Farm Diary April 29 2009

Most of the fields will be cut for silage due to our delayed turn out, and there is grass everywhere. Grass growth has taken off in the last two weeks, and some of our silage fields are going flat; in April! I booked the contractors for the 10th of May (weather allowing), and it does not look a day too early this year.

We have been working flat out on the maize ground and we have now drilled around 500 acres. It has gone in well and conditions have been perfect. All the clay ground is drilled, with the final run to the end fairly easy.

It was my weekend on, and we had trouble. On Saturday I noticed that one of the cows in the calving pen was making little progress, not even pushing. On inspection, we found that she had a 'torsion'; the calf could be felt below the cervix, indicating that this was a job for our veterinary surgeon. He confirmed that it was in fact 360 degrees, but with manipulation, managed to turn the calf around, and delivered a healthy Belgian Blue heifer calf.

He congratulated us on our judgment in calling him straightaway, and not messing around ourselves, only to find we could not get the job done. As the cow and calf had not been subjected to any prolonged stress, they were both fit and well.

I was pretty pleased with that, but then the slurry pump broke down. As we have no storage for slurry, it is pumped through the lay-flat pipe, which takes it around the building site, into the reception pit over by the slurry separators.

This is a temporary arrangement, which asks more of both the pump and the electricity supply to it, than they were designed for. On Sunday morning James and Darren investigated and found that baler twine had wrapped around base of the pump (where did that come from?), which caused a severe blockage. This caused the shaft to vibrate and damaged the key-way and the seals. It looked pretty grim.

We visited the skip, and found the old pump which we had kept until now (thankfully the skip had not been taken away), and there followed a 'scrap heap challenge' to cut, weld, and cobble together a decent pump out of two. We had new parts in store including seals, bearings and an impeller.

After eight hours work, with milking time delayed in the afternoon as the slurry reception pit was full, we crossed our fingers and switched it on. It worked; then it stopped. With the new parts, it was now pumping at a greater rate and pressure, and therefore needed more electricity.

A few tweaks to the control box, and we pumped the pit out, which allowed milking to take place. I only hope it lasts until the new pumps are installed, which will start filling the AD plant.

Tesco announced profits of over 3 billion last week, with a turnover now of over 1 billion a week! This is the brightest star (the only star?) in Gordon Brown's dire economic predicament, and although we all like to see successful businesses, we do have to ask the question; at what cost does all this take place?

It has been pointed out in many newspapers that Tesco has made some of its profits at the expense of its suppliers, which leaves supply chains with little or no profit to re-invest and thrive.

It is certainly the case at present with cheese. Cheap cheddar is flooding into this country from Ireland. The Irish dairy farmers are in real trouble as their milk prices fall to 18p per litre and lower, and we have seen protests in Ireland over the last few weeks. Tesco is the only major retailer to import cheddar for its basic lines, but of course sets the price for everyone else, as they are determined to remain competitive.

With its 'internet auction', Tesco invites the cheapest anonymous bids for its cheese business, with the result that all cheese prices in the UK are under severe pressure. So much so, that it is now feared that only liquid milk and a few high value cheeses will be made here in future, unless things change.

The troubled farmers Co-op Dairy Farmers of Britain finally set out its stall last week with the announcement that it has now split the business into two distinct divisions; milk supply and cheese.

CEO Andrew Cooksey followed a long list of departures last week by announcing that after four years he was stepping down. DFoB have lost a number of supply contracts with the 'Co-operative Group', as Robert Wiseman Dairies have secured 116 million litres of business, Dairy Crest taking another 29 million litres, whilst Yeo Valley take 8 million litres of organic milk supplies.

Dividing the business into two divisions makes it more attractive to potential buyers, say analysts. After three price cuts in recent months, DFoB's milk price is now down to 20p per litre at the farm gate, causing real hardship to many farmer members who have invested heavily in the Co-op over the years. Let's hope the problems can be resolved very soon.