Where it all began: “We originally started as a contracting business. We branched into plant hire and then we kind of branched into haulage. There are three businesses within the one business now.

History: “My father started spreading fertiliser and collecting milk from farmers over 45 years ago. We have some ground, but we more or less sell the silage and things like that, we just don’t really have the time for the livestock.”

Labour: “It is difficult – we would have up to 20 or 25 drivers. The price of labour has gone up, everyone needs more because of the cost of living. It’s one of the main things we’re thinking about this year now.”

Services: “We’re at silage, planting maize, we do a lot of stitching, spreading dung and slurry, hedge cutting, some aerating and the plant and haulage then as well.”

New machines: “We bought a new silage harvester, a Big M970, two new tractors, a McHale Fusion 4 baler and we upgraded our loader. We have nearly all New Holland tractors and one JCB Fastrac; about 15 tractors in total. The price of tyres and the maintenance of machines have gone up, and machinery itself has skyrocketed, but we can’t operate without them.”

Weather: “I think the weather is due to be good enough for another week anyway, so we will be at silage for the next week. There is good quality silage coming in there.”

Plans for the weeks ahead: “Hopefully by this week, we will be finished planting maize. The spring was so wet that we’re not getting it finished until now. Silage then is the main job.”