Farm Diary

It is testament to their skill that despite the appalling weather, the NFU harvest survey shows that our arable farmers are amongst the most productive in Europe, and the harvest was safely gathered in.

Of course there are problems with quality in some areas, and the cost has been very high, especially in grain drying, but the total wheat yield was up over 30% compared with last year. Europe as a whole has had a bumper harvest, and luckily mainland Europe escaped the wet weather which visited the UK persistently.

At home we are now settling in to our winter routine, with all the cows in and all silage clamps open. There are still a few maintenance jobs to do, but there always are; we are for ever working through a 'list' of 'to-do' jobs.

We are pouring concrete again this week for example, as we construct a concrete and steel 'jacket' around our slurry reception pit. This is being done for two reasons.

The first is that after 25 years of battering from crazy scraper tractor drivers who use walls and rails as brakes (!) as they chase a tsunami of slurry at high speed down the yard, forgetting that it provides little grip, has left the reception pit looking a bit battered.

The second reason is that after dismantling the slurry tower (which I sold), the concrete breaking guns have done little to improve the foundations of the reception pit which was up against it.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette October 29