Unfortunately, this year we fell victim to a surprisingly rare occurence of a field fire. Considering the required dry conditions for harvest this is only the third time in my lifetime that I can remember a harvest time fire and this is by far the most destructive. The fire took hold on the field known […]
Polehanger Field Fire Read More »
That was a quick two months. Summer stuttering and stumbling into autumn almost unnoticed. I like September and October. A time of harvest, ‘mellow fruitfulness’ and new beginnings (as far as next year’s autumn sown crops are concerned at least). It’s also the start of the domestic rugby season, though I haven’t played for a
Crop Rotation: Oakley gives way to Rhino Read More »
Weather or not Remember my comments a month ago; and remember also that I am writing a month before you read this. How do you remember the weather in June? We had a week away in Devon in the middle of the month and that county was rapidly rehydrating whilst we were there! There was
Weather or not Today (6th June) my heart is singing (quietly to itself, you understand) like the blackbird in the rain in our garden. We have had the best part of 20 hours of steady rain which, together with a couple of decent rains a week or so ago, at last brings some welcome relief
Global Food Shortages Read More »
Where are the weeks going? Already as I write Snowdrops are well on flower and crocuses are showing through. The days, especially evenings, are noticeably longer. The light is different and the birds know something is changing. On a lovely crisp sunny morning earlier this week a pair of buzzards were wheeling and mewling above
Higher Level Scheme and more Read More »
Suddenly, 2011 is off at a gallop, the struggle with the snow and severe frosts in December a distant(ish) memory and Snowdrops are showing shoots through slumbering soil. Once again, though always missing our cows, I am so relieved that we are no longer dairy farming, and struggling with frozen water pipes, (150 cows producing
Global Wheat Prices Read More »
As promised, I am going to try to outline the process that a grain of seed wheat (and the plant that it becomes) is undergoing at the time of any particular issue over the coming year. Please understand that I am not an agronomist so my explanations may not be perfect! An arable farming year
Oakley: A Month in the Life of a Wheat Plant Read More »
It’s Saturday morning,11th September, and it’s not hot; not even warm. What a contrast to the start I made to my article two months ago! Two big events have occurred since last I wrote, in the personal, local context. The terrible floods in Pakistan and Niger, for instance, are another matter and in another league.
Seasonal Conditions and the effects on Yield and Harvesting Read More »
Rainfall ( lack of ) Everywhere around here is dry. The weather pundits say the first six months of this year are the driest for 80 years or so. The country is split at the moment with rain in the north and west but it is hot and dry in the south east. Even so
Arable crop farming is by its very nature, seasonal and annually repetitive. I have now been compiling this diary for more than a year and should really be looking back to make sure that I don’t go over the same things as last year. But of course that is inevitable in the general sense. The
Thoughts on the Mega Dairy Read More »