Farmer Writes: Study, strike and tattie scones

If I had a cent for every time I’ve been told that there is no money in farming I’d have the farm fenced, drained and stocked ten times over. Obviously, as they’re all right, I’m lucky to have the additional income from holiday rentals here on the farm.

It’s been a busy summer and the income will keep diesel in the tank over winter. A couple of weeks ago I started a distance masters in organic farming in Aberdeen. Of the 25 students, 18 are Irish, partly due to favourable funding and a weak sterling but I like to think it’s a reflection of a strong interest in the Irish organic sector.

Hopefully by the time we’re all qualified there will be another organic scheme open. There is a decent variety of dairy, tillage, beef and vegetable producers in the group. The workload is, unsurprisingly, going to be a lot heavier than the Green Cert, which I’m also half way through in Ballyhaise.

Tillage

The farms around Aberdeen are largely tillage and mainly growing malting barley for the Scotch whiskey industry. However, there were no signs of any whiskey samples on the two farms that we visited over the weekend, which were mixed farms in organic tillage, beef and sheep. At the core of both farms was a tradition of growing their own feedstuffs.

This is something that I really need to focus on my own farm at home. Organic spring barley (Propino and Westminster) had just been harvested at 5t/ha a couple of weeks ago and the organic oats (Firth) are due in about 7t/ha. Another overriding factor, and one that all of us farming can relate to, was the importance of off farm income.

Both of the farmers, who each have over 200ha, needed an additional stream of income. They also held a mixture of conventional and organic parcels on mainly rented land. One of the farmers is getting a higher premium from Morrisons supermarket for his shorthorn beef than the current organic premium.

It also reminded me to continue my shorthorn search which was stalled by a tough trader a few weeks ago. "He’d see you coming" I think was an apt phrase for that encounter.

Home farm

Back at home I finally got around to shearing the replacement ewe lambs prompted by my first attack of strike. The ewe lambs are looking nice and solid due to the continued grass growth. I’ll put them to a Charolais ram come November for late lambing. They’ve all been tagged, bolused, given a booster jab for clostridial disease and sent to a faraway field for now.

I’m starting to realise that there is a lot more work in sheep than cattle. The calves are in good shape pre-weaning and thankfully there is no problem keeping grass in front of them at the moment. We’re pleased with how the heifers have finished the summer and there is a handful to keep on as replacements in an effort to address our under-stocking issue. I’m pushing to autumn calve them to make up a bit of time rather than wait and fit into our present spring-calving system.

I always find when you come home from spending time with other farmers, whether it be in Aberdeen or Screggan, you have a skip in your step about future plans for the farm. It’s also good to speak to other farmers in your sector, hear the realities (good and bad) and get off the farm for a bit.

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Farmer Writes: Jane Shackleton