Farmer Writes: inheritance tax saga a smoking volcano

The inheritance tax saga, although I’m not sure that word is strong enough, still bubbles on.

I fear it’s like a smoking volcano, ready to erupt into more violent action, which may destroy public sympathy.

I feel that we here at Hill End have done our bit.

Daughter and son-in-law attended the Westminster rally. Daughter was interviewed and broadcast three times with ITV, Sky and Nigel Farage and, on the way home, she did a live interview on LBC with a very aggressive interviewer.

But she cut him down to size, running rings around him - she is her mother‘s daughter.

Last week on the farm could be called a media week. The other end of the table was blown away on Tuesday morning by the whole of the front page of the Daily Express newspaper and all of two inside pages dedicated to her article on inheritance tax and how it will affect family farms, together with copious pictures of the family.

The following day she was interviewed by GB News Live and the next day we had a French TV crew here, asking for our views on Brexit five years on.

I had to steal my five minutes of fame by telling them how farmers voted for Brexit to get rid of common market rules and regulations, then finding out post-Brexit that if they wanted to sell into Europe, they have to adhere to the regulations.

Fresh air exporters

Shortly after Brexit, a haulier told me he was the biggest exporter of fresh air. Sometimes he would have to send a load out with only one pallet on because having mixed loads was causing too many complications with the paperwork.

The other end of the table also had her regular Saturday full page in the local newspaper to round the week off.

Here at Hill End, we have started calving the spring calvers. The first three calves are on the floor and we are finding our homemade cuddle box, which is an IBC container with the top cut off with an infrared lamp above, is invaluable on these cold windy days for fresh born calves.

The other aid we have is hooks on the triple teat feeders that used to hang on the inside of gates are now altered to hang them outside the gates, so the calves feed through the rails.

This is a big plus since you don’t have to struggle into the pen past marauding calves and you don’t wash bird droppings off the rails as you pour the milk in.

Flooding

I woke up this morning to see once again one third of our grazing under 18 inches of water. I try not to think about what this will mean to the future grazing plans, but it looks like we’re going to have to reassess our farming practices to cope with the ongoing climate change.

Let’s hope that future government plans and climate conditions will change to make farming a little easier.