Some positive results at last

The editor at that time was David Shead, whom I had met through our Holstein cows. He asked me if I would do a Scottish Viewpoint page, which lasted every month for 22 years - up until December, 1998.

Some extracts from that article reminded me that we were (at that time) milking 85 Holstein cows, with a similar number of followers.

We were operating a two to three-day paddock system using up to 350 units of nitrogen per year. We were on a three-cut silage programme, with first cut silage analysis in 1976 of pH 4.3, dry matter of 29.6, D-value 67.2, starch 15.4 and protein 17.3.

Cattle were fed on a self-feed silage face and 2lbs of dried grass nuts were fed to the cows on the young stock feed passage with 3.5lbs/gallon fed in parlour, with the high yielders getting BOCM Gold Label in a Hunday out-of parlour feeder.

At that time, we also had a small herd of 25 pure and cross Simmental suckler cows, which we started back in 1972.

The last sentence in my first article could certainly not be relevant today! I stated - "Having finished milking I caught the 8am plane in Glasgow, arriving in Central London by 10.10 for a meeting at MAFF headquarters with two Holstein colleagues for negotiations on the removal of livestock quality controls, which was extremely frustrating!"

Fortunately, we eventually won the argument, but it took 18 months for the removal of LQC!

It was following the death of the late Sir William Young, who wrote for many years for The Scottish Farmer, under the name Kyle, that the editor of that time, Angus MacDonald, asked me if I would like to follow on in his illustrious footsteps. So you have now suffered me for more than 32 years! That is how history is made!!

Well, it looks like being a late spring in this part of the world. We have grass waving in the wind, which had slurry three to four weeks ago, at about four inches long, but the downside is it is far too tender and cold for any stock outside meantime.

We are needing some nice, dry, warm weather if there is to be any cattle grazing this month. Fortunately, we have plenty silage which we plan to feed every day of the year anyway.

This practice of feeding beef cattle inside started way back in 1972 and has continued ever since. The only change is the increase in numbers!

So, how is the beef sector? Some would say it is in pain - even then, that is probably only part of it, ie those selling finished cattle.

Some store sellers are wondering - what pain? So it depends on various circumstances. A well-known farmer from the Stranraer area who sold 100 yearling stores last week told me he was delighted with his trade!

His price was back a little but not nearly as bad as it might have been! A few minutes later, have a fellow finisher beside me at the same ring saying, Jim, I am losing money - more than a £100 a head on every fat beast leaving the farm this past month.

"It's nae working," and if I could put his accent into writing many of you would know who was complaining to me! The question round the ring is why are the store cattle prices not taking a dip in the same way as the finished cattle? We are all waiting on someone giving us a sensible answer!

Having heard all the doom and gloom about how the abattoirs are treating their suppliers with grid changes, weight reductions, no more than four moves, plus penalties for every conceivable reason why cattle are out of spec', here is some good news from the country that has largely been responsible for the downturn in UK beef values. It is called Ireland.

Here are the headlines in an Irish publication last week - 'Beef price bounces back as power shifts'! I quote: "A tightening of supplies has helped push up cattle prices over the past week with the balance of power moving in farmers' favour."

IFA livestock chair, Hendry Burns, has urged all farmers to demand an immediate 10p/kg price increase! According to him weight limits are becoming less of an issue as supplies tighten, with factories doing deals with no upper weight limits!

I am also aware of a decker load of prime cattle that will have been delivered from the Northern Ireland to the South by the time you read this column with the weight limit moved back up to 450kg and at a price that will either match or better our Scotch returns.

I can also tell you that the number of cattle crossing the Irish Channel to Cairnryan has dropped significantly, so what affect will this Irish change have on Scotland's beef market? Increase the volatility even more, is a possibility - create a tightening of supplies on GB mainland and who knows what will happen to beef values in Scotland?

Do we want to talk about it or, like me, you are bored every time you hear Holyrood Election mentioned? I think we all know what the outcome is going to be - my only concern is that when a country is dominated by one political party, it is not good for democracy.

We need a credible opposition and right now there only appears to be one possibility and that is Ruth Davidson's Conservatives. The agricultural policies of the rest just do not stand up to scrutiny.

In short, UKIP, Labour, Liberal and the Greens, have not a clue about where their food comes from, nor do they care.

Just remember that it was a Liberal in the Westminster Coalition that prevented Scotland from receiving its EU convergence cash, thus leaving Scotland's farmers at the bottom of the EU league table.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend in Northern Ireland when we were comparing what BFP we were receiving - and it is even farther apart than my earlier calculations. He has 3ha less than we do, but his BFP is three times larger than ours.

I have said many times that the CAP review was a shambles. The main reason for that was the massive 'Green' lobby in Europe. I also said that we would still have slipper farmers, which is definitely the case, but they would be different and this is now emerging!

The support that has left all the productive farms has now gone to vast tracts of unproductive moorland and heather hills with a handful of sheep and cattle that typically produce little in the way of primary food.

A few farmers have asked me, now that their BFP is so small, if they stop applying for BFP, will it reduce all the red tape regulations with which they have to comply?

For example - the three-crop rule, hedge cutting dates, slurry spreading, greening, tag inspections, and that is just a few of them.

So, does that mean if you do not receive BFP, in effect 'you canna tak the breeks off a Heilandman'. Hopefully, someone will come up with an answer, through this publication!

Now, before I leave EU regulations, here is a cracker of a new directive that was published recently (by coincidence on April 1) to set a limit on the amount of 'work' done by farm animals.

The plan currently being prepared would relate to species such as cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, goats and dogs. It includes limits on the maximum time that bulls, rams, boars, can spend with female animals, as well as how many they are allowed to serve. It will also put a ceiling on the number of off-spring female animals are allowed to bear.

Horses could be covered, with guidance on how long they are ridden, plus the maximum weight of the person riding them. The distance sheepdogs are allowed to run and the size of flocks they are allowed to work with, will be regulated.

Chickens and ducks are mentioned in the consultation, but farm cats are to be exempt as mousing and ratting are considered to be leisure activities!

The proposal comes after claims that livestock have been left knackered following prolonged encounters with multiple partners. Now that is enough to make one vote to leave the EU.

There has been really great coverage in this newspaper of This Farming Life on TV, showing farming as it actually is, good and bad in every aspect. And, even Countryfile had it right last Sunday regarding the severe financial plight in which our industry finds itself.

Even Sean Rickard got it nearly correct when he described what the future looked like for many. Our industry is going through a dramatic change and we just do not know how or when it will end.

Just take the number of dairy farms that are ceasing production! With cow values some 30% less than what they were when we stopped milking 10 years ago, it certainly does not help entering another enterprise.

Realistically, ex-dairy farms are really only suitable for livestock farming which leaves beef and sheep as their next option, or as I have previously suggested, part-time farming with another income coming from outside farming.