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Farm Diary
The Farm Diary
pages are largely for those readers who are interested in farming
but not necessarily directly involved. They attempt to illustrate,
where possible, the application of science to practical farming
on one farm. December 2006
September 2006
August 2006
September 2005For an article entitled "This year's harvest at Cultybraggan" Click Here May 2004For an article entitled "Silage grass in May 2004 at Cultybraggan" Click Here April 2004Friday 9thCultybraggan for the first time in 16 years sows feeding barley rather than a malting variety. This is because it is felt that the grain merchants and the maltsers do not give farms a fair deal in relation to the premium paid for producing barley to the high specification that they demand. In addition, every year the farm has to store malting barley in the farm sheds waiting upon the convenience of the grain merchants/malsters to uplift it, thereby causing much distrubtion to the working of the farm. It is well established that the grain merchants/malsters are all too willing to purchase grain from abroad if they can get it cheaper, and yet claim that Scotch whisky is a genuine product of Scotland. Hopefully by growing feed barley this year the hassles in the autumn will be less and the yield of straw may be greater, the straw being essential for winter bedding and feeding of cattle. The variety of barley being sown this year is Riviera. It has the reputation of being relatively disease resistant and capable of giving a good yield of grain and straw, but not on the malsters list. March 2004Monday 22ndFirst of this year's lambs born today: a pair of healthy twins. Mother and her two offspring were transferred to a separate single-unit pen. If all continues to go well, she and her lambs will move to the larger mothering-up pen which has been set up close-by, and from there (depending on the weather) will be moved outside to a nearby small paddock. As the lambs get stronger, they will then be moved to a clean field further from the steading and eventually to the hill. Tuesday 16thBrought in first batch of ewes for lambing Sunday 14thCompleted the setting up of the sheep pens for in-house lambing Monday 8thSold 13 bullocks and 18 heifers at Caledonian Mart. Aberdeen Angus and Limousin commercial pedigrees and crosses. The trade was good as the present beef subsidy system continues, but the fear is that unless something is done about the present arrangements for the future Single Farm Payment (SFP) the situation could be very different next year. Thursday 4thAttended a meeting run by Perth & Kinross Council at Dewar Centre, Perth, regarding the setting up of an ACCESS FORUM for the region. Various members of the Council staff did most of the talking. About 100 persons attended, which is remarkably few considering the size of the region. As expected the number of access-takers far outnumbered those whose business it was to farm (or as SNH would have us say - those who manage land). The chairman of the meeting - a Council Officer - made the statement that Perth & Kinross Council had "ascertained more rights of ways than any other council", thus explaining their incalcitrant attitude to farmers who - for important management reasons relevant to the requiremens of modern farming - wished to have some reorganisation so as to allow good access but which does not damage the management of the farm. Also worrying is the severe lack of significant knowledge of farming on the part of the Council's access officers and rangers. Those attending were split up into discussion groups led by a council access officer or ranger. In my group it was clear that he did not know what the Draft Access Code stated the function of local access forums was. He seemed to think that any disputes between access takers and access providers would be referred to the Council for their rangers and access officers to arbitrate. Indeed, he seemed to think that if agreement was not then reached the matter would be automatically referred to the sheriff. But in fact a main function of a local access forum is to try and resolve disputes and to use the services of a sheriff as little as possible. Also worrying is the fact that Perth & Kinross Council have spent the additional funds they have been given (amount not stated) largely on appointing new members of staff who have no training or understanding of farming. Yet these new officers - as with the present ones - seem to think that they will be in a position to advise or even adjudicate between the interests of farmers and those of access takers.
