Produce less!

July set a new record for rainfall with six inches - though I know others were higher - but this is the highest I have recorded in more than 30 years. As I pen these thoughts a week before you read them, today being August 15, it is the first time since June 13, that we have had more than two days dry consecutively, and, so far, apart from a few spits, this will be three!

Already our countryside is improving since a week ago. What a difference a blue sky, sun and a bit of drouth can do, plus the obvious pleasure of watching the livestock enjoying the sunshine too.

At the end of June, we had close to 500 head grazing grass that was looking pretty good, but by the end of July we only had 150 left outside as we housed them rather than do irreparable damage to pastures which would either never recover or take a lot of work, and cost to restore them.

With the turnaround in conditions of the past three days and a favourable forecast for the week ahead, we have turned out about 150 in the past day, in the hope that we can reduce the amount of grass that has shot in every direction and topped it in order to get this all-grass farm looking more like the way we are used to seeing it.

It certainly was not looking its best on the night of the July 29 when we hosted some 250 people at the Forth and Clyde Valley's NFUS annual stockjudging.

It was good to see so many faces that I see on a more regular basis at markets and shows. Several made the comment that they had been looking forward to the visit to see how we finish close to some 3000 prime cattle per year, and the good news is that we raised close to £2000 for two charities - the new Beatson cancer unit being built in Airdrie and, the RSABI fund. The Gaindykehead Highland burgers were enjoyed by all!

In July, on my annual trip up to Dingwall Mart's anniversary sale, I witnessed another record as it was the most expensive sale I have ever attended since I started our beef enterprise way back in 1972, when my first stores cost £42 per head.

This sale coincided with prime beef rising back to 370p/kg, which meant that there was some confidence back in the beef finishing business. That was compounded by an excellent show of 1500 head, assuring sellers went home delighted with their trade.

The downside was I ended up with only half a decker load of the most expensive cattle I have ever bought! Having said that, I do enjoy going to Dingwall.

Of all the markets I attend it must be the most efficient at moving cattle in and out of the sale ring. There are no sticks, no shouting and the lot going out just manages through the gate before the next one comes in.

Hold ups just do not happen, with no time wasted or momentum faltered, nor is there an army of white coats wondering what to do. Well done, Dingwall staff! You are good at your job!

I was commenting earlier about how bad our countryside was looking because of the rain, but there is another disaster that is making our countryside look disgraceful - the new rule that does not allow the trimming of our hedges until September! What a crack-pot idea!

Tractor mirrors are being broken, machinery and cars scratched on our narrow country lanes. Whoever came up with this crazy red-tape rule needs their brains tested.

Now, on the same theme, 10 years ago I thought it was Brussels, aided and abetted by Westminster, that wanted to turn Scotland into a wildlife park.

Now, I am not so sure that is the case. Judging by the latest happenings I am beginning to think the mandarins at Holyrood are of the same mind with their support for raptors and the latest idea of introducing golden eagles into the south of Scotland.

It is becoming ever clearer that the do-good brigade would certainly like to see the end of food production from our land and just cover it with wildlife of every possible kind.

I am also beginning to wonder if the longest serving agri minister in the EU 28 is becoming of the same ilk as the do-gooders.

Richard Lochhead's decision that Scotland should opt-out from growing any GM crops is a backward step. This little country, particularly since the Second World War, has been at the fore-front in agricultural research and development in many aspects; none more so than crop development.

The banning of this technology is a very retrograde decision. Already the rest of the world is moving ahead of us with an ever increasing acreage of GM crops being grown for the benefit of an ever growing world population.

Take just one product alone - potatoes. This tiny country supplies seed around the world and if that trade cannot supply blight resistant produce these customers will certainly go elsewhere for their seed potatoes, and that is just one example!

As to the headline 'Consumers do not want GM food' - this is total rubbish. They are already eating it and they simply do not know.

Just take last week with the thousands of trucks stacked up waiting to cross the English Channel in both directions. Are you telling me that all the food being imported is GM free?

If you think that is the case you need to wake up to reality. The world is a very small place today with GM produce going around it in every direction.

Banning it being grown is one thing, but there is no chance of it being banned from supermarket shelves!

As the rest of the world knows, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

No one world-wide has died from eating GM food and there are millions eating it every day, and they do not know or care so long as they are enjoying their food.

What about the thousands of Scots that go on holiday every day, particularly to the US and Canada where they have no chance of eating anything else but GM-produced food .

They come back to tell us that the steaks are great at the BBQs - and the cattle have been fed on nothing else but GM maize and grain!

As you know, I was involved with milking cows for 50 years. I have to say I enjoyed most of it and I have milked some great cows like Scotland's then highest yielder, Radar Jean, way back in 1976.

My first article when I started this column in May, 1982, was given the headline by the editor at that time, Angus MacDonald, of 'Why we need supply management'.

Our first visit to Canada was November, 197,1 when I became hooked on the greatest dairy cow in the world, the Holstein.

Over the next 20 years, I was a regular visitor to the country I once called my second home. During that period I became acquainted with many of the Ontario Milk Board members and staff and learned how and why they introduced a milk quota system in 1969, which is still in place today with Canadian farmers receiving in excess of 40p per litre.

Over production of milk is not a new phenomenon. We had it here in the UK in the 1970s and up until SM came into force on April, 1984.

In the run up to their introduction, I was a regular visitor to Brussels over the two years previously, giving my input as to how a quota system should work in the EU in order that the butter and milk powder mountain could be reduced.

This happened reasonably quickly, which dramatically reduced storage and export subsidy costs. The introduction of quotas came with a 6% cut in production throughout the EU, based on the previous year's production.

The UK had a 9% cut with the 3% being distributed to new entrants and special cases. The system worked for 30 years reasonably well with a satisfactory level of return to producers over the period.

When it was announced by Brussels that SM was to be terminated on March, 2015, this column made it absolutely clear in no uncertain terms, that disaster would follow.

I am repeating again that there is worse to come, unless there is some form of SM.

I applauded Graham's Dairies for introducing a form of quota with its A and B pricing system, as it was not the worst idea in the world and it has been adopted by some other processors in the UK.

Today, I am saying to both processors and producers - get your heads together round the table and come up with some form of SM and A and B pricing may not be the worst because the ability of today's cows to produce more milk, with the genetics available plus TMR feeding, is significant.

The alternative of doing nothing is that 25% of milk producers in this country will be out of business in six months.

The reality is that the balance of supply and consumption is relatively small, which means that, today, a two to three percentage drop in production throughout the EU would be enough to bring the market back into balance.

As I have said in this column and to fellow producers many times before, we farmers need to produce less of every product - that's the only way to create 'supply management'!