Uncertainities of farming economy are hard to handle
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The last month seems to have flown and I have just noticed that the sun has moved around to the south and is setting sooner.
Our silage was made without too many dramas, one field got rained on but it was still good quality and will feed our ewes through the winter.
We weaned the lambs around July 20, at about 10-11 weeks of age. This is earlier than most people, but we were forced to do it in 2018 due to the dry summer and have found that it works well for us.
The lambs seem to settle quickly and I’m pretty sure the ewes with twin lambs are pleased to see the back of them. A twin ewe with two 28kg lambs is rearing almost her own bodyweight.
The ewes will now graze until October, when we will be start thinking about making sure they are in good condition for the tups going out in late November.
We will sell nearly all our Suffolk cross lambs in Dingwall this Friday. Like the calf sales it is a nerve-racking day, when nearly a year’s work goes through a ring in a matter of minutes. With over 720 booked, this is one of the days when we find out if we have a good or not so good financial year.
After a dry spring, there is now plenty of feed around and so far prices in other marts have been good. Unfortunately, restrictions mean we will only be able to see our own lambs sold and then have to leave. So we will be crossing all our fingers and toes that the lambs look good and the buyers are feeling flush.
John F Kennedy said: “The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale and pays the freight both ways.” Unfortunately this is still mostly true, though we would need to include women in the quote to bring it properly up to date.
That we are also one of the only industries that works for a year not knowing what we will be paid and having little say over it, is also a bit disheartening.
Imagine going to work for a month, or even a year, not knowing what you will be paid, and at the end of it asking your boss to decide in a few minutes based on the whims of consumers and politicians.
There is no easy solution to this. Theoretically we operate in an economic system of demand and supply determining price. But how do you justify that to a dairy farmer, producing a high demand product and often paid below the cost of production for it because supermarkets use cheap milk to get shoppers through the door.
For many years there has been a push (mostly from Government) for British agriculture to produce more for less.
Due to the size and scale of UK farms and legislative requirements that create more cost and work, competing for price in an international market is very difficult.
Recently it feels as though there has been a move away from this thinking to a position of recognising that we have a unique and high quality product and this is the point of difference we should be marketing, instead of a race to the bottom of food standards.
That said, there are many British farmers who are at the forefront of innovation, technology and environmental studies.
I follow some of them on Twitter and the breadth and depth of ambition and knowledge inspires me to think outside the box and continue to try new things.
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