Farm Diary July 16

We recorded 33ml of rain on Wednesday and it rained from before dawn to well after dusk. It really is unusual for it to rain steadily for so many hours without pause.

The maize has enjoyed the large drink and a third cut of grass silage is in the bag, with plenty of grazing now secured into August. Mind you, we have most of our cows back in again while we wait for better conditions and the cow tracks have taken another beating.

Second-cut silage seems to be stable now and the early analysis indicates it is rather good.

We fed it from the day it came in as fresh grass and continued to feed it as it slowly fermented and turned into silage. We have seen no detrimental effect on intakes or yield. If only I had known that this could be done, it would have saved some serious hassle over the years. Third cut will be in soon, and as we are only cutting the new lays it should be very good indeed.

Furious calculations are taking place in my office daily as I attempt to cut costs and protect my margins. As feed, fertiliser, fuel and power costs have risen sky- high, the very good milk price we all receive at present is all going to be eaten up unless I do something.

Attempting to cut purchased feed and fertiliser means more power and contract costs.

Grass and maize silage are still, however, the best bet, and if yield and quality are really very good the financial gap between home- grown forages and purchased feed has grown, despite the increased fuel and contract charges.

We cut our purchased-fertiliser bill year on year but it is getting more and more difficult to find ways of cutting it further.

If I take the bull by the horns I could re-seed the remaining acreage with clover-rich swards. We only buy 100 tonnes of nitrogen and this year I will have some left over. How much could I cut this bill by? I think 20 tonnes would be about right, and as I would need to cut the new leys more often for quality and to look after them properly I could give up some rented silage ground in order to save more money.

If we do decide to reseed the silage ground, should I introduce a tram-line system (as the arable farmers do) so that fertiliser can be applied very accurately?

This sounds extreme, but after doubling in value and continuing to go up in price, can I afford not to take all precautions with bagged nitrogen in the future?

All farmers should take fertiliser storage very seriously as this high-priced commodity is much more likely to be stolen in the future. Fertiliser is stolen off farms every year and theft is bound to increase as high prices and availability become an issue.

It looks as if it is going to cost me 11p per litre of milk for the purchased feed alone this winter. Given that the average price of milk is just under 26ppl, that means 45 per cent of the current milk price will be spent on feed.

Of course, the price will move up because of a growing shortage and rising costs of production, but by how much? I have seen the latest industry costings showing an increase of 2ppl since the last publication in April, when the average cost of production was 26.4ppl.

By the winter, I suspect that another penny will have worked itself through, bringing the total nearer to a staggering 30ppl.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn predictably came up with a spineless, populist response to the TB problem and badgers.

In his statement to the House of Commons, he said: "A cull might work but equally it might not."

He has, at a stroke, deprived many farmers of hope, forgetting their misery and hardship altogether. He has virtually guaranteed less milk production in this country, which will push prices even higher for consumers. And he has increased the carbon footprint of the industry because of the waste of animals and the need to constantly breed very large numbers of replacement animals to prevent dairy cow numbers falling even more sharply.

Worst of all, he has condemned to death an increasing number of cows, which is predicted to reach 40,000 this year.

This costs the taxpayer almost 100m a year and is set to increase sharply each year.

Together with the Badger Trust, the RSPCA and others, he has decided to escalate the suffering of badgers (and deer) while failing to protect all healthy badgers in the country. I ask again. Who is looking after the welfare of my healthy cows and healthy badgers?

This feature appeared in the West Sussex Gazette July 16, 2008. To read it first see the WSG every Wednesday.