December 2003Monday 8thToday's experience with access takers came about when I was topping weeds in an area of ground with a bushhog attached to a tractor. The bushhog is a simple but highly effective device consisting of two lengths of heavy chain that rotate at 540 revs per second under a protective metal covering. It is driven via the PTO attachment on the tractor. It is not a good idea to stand too close to this machine lest it picks up a stone that is not stopped by the protective covering and flies out at great speed. The tractor had its yellow warning light on the roof blinking away and it was pretty obvious what job the machinery was doing. Nevertheless a walker and his dog, no doubt thinking he was asserting his right of access, chose to pass right next to the machine ignoring signs to keep his distance as there was plenty room for him to do so. The tractor was moving slowly as it was uncertain what might lurk in the long weeds. Perhaps my signs were interpreted as being aggressive although they were intended to care for his safety and that of his dog. Surely it is only commonsense to keep well clear
of farm machinery, but the modern access taker seems to have very
little of that commodity. But at least his dog was on a lead - but
that meant both the dog and its owner were far too close to the
potentially dangerous machinery. Saturday/Sunday 6/7thLocal contractor's men using farm equipment worked on tidying up and cleaning out the Mastock slatted shed and adjacent straw bedded shed for over-wintering cattle. This involves a mini-excavator transported on a long low-loader (the only one available), tractor and dump trailer to take muck to the dung heap, as well as a slurry pump to stir up the slurry so that it can be spread on the fields. They did a good job, but it was interesting to see how local dog walkers behaved. One such dog walker, who refuses to even carry a lead for his dog when on the farm, set off down the track towards the shed in question looking as surly as ever. To mention to him that work was in progress would have lead to the same rude response as previously, when I and two others were working on fencing with chain saws, tractors and post chapper. When his dog came running loose, I asked him to put it on a lead. He simply walked past muttering that he was on a right of way, never carried a lead and made derogatory remarks about the farm. Perth & Kinross Council have yet to set up an Access Forum, not wanting to "get ahead of themselves" as they put it. Another dog walker took her dogs for a walk on the farm's right of ways, but parked her car on the highway just opposite the farm track that leads to where we were working. When politely asked if in future she could park her car just a little further up the road so as not to obstruct a tractor and long trailer gaining entry to or exit from the farm track, she responded surly and inaccurately that she was just away for "2 minutes" - half an hour or longer is more likely. She clearly had no regard for anyone's convenience other than her own. The Draft SNH Scottish Outdoor Access Code states that persons have to be responsible for their own actions. Were either of these persons whose actions are described above behaving responsibly, and did they have any intention of doing so? The woman was not even capable of behaving responsibly in terms of the Highway Code let alone a Code about Access to the Countryside. In another part of the farm where there are rights of ways stated and sign posted by the Council all round the field (indeed it is difficult to understand how a field can have legitimate right of ways all round it) walkers find it more convenient to walk diagonally across it making a further path. The field is growing set-a-side green cover grass to be used for grazing. Despite the clear and numerous Council signs, walkers pay no heid to them, in contrast to the unrealistic optimism of SNH academics with degrees in ecology, or in land management but with no practical experience of it as far as farming is concerned, or in what passes as "arts and social science". It comes as no surprise that the SNH Access Forum decided to ignore the 1386 responses that it received to its Access Consultation Document, the largest proportion of which came form concerned farmers (or landmangers in SNH speak) (Click here to view) Thursday 4thBrought in-calf cows and heifers down from the Bogton hill ground to separate out those that were due to calf in February as shown by the ultrasound scanning results obtained in September. The early calvers will be housed on farm, while the remainder were returned to the hill where they were thriving nicely in the continued remarkably mild weather. Wednesday 3rdCompleted brucellosis testing of cattle with vet. Tina the vet confirmed a pedigree heifer, Teviot Sadie, was between 4 and 5 months in-calf to stock bull Loosebeare Nugget with whom she had been spending the autumn. Sadie's Sire was another Cultybraggan stockbull, Ronick Master (with Broadmeadows Cannon and Tanhill Rumpus in the pedigree); her dam was Woodlea Inchantress (with Radar as a grandsire). Radar is a bull that has a high reputation for producing milk yielding females - an essential characteristic for a closed herd. A welcome sight is a limousin pedigree cow of good confirmation and good udder, suckling a well formed healthy calf that was born without any calving difficulties. This is very unlikely to be achieved by following MLC/Signet EBV scoring of limousin cattle. As this form of scoring can be seriously misleading for producing good pedigree suckler cows Cultybraggan dispensed with the services of MLC/Signet a number of years ago. Drove up to Birnam (near Dunkeld) via the Sma' Glen for a meeting scheduled for 2.00pm. What a beautiful drive! Who are these people - the environmentalists - who continue to decry our Scottish countryside as being poorly cared for, on the pretext that they know better? What a lot of devious rubbish. It was truly splendid. Perhaps the most striking aspect was coming upon a well run stock farm as the road came to the lower ground near my destination but before meeting the motorway. The Aberdeen Angus cattle looked superb and made the scene. Without the farm and the livestock the landscape would have been much the worse. I submit that it is exactly that kind of impression that will stick in the mind of the tourist to take back to whatever country they came from for a very long time. Please do not let the environmental do-gooders destroy it by their misguided, predominantly ecological and self-seeking ways. Next day it was worrying to read in the local
paper - The Strathearn Herald - that plans were afoot to construct
a large ugly£35 million windfarm in this beautiful
glen. Wind farms are a highly inefficient way of producing electricity.
