This month Alistair Logan writes his column from sunnier climbs – Lanzarote – and reflects on the importance of a break from the farm, both mentally and physically. Attention will soon turn to final preparations for the RABDF / NMR Gold Cup Open Day.
As I have done in my previous articles I’ll start with my weather report – currently 32°C and sunny yes you’ve guessed it, I’m not at home, where the summer has done a disappearing act and it’s now wet with temperatures in the mid-teens °C.
Not ideal when we need to take a second cut of silage, shear the sheep and prepare for the Gold Cup open day.
Anne, Rachel, Cameron and I are currently in Lanzarote enjoying the sun and having a recharge of both the physical and the mental batteries. Although we always make time for a holiday, this is the first time for several years we’ve needed a passport to do so. I think that in agriculture we are too often consumed by work and don’t get away from it all often enough; granted, this is sometimes easier said than done.
Mental health
Our mental health is something that is being talked about more in our industry, and I think it’s not before time, as the stresses of running a business, often with pressures coming from so many different angles, can be overpowering. It’s easy to understand how it can get too much, especially if you feel you’ve run out of options.
If this is the situation you start to find yourself in, please talk to some.one, if not in your own house or family then there are many people and helplines out there who will be only too happy to listen; often a trouble shared is a trouble halved.
One of the big pressures that we are currently facing is the falling milk price, a common occurrence in dairying. However, the weakening commodity prices are softening the blow, with feed down significantly, fuel down c.40% and fertiliser down by more than half.
However, beef prices too are now falling, with cast cows down markedly – and this is now being reflected in the price of dairy heifers, which are now down to prices not seen since the early part of 2020, a three-year low at Carlisle this month.
“I think that in agriculture we are too often consumed by work.”
Overall, things are in a bit of a state of flux and some price stability would be welcomed by all, especially in the milk price. But with production still strong in the face of softening demand the signs are not encouraging. We know all too well that it would help the milk price if we all cut production, but realistically one of the other main pressures a lot of dairy farms have is from their bank manager. To cut production with a falling price, and receive a smaller milk cheque, might not go down very well, especially with the increasing interest rates, which are not encouraging anyone to increase borrowing.
I guess we have all seen this situation before, and although we have very little or even no control over milk price, we can all try to keep control of our costs and do things as well as we can on our own farms.
Our thoughts here at Holehouse are now starting to turn towards the Gold Cup Open Day, which is not much more than a month away; a look at the calendar and something that seemed a long way away is suddenly just around the corner – it certainly helps to focus minds!
Most of our to-do list is well on track, although unfortunately our building project has fallen behind, with the builder having been away for over four weeks due to lack of materials and other jobs needing to be done.
They will be back this week and are still assuring us that it will all be done before August 10 – just look out for wet concrete on the day! We need to get it completed, not just for the open day but for ourselves, as we have a bit of a backlog of calves and have moved some of the beef calves to Glengarth, our beef farm, which is one mile away; not ideal but needs must.
“We look forward to welcoming you to Holehouse on August 10.”
There are a few other bits and pieces to do, not least silaging, with the weather making it difficult as we’ve had at least some rain most days for the past few weeks – frustrating! (But good for power output from the hydro-electric plant – as they say, every cloud has a silver lining.)
This will be my last article before the open day so I hope that as many of you as possible will make the journey to North Ayrshire to see what we do here. The day is being well supported by sponsors and trade stands, and it would be great to see a good turn out to support them. We also have a top-notch line up of speakers who I’m sure will be not only informative but also entertaining.
We look forward to welcoming you to Holehouse on August 10.