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Over the Farm Gate – This week kindly supplied by Sir Jim & Gordon Paice Herts/ Cambs
A small celebration when my last cow calved a couple of weeks ago, picture attached. She is
for sale with her calf as she is so far out of sync with the rest who finished in May.
Nevertheless a quick process and a healthy calf are always a relief. Once we got some rain
the grass grew at an amazing rate, and they will all have enough to last until the end of
November which means less hay for the winter.
Wearing my hat as chairman of the Game and Wildlife Trust we had a visit from the new
minister of agriculture to our research and demonstration farm in Leicestershire within days
of his appointment. He is a farmer himself and seems determined to try to simplify all the
new schemes. Time will tell and with the present shambles he may not be there long.
Over in Hertfordshire Gordon has had an easy harvest like most people followed by the
shortest drilling season they have known. The sugar beet was all lifted at the beginning of
October in good conditions and the land is all drilled with wheat. Last year the beet were
not even lifted until February. Of course, yield has been much lower but the early entry for
the wheat will compensate. This year was the first with his new Avatar direct drill following
a low disturbance subsoiler. A great opportunity to get to know the drill in easy conditions
but he is very happy with it. Certainly, the seed has germinated well and everything looks
good. Of course, any farmer knows that things could go wrong any minute so don’t be
complacent. Forecasts of another drought next year are worrying especially if we do not
have a wet winter to fill the aquifers. However, having driven for nearly 4 hours in pouring
rain yesterday the idea of a drought seems far away.
Back at Camgrain the decision by John Latham to stand down as Chairman will leave big
boots to fill. He is synonymous with the success of Camgrain and has presided over
incredible growth. As the local MP and for ten years as a Director I have watched that
growth which show what good leadership can deliver. Others will have even longer
memories and will tell their own stories but be not in any doubt what the members owe to
John.
Sir Jim & Gordon Paice
