Farm Diary July 23 2008

We are only cutting the 100 acres of new grass leys, more to look after the grass than anything else, but it will be the best quality yet judging by the lush leafy sward which has masses of clover in it. It is only 35 days since second cut (hence the quality), and we are not looking at huge quantities, but it will still amount to useful extra tonnage.

Grazing is now plentiful, and of high quality especially the second cut aftermath. Milk production is on the increase as calving starts to kick in after the quiet period of June/early July.

My niece is soldiering on in the milking parlour, and has passed all the durability tests so far. If she can stick this regime, she'll go far, and I hope she decides to give dairy farming some thought as a future career, despite the experience at Crouchlands!

Hopefully, being at the bottom of the heap (as it were), she will appreciate the need and value of her formal education, which will lift her up the pecking order and cut down the mundane and repetitive nature of the work.

With a desperate shortage of people prepared to work in the dairy industry, there are some very good (and well paid) opportunities for those who know what commitment, dedication, and hard work is. For those who enjoy dairy farming, it can be very rewarding.

Work continues apace, as the Holstein heifer calves are now transferred to Tillington to be looked after by my daughter Gwenan. The shed has been cleaned over there, and all the pens put up with milk powder, calf food and plentiful straw on site.

New season straw is arriving now, and looks good; I just hope that the weather is good when the several hundred acres of barley straw we have bought is being combined in August. The maize is reacting to the rain earlier in the month, which was perfectly timed to ensure good sized maize cobs, and the plants are now tasselling.

National production is falling away, with a drop in average yields now adding to the shortage of milk due to dairy farmers giving up. Yields will continue to fall as farmers feed less very expensive bought in feed and continue with breeding programmes that focus on lower yielding but more robust cows, which are cheaper and easier to look after.

With liquid milk price 2p per litre below where the market shows it should be and milk for cheese a massive 5ppl below where it should be; its no wonder milk supply is shrinking. These are calculations carried out by 'Dairy Co' (the dairy levy body), and are accurate and robust.

Milk buyers seem indifferent to the falling supply, and some will soon be closing factories due to the shortage of milk. Of course Bovine TB is responsible for 280 million litres of milk that is not produced, without taking into consideration those who leave the dairy industry in despair or disgust at the impossible nature of dairy farming in TB areas, given the government's indifference to them, their cows and the badger suffering.

Just when we thought it could get no worse, the Bovine TB saga has taken a further twist. The calf export trade has been stopped in its tracks after calves from farms that subsequently went down with TB, were traced to Holland where those Dutch farms are now under restriction whilst further tests are carried out. What does this mean?

Well, as it's a 'voluntary' ban by European calf rearers (rather than an official ban), it can be lifted just as quickly as it was introduced, but in the meantime, most dairy bull calves have no market and will be put down at birth should the ban continue.

Furthermore, without the calf trade, sheep exports have no transport across to Europe, and lamb prices will be at mercy of buyers who will take full advantage of this, just as they did this time last year during the Foot and Mouth outbreak, which also shut off the European market.

There is mounting concern in Brussels over the failure of this country to get to grips with Bovine TB, and there is increasing concern in our industry that government inaction, which is directly responsible for the spread of the disease, could trigger a total export ban from the continent.

We are in danger of being seen as the 'diseased state' in the EU, and ultimately the Europeans could take control, and that could mean a much tougher policy, which could include 'inconclusive' cows as well as 'TB reactors being put down' immediately rather than re-tested, and a policy of whole herd slaughter being introduced in some areas.

This is now potentially very serious indeed.