Farm Diary

Although tricky, the spring and early summer have been very good and we have made the best of the weather available. The maize fields look good (the best now up to my shoulders!), some sunshine in July would be a much needed boost to this hot climate plant.

As July arrives and the threat of Blue tongue becomes real, I am relieved that all our animals are now vaccinated. We need to freeze brand our heifers in preparation for calving in the autumn, and we hope to do this in the next week or so.

We have had a cow with 'Listeria' infection, which is similar to meningitis and equally serious. It is usually picked up from feed, and this cow became ill three weeks ago. After many days of standing with her tongue hanging out, she gradually recovered and amazingly has remained in calf. This does not happen too often I can tell you.

As both silage cuts had to be clamped in the same pit this year, which filled the clamp right up, covering the maize silage I was feeding to the fresh calving cows, I had a problem.

I decided to follow an example I saw a few weeks ago and start feeding the green grass on day one, and continue to feed it as it gradually fermented into silage. I was surprised to see that by keeping the silage face tidy with the block-cutter, we experienced no problem. Intake levels were not affected in the slightest, and milk yield has remained steady.

It has been interesting to watch the change in the material over a number of days and I have been surprised by how quickly the grass turned into silage.

The benchmark of currency across the world, the 'Big Mac' is going up in price. With 30,000 restaurants across the world, where the cost can be compared with great accuracy, Ralph Alvarez, McDonald's President was in London last week to talk about strategy in the world of higher food prices.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 2