Farm Diary November 26 2008

On the farm, I am still searching for the missing litres of milk. The cows look very well indeed, and we are really on top of herd health now, with our lameness and locomotion scores right up there with the best in the country, which is where we want to be.

Fertility is good, which is expected when cows look after themselves rather than put the extra couple of litres in the tank, and almost all the heifers have now calved. Mastitis is still a problem, and we are still experiencing too many cases; I can only hope that the cold snap will help us in the same way as it has already assisted in the calf shed. Calves look much better since the weather turned colder and drier, with much of the chesty coughs and runny noses clearing up.

Work on the feed bunkers is completed at last, and we can now repair holes in the concrete yard, and just put the finishing touches to the cow cubicles, where a few need welding after contact with the scrapper tractor!

Our winter preparations were prolonged by the need to prepare roads and access to the Anaerobic Digester site. This week we are preparing an area for the site workers living accommodation, which consists of four double units, a canteen, and a changing room. All this arrives tomorrow (Thursday), and once the units are in place and leveled up, all we need to do is connect the water supply and electricity.

The site is now finally prepared, with the hard base all vibra-rolled to within an inch of its life. The sacrificial concrete roads that encircle the twin towers are hard now looking good, and the crane is ready and waiting (although I gather that several hours will be spent on training before it can be used).

When the construction workers finally arrive (1st of Dec: is the latest date), they will place the steel mesh, and weld it all up, before pouring the concrete bases. They will also need to put in place the miles of plastic piping, through which, hot water will flow in order to heat up the towers, once the project is completed.

They will pour both 'plates' before disappearing for their Christmas break, which is about a fortnight! They maintain that we are still on schedule to be finished at the end of February, but I've heard all this before. Well into March is my own rather optimistic finish date.

As the retailers start their all important run-up to Christmas (shops were very busy up and down the country last weekend), they have come under attack from Peter Kendall NFU President.

As more and more suppliers and farmers have been willing to speak out against the bully-boy tactics of the retailers, asking for up-front payments, loans to bolster profits, changes to terms of existing contracts, a cut to fresh produce prices and so on; it has become clear that major retailers expect suppliers to pick up the bill as they indulge in a 'free for all' Christmas price war.

I see that Morrison's is offering 'buy one '“ get two free', offers on some products, which is not only slashing prices by two thirds, but an obvious stunt to catch the shopper's eye. Consumers are not stupid, they know that price cuts are balanced by increases elsewhere in the store, but what most of them do not know is that the supplier funds the special offers more often than not.

The announcement that 'today we are starting a special offer and you will pay for it, but benefit from increase sales' is very common to most suppliers. Although retailers want to be seen as the guys wearing the white hats, riding to the rescue of the hard pressed consumer caught in a recession, they seldom take a hit on their own margin, it's generally someone else who has to bear the pain.

Given that most input prices are set for the winter with farmers and growers covering their needs, it is wrong of retailers to point to falling prices of commodities, and expecting cost of production to reflect this.

Tesco tendered for its cheese contract recently, importing vast quantities from the Irish Republic, Germany, and anywhere else that cheap cheddar could be sourced, which is not of course up to British 'Red Tractor' standard, it immediately puts pressure on all British cheese prices, as all other retailers need to sell for the same price as Tesco in order to compete.

An Ombudsman is badly needed to keep retailers on track when it comes to the way they treat suppliers. After all, as Peter Kendall said 'while we fully recognize the plight of consumers and their need to buy good value food during the credit crunch, there is enough flexibility in the margin taken by retailers to offer competitive pricing without reducing the price paid to farmers, growers and other suppliers'.