Farming Diary

FARMINGRosemary’s Diary

I cannot remember there being such a transformation of the countryside on the scale as was seen in the first week of June. After the very cold weather frosts included, we encountered in April and May with gardens and fields being adversely affected by the intense cold weather we were all pleased to see much warmer weather and some much welcome rain with water running down the potato and sugar beet rows.

The old country saying ‘a cold, wet May brings plenty of corn and hay’ certainly looks more likely. The extreme heat at the end of May and the first and second week of June coupled with about half, to an inch, of rain dependant on location on 4 June, have seen crops respond beyond all imagination. We are now in the middle of June when most crops are showing their yield potential/ They all need some more rainfall to keep them going, otherwise they will be ripening prematurely when quality and yield can both be affected. So, until all is safely harvested everything depends on the weather, the farmer and grower have done all he/she can to get the best results. All cereal crops are now well out in ear with about five weeks to harvesting on the lighter soil. The oil seed rape crop is slightly before in about four weeks’ time. The sugar beet crop will just about meet in the rows by the longest day which is an indication of a good crop to harvest in late September. Last year’s grain is being very difficult to move, buyers are living hand to mouth in spite of trying to get the grain stores empty for cleaning and any repairs, we are unable to get the job completed. Looking back it appears to have been a year when

nothing went according to plan. Suppliers of machinery, spare parts, in fact everything you went to order was in short supply. It seems Brexit and Covid were mostly to blame. Agriculture is, of course, not the only industry affected – most business people I speak to have encountered the same problems. It would appear some of our worst fears on leaving the E.U are coming home to roost. Let’s hope this is a small bump in the road to our future prosperity. As a country known for our high standards of food production and animal welfare; this morning on the radio it was said the government had ‘given in’ to allow beef from Australia to come into England. Their beef is injected with growth hormones, our beef cattle are fed traditional home grown produce with only some protein and minerals added having to be brought in with full traceability. Sileage making started the first week of June which is purely grass and clover mix in preparation fir winter feed for our cattle. This is their main diet fed in the winter, with also fodder beet grown on the farm and minerals, our own barley and a small amount of protein. We will continue with the rest of sileage making now the crop has grown with the rainfall when we get a few days settled weather. In the shop we are busy getting ready for Natasha’s Law (food allergen labelling) which comes later in the year. Grace, my Granddaughter is taking the lead on this, with background help from the rest of the staff. The gardens are in full bloom, roses are particularly good this year and we dug our first new potatoes on 14 June which were set later this year because of the weather.

All shrubs and bulbs have given very good show this year, but I think it’s perhaps been a shorter flowering time, which is again down to the weather, but there have certainly been some spectacular blooms – which has made the effort all worthwhile.