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November-15-05 - Autumn 2005

The past month has been very favourable weather wise and has enabled us to catch up with cultivation work. The cereal stubbles were given a coating of either compost or muck,  ploughed, cultivated and sown with winter Oats and Triticale. The fields were then rested for a few days and then comb harrowed. One of the difficulties that we face growing organic cereals is that the weed competition is great and if left unchecked, the weeds would smother the crop. The first step is to choose the right crop and varieties. We grow Oats and Triticale due to the long straw length, which also helps with shading any weed growth after sowing. Secondly we aim to sow the seed reasonably deep so that