Farm Diary

We shall be spreading some fertilizer around very soon on the new grass leys, mainly potash and phosphate with a little nitrogen to start things up.

Should it dry up in the next few weeks, we will start spreading some separated slurry water on the grass at Crouchlands, cutting down on the very expensive chemical nitrogen as much as possible.

I have only purchased 75 per cent of last year's nitrogen fertilizer, hoping to save the other 25 per cent by utilising our own manures. Last year's usage was half the amount we were using five years ago, so I do feel that we are making real progress, especially as almost all the maize is now grown with our own solid manures.

Following the theft from the farm and farmhouse, I've spent most of the last week dealing with the police, the insurance men and the firearms officer. The police have actually been very good, and have made useful progress considering their very limited resource.

We have had significant developments, and with the assistance of some spirited local people, good progress is being made. At a local farmer meeting the other night, many farmers were telling me of the persistent thieving and break-ins which blight their lives.

Many of their houses have been broken into, and some are taking a fairly practical approach to defending their families should it happen again. One farmer told me that there is only one way to deal with vermin!

We've been hit with a milk price cut along with everyone else. It seems that the industry has taken more or less two pence across the board, some of which is due to commodity price pressure (on cheese for example), but others have cut (on liquid milk) just because they can.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette February 11