If you were ever inclined to invest in stocks and shares, there’s only one question to ask your broker. They might offer lots of advice on what is hot and what is not, what will happen next year and why you should adopt any one of 10 different investment strategies.

To be polite, it is best to just nod your head while the well-dressed expert is rattling off their latest financial theory.

You can then get to the only question that matters: What has the broker invested their own money in?

That will cut to the chase and tell you what the broker really thinks.

No doubt there is some evidence somewhere to back up all their theories

We should adopt the same critical approach with the army of advisors and salespeople that swarm around farmers like bees around jam. By all means, we should listen to them politely and genuinely consider what they say. But ultimately, the farmer is the one spending hard-earned cash to see if the latest theory will work on their farm.

No doubt there is some evidence somewhere to back up all their theories. But that is no guarantee a new idea will work on your ground, with your animals, using your skill and time and your existing infrastructure.

Reseeding ground with multi-species grass swards is one such new idea. We tried it on a small area that we reclaimed from rushes last year, approximately an acre-and-a-half. The multi-species promises are well-known, and include little to no synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, better soil structure and healthier animals. But it has to be managed differently according to the sales blurb. Beyond not being able to apply a post-emergence spray due to the large leaves of various grass species, the management advice overall is somewhat scarce.

To say I was unimpressed is putting it mildly

The first thing I noticed in our emerging sward was the odd thistle. Nothing too major, but noticeable all the same. Next the docks started to appear and there were lots of them by the time we grazed it. To say I was unimpressed is putting it mildly.

I shared a few pictures online and asked others for advice. As ever, other farmers offered the most practical ideas – spot-spray or topping.

We ended up topping it post-grazing and there seems to be less docks and thistles in the re-growth. I have also added more stakes and wire to help strip-graze next time around and reduce the selective grazing of animals, as they tend to pick out the sweetest species and leave the others.

We wouldn’t call it research if we knew what we were doing

Off-farm, I work as an IT researcher engineer. I understand how the world of research and new ideas work. As the saying goes: “We wouldn’t call it research if we knew what we were doing.” I am not for a second saying farmers do not need to hear about new ideas such as multi-species swards and genetic cross-breeding strategies.

Having made more mistakes than most, and usually being too willing to try new ideas, the biggest lesson I have learned is to always try anything new on a small scale. Ideally, you will discover something that is a decent fit for you and your farm. But a poor result will not wipe you out completely.