps if the grass keeps growing. We started off with an abundance of grass in March. We then had a cold wet April, followed by a cold dry May and then a very wet week in early June. This has resulted in a shortage of good grazing grass, but I am pleased to say things have improved since I started strip grazing a field aimed up for second cut silage. I suppose what makes farming so interesting is that each year is different and presents different challenges which we must try to take full advantage of. I was quite relieved to find that other farmers are having similar problems, and that the grass shortage is not because of my mismanagement.
By the time you read this, we will hopefully have done our second cut silage and the silage clomps will be fairly full.