Almost one year on from winning the RABDF NMR Gold Cup, Alistair Logan reflects on the year just gone and what 2024 might hold, both for the farm and wider industry.
When I sit down to write this article every month, ‘what will I write?’ is my usual first thought: the second one is ‘I better hurry up as the deadline for the copy is probably passed’ (sorry editor!).
But as we are now into another new year I thought I’d take the chance to have a look back at last year, and also look forward with some thoughts on what 2024 might have in store for us here at Holehouse and the industry in general.
2023 will definitely go down as one to remember, as it’s not every day that you are a presented with the RABDF NMR Gold Cup, but last February that is what happened to us. And that led to a whirlwind year of farm visits, open days etc.
I think now that it’s all in the past we can look back with pride at the award and what we have achieved. Our name is on the trophy and this year’s winner will be amongst the four finalists recently announced.
One of them has been there before, winning 10 years ago, so it is a great achievement to have that consistency of still being up there. The others I am sure will be feeling the same as we were; a mixture of excitement, pride and a little bit of uncertainty as to what it all means.
One thing it does mean is that you are recognised for doing an excel-lent job of running your farm in a professional manner, and we should all learn in agriculture to be prouder of what we do day in, day out – after all No Farmers, No Future. Looking forward to this year, a small chink of light is beginning to come into view at the end of a pretty dark tunnel of low milk prices, compounded by stubbornly high input costs.
Several milk processors are starting to raise prices; hopefully the others will follow suit, but the elephant in the room will be heading into the spring and the traditional increase in production. Hopefully demand is able to suck up the increase and not knock the price straight back down again.
Surplus heifers
We have a lot of surplus heifers in the pipeline again this year and prices are rising on the back of the increase in confidence in the milk price. They look like a better group than last year in general, and I think that better bull selection choices are really starting to pay off. When you are selling surplus stock, especially through the ring at Carlisle, most of the buyers are buying on looks first, then pedigree and then maybe they might have a passing look at genomics.
Although we are genomically testing all of our heifers and using the data to make more informed decisions on health traits etc, type still sells. I’m not talking about show type; rather functional type with dairy strength, capacity, nailed-on udders, and legs and feet built to last a lifetime on concrete. We forget about these traits at our peril, and in my opinion the drive to small cows is not one we should be getting too hung up on. A computer programme focusing on the wrong things could quickly leave you with a herd of cows that are not what you thought you were going to have.
This year we had planned to build another silage pit, but with milk prices and interest rates where they are and tax bills to pay, a year of consolidation is going to be the order of the day. Although you never like to stand still too long, sometimes an intake of breath is needed, and maybe a reappraisal of where we are as a business.
New wind turbine Construction work has started on the 3MW wind turbine and it’s expected to be commissioned in late summer, so that will start to provide another reasonable income later this year. The civil engineering works on the road have taken us by surprise slightly both in terms of scale and mess! There are upwards of 30 men, each of them working with machines of various shapes and sizes; and the amount of diesel being burnt and earth moved each day – all for one turbine – is frightening. I wonder if they’ve done a carbon audit on the fabrication and construction phase of these projects? I bet the carbon emissions are way higher than our cows’ emissions further down the hill!
Environmental pressures Environmental pressures on all types of farming will continue to grow year-on-year, both from environmental lobby groups and our own government. I really feel that organisations that are supposed to represent us, like the NFU or indeed the RABDF, need to use their influence a lot more to push back against the negativity surrounding farming and its carbon footprint.
I really believe that we are very much part of the solution to the problem, and that our benefits to the country are being forgotten about by many groups – and this is being facilitated by the mainstream media.
Maybe this is the year we should take a stand and take a leaf out of the German farmers’ book and organise large-scale demonstrations. I know it won’t happen, it’s not a very British thing to do!