It is interesting how environmentalists seem happy to sacrifice
a core environmental asset in the cause of another much more dubious
one in order to gain brownie points for trying to comply better
than anyone else to the inappropriate standards set by the Kyoto
agreement. A letter by Brian Christley of Abergele Conwy, Wales
published in the Scotsman November 21 sums it up nicely (Click
Here to View new window). Monday 1stJim Mitchell, local haulage company, arrived 7.30am in the dark with lorry and trailer to take 34 sucler calves and some heifer stores to the Show and Sale at Caledonain Mart, Stirling. It speaks well of our cattle handling system when the 24 bullocks and 12 heifers can be loaded in the dark and be away to the Show in good time. As reported elsewhere (Click here to view) the bullocks did particularly well, gaining first prize for a pen of 4 native-bred bullocks (Aberdeen Angus) and second prize for the single best bullock (limousin). The sale prizes in the auction ring were also good. November 2003Saturday 22ndThe routine testing of cattle over 2 years old for brucellosis, which is a State Veterinary Service requirement, is due to be completed by the end of the year. The farm's vet, Tina, got agreement from the Department of Animal Health in Perth that the cattle could be tested in batches as the majority of cattle are still out in the fields and on the hill on account of the mild weather and good ground conditions. A team was got together for the job - Saturday morning being the best time as many experienced livestockmen now have other jobs or are self-empolyed contractors, such is the lack of confidence in Scotland's livestock industry at present - "there is no money in it", and "too many farms have layed off their stockmen because of reduction or closure of livestock businesses". Harry from the nearby Grouse (Glenturret) Distillery, Mike who a is self-employed livestockman, his brother Dave who is employed by the nearby farm contractor, along with Duncan who is Cultybraggan's shepherd got started at daybreak (about 7.30 am in this part of the country) gathering in and keeping each lot separate. The opportunity was to be taken to wean off another batch of calves that were some 6 months old. The calves that had been weaned on 10th November had settled nicely and could be transferred to a more spacious but a little less secure pen at the steading, while their mothers who had been kept in a secure cattle court could be returned to the hill from whence they had come. Such logistics need to be applied to keep cows, heifers and bulls from getting mixed up - not always an easy task when running a closed herd with a number of bulls that must not go bulling the wrong partners or virgins that are under-age. Those calves that were not being weaned had to be rejoined with their mothers and returned to the appropriate fields. Electronic tagging would be a godsend for this job. To my knowledge neither DEFRA or SEERAD have yet given formal approval to any brand of electronic chip, although a number of good systems have been available commercially for years. Some livestock farms have successfully adopted such systems as in-house management tools having given up waiting. The risk is that their investment could be nullified if the government authorities belatedly decide that some other system which is capable of giving them even more information becomes mandatory. Apparently the government authorities either do not know what they want or do not know how to get the information back to themselves while still enabling the farmer to read the animal's identity number with a minimum of delay. It just seems that the government authorities are not too bright at the application of computer technology. The group worked well as a team and in the afternoon Duncan even got to the sheep dog trials that were being held up the road in Glenartney. Ninety nine cattle were brucellosis tested, and most of the spring born calves have been weaned where appropriate. The next problem is to keep the best of the pedigree males calves that had not been castrated away from heifer calves that will be becoming increasingly fertile at too early an age. Most of the paperwork on a closed livestock farm such as Cultybraggan with both pedigree and commercial cattle is to do with cattle records. Decoupling from production as part of the CAP Reform would not make any reduction in such paperwork. Nor would it make any significant difference in the marketing of such livestock, but it would bring in another raft of bureaucracy to do with people who do not know much about farming telling farmers what to do in the form of compulsory advice and compliance regulations. As for that, there is mighty little wrong with the environment in this part of the world and the public have farmers to thank for that. The most serious damage to the environment around here has been done by local government not knowing what they were doing and not listening to others who were better informed - having the roads department of the Council to manage rivers as part of a flood prevention scheme. It is difficult to imagine anything worse, but the results are as expected and the costs prohibitive.
Thursday 20thSecond batch of tups put with the second batch of ewes. Weather remains remarkably mild. Tups get busy straight away - no hanging around. Monday 10thCows and calves brought down from the Bogton hill ground to steading. Older calves drawn off from their mothers, and calves and mothers housed separately. There will be a hullah-baloo in the sheds for the next few days, but it is essential to do this as the cow and the calf that it is currently bearing would suffer otherwise. The reason for housing them is to preserve the fences - cows looking for their calves and vice versa are no respector of fences. After a few days both parties will have forgotten about each other and peace will be restored. October 2003Friday 31stTupping starts - a fine crisp, sunny morning for the boys to meet the girls. The tups were in good nick and sound on their feet and legs, and hopefully with plenty motivation. Cultybraggan gave up using harnesses on the tups carrying crayon marker to show which ewes had been served on account of skin abrasions on the tups. The ewes will be pregnancy scanned in the latter part of January 2004. The ewes and gimmers are divided into two groups. The first group, which includes the gimmers, are put with the tup today. Tupping of the second group of ewes will start in 21 days time. Lambing is done in the sheds at the steading. Overcrowding in the sheds at lambing is prevented by having two separate tupping dates for the two groups of ewes/gimmers. Cultybraggan has 11 suffolk tups covering a spectrum of ages, including the two shearlings bought this year at Kelso (Click here for further comment) The ewes are Scotch Mules - crosses of Blue-faced Leicester tups on Blackface ewes. The tups were seen to be getting on with their job forthwith. Wednesday 29th56 In-calve cows with their calves at foot were brought down from the Bogton hill ground to the farm steading for the Vet to do the castrations of the male commercial calves (they then become bullocks) and to attend to any residual horns that may have escaped full removal at an earlier age. Care was taken not to castrate pedigree registered calves that have good confirmation - one of the hazards of running pedigree herds along with a commercial herd of Aberdeen Angus and Limousin crosses. One irritation here is the inordinate length of time that Pedigree Societies take to issue pedigree certificates, even although Societies such as the British Limousin Cattle Society are rolling in money derived from registration fees. A further irritation is that the different pedigree cattle societies have different rules, so that an Aberdeen Angus calf has to be registered within 2 months of birth while the British Limousin Cattle Society more sensibly allows for six months. The ease with which some 100 cattle were brought down from the hill (including across the road, through a field, and then along more road to the farm) is a tribute to the stockmanship and the temperament of the herd. A major advantage of having a closed herd for some 4 years is that the cattle are accustomed to those who handle them and to the premises. Any temperamental beast has been excluded. I would submit that that is the way to deal with temperament in cattle rather then lengthy and possibly poorly designed experimental methods devised by academic scientists trying to find a genetic link with temperament and using artificial environmental situations. All 100 cattle were returned to the hill on a fine clear day straight after - nae bother - along the road, through a field, across the road and back to the hill. That is fine provided some walker - especially with a dog/dogs does not behave irresponsibly. The trouble is that he or she is likely to have little idea of what responsible behaviour on farms is, but may be well briefed on his/her so-called rights as encouraged by the draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Such people may well be putting their own lives at risk by behaving stupidly, but the real trouble is that they could also be putting the lives of farm staff and the welfare of the cattle also at risk. Yet there is no redress for such conduct and who would be liable is not clear. No doubt SNH would argue that the farmer has to take inordinate and impractical precautions in order to meet what they would consider as normal duty of care. But then, just like the general public, few within SNH are adequately familiar with how farms work ("Who runs SNH?" Click here to view). On a previous occasion, in view of the SNH draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code, I contacted Perth & Kinross Council about putting up a notice to warn the public to refrain from using that part of a right of way (a farm track) along which the cattle were to come and go during the next few hours.. The result was a threatening letter from that Council's legal department saying that I would be prosecuted if I did any such thing. How stupidly officious can a Council get? But it is the shape of things to come when those in authority backed by thoughtless legislation have little - or perhaps even no - understanding or interest as to how farms work. It is interesting to reflect that university courses on Land Management leading to honours degrees in the subject contain virtually no reference to farming despite the fact that some 80% or so of the land of Scotland is involved in some form of agriculture (for further comment Click Here to View). This time the Council were not told. The farm staff (myself included) had more than enough to do than run around putting notices along the route. It would have been a waste of time to try and contact a Council ranger - the last occasion I tried that it took 4 telephone calls and 4 days before anyone answered. Moving cattle is not something like arranging for some service to be booked that is not so dependent on weather, the availability of appropriate staff and how the cattle themselves behave on the day. Thursday 23rdWent to Morris Leslie Ltd's auction of used machinery (plant) at Erol, between Perth and Dundee. Cannot find a replacement JCB farmloader. Monday 20th12 bullocks to Caledonian Mart, Stirling for Show
and Sale. Last of lambs sold store at Caledonian Mart, Stirling as part of clearing summer grazing at Greenbrae, Braco. Let ends 31 October. The lambs on Greenbrae have not done so well this year possibly because of the persistently dry weather - not enough rain to get the grass growing well! Monday 13thAttended Central Region Committee of Scottish
Landowners Federation (SLF) in Perth. Wednesday 1stAttended Scottish Agricultural College's conference on Land Reform, at Dewar Centre, Perth September 2003Friday 12th SeptemberWent to Kelso Ram Sales. Bought two grade R1 scrapie
resistant suffolk shearlings May 20035th MayCompletion of IACS form
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