Farming

Voice Of A Farmer

Haymaking on Rawston Farm in the Tarrant Valley in the 1950s. Image: James Cossins

by James Cossins, a 5th generation farmer in the Tarrant Valley.

After an extremely wet May, June finally settled down to a spell of some warm dry weather. We were able to finish silage making in good conditions and with all the grass silage clamps ending up being full.

Most of our arable crops look in a much better state than they did during April and May, which hopefully will lead to a good harvest. One of our crops that has struggled has been our forage maize which doesn’t like cold wet conditions. With some warm sunshine maize has an incredible ability to catch up on its growth stages .The saying is ‘knee high by the 4th of July’ - this year only for a shorter person!

I have been watching with interest Jeremy Clarkson’s series about his first year in farming. It was refreshing to watch a programme showing all the good and bad things that happen on a farm - I know Andrew has written about it in his column this month, so I won’t go into much detail, but I did enjoy it. Although the financial reward may not have been there, Jeremy did admit it had been one of his most enjoyable years of his life. I hope there will be a second series, it’s given viewers a great insight to what farmers go through in a course of a year.

At home we have just completed our audit from our milk buyer cooperative Arla. A Vet spent nearly a whole day looking at all our cattle, checking their welfare. Luckily the audit took place on a warm sunny day with the majority of the cattle out grazing enjoying the weather. The Vet also checked our records of any health issues arising, and any necessary treatments that were involved.

Arla are also interested in the wider aspect of the farm - general appearance is considered, along with staff welfare, housing and the general environment they work in. Consideration is also given to how we are looking after the environment and the local wildlife; being a mixed farm we are able to create a variety of wildlife habitats such as beetle banks, wildbird areas and pollen and nectar strips in fields. Generally the Vet was complimentary to what we were doing. We have also put up cow brushes so that the cows can have a good scratch if they want to!

The main reason for doing all of this is that Arla can then say to its customers that the milk has been produced to a high standard, with not only the cows wellbeing taken into account but also the general running of the farm. This standard can be challenging at times !

This month’s pictures show haymaking in the 1950’s and then fast forward 60 years!

Modern Haymaking on Rawston Farm looks a little different! Image: James Cossins

A Farmer’s Eye on Clarkson’s Farm

You would think, as a farmer, the last thing I would want to do at home in the evenings is watch programmes on farming. But they have their merits. Check the weather for the week with Countryfile, or remind yourself “It could be worse!” with Our Yorkshire Farm; “I could have nine kids!”

The issue with TV programmes on farming and agriculture is they are actually quite dull. They don’t have to be like Saving Private Ryan, but there’s only so many times you can watch Matt Baker talking about his dog in the middle of a field before you are bored. So, when I heard that Jeremy Clarkson was to take on farming in Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, my ears pricked up and I was intrigued.

“I’m basically Allan Sugar in wellies!” Exclaims Clarkson, whilst moments later electrocuting himself close to tears on his fencer… What’s not to like about that?

With no knowledge of how to farm, the 61-year-old decided in 2019 that he would begin to run his £12.5 million farm in Oxfordshire. The show is funny, entertaining and insightful.

However, as a farmer, it’s the sheer relatability that stands out. He experiences the same struggles and strife as every other poor bugger praying for his grass to grow across the country.

For example, every farm has someone as incomprehensible as Gerald. An individual so isolated to their village that they have begun to formulate their own language of utterances and murmurs. Fellow locals can converse with ease, but as soon as you cross counties borders you might as well be listening to Greek.

Every farm has a single archnemesis - the weather. Clarkson is no different. The show was filmed across 2019 and 2020, which were devastatingly wet and dry respectively. Crops and soil are such delicate infrastructures and when margins on profit are so small, we rely heavily on hoping for breaks in the clouds in the winter - and elaborate rain dancing in our flip flops in the summer.

On a personal level, I resonate a lot with Clarkson and his struggles. Most agricultural kids and Young Farmers are birthed on tractors. I, on the other hand, was brought up on a tractorless smallholding, meaning that, to me, they are big scary machines with what is frankly an unnecessary amount of buttons and levers that I think are mainly for show. Yes... I have punctured the odd £600 tyre, and yes I have bent and smashed the odd gate, but I try and count it as a learning process from day to day.

Unusually, Clarkson isn’t really the star of his own show. Young contractor Kaleb Cooper holds the limelight. Funny, intelligent and terrified of leaving his home in the village of Chadlington, Kaleb manages to take Clarkson down a peg or two across the eight episodes. If you would like to meet a Kaleb, Tuesday evenings, down your local pub, you will find a dozen or so individuals with an encyclopaedic knowledge of tractors and trailers. These makeup what is “He experiences the known as your same struggles and local Young strife as every other Farmers Club; buy them a poor bugger praying Jäeger Bomb and for his grass to grow they’ll talk to you across the country.” for hours. I really can’t recommend this show enough. Clarkson’s Farm has done more for agriculture than Countryfile in nearly 25 years. Whilst being the usual entertainer, Clarkson displays his passion and love for the countryside and manages to put farming on the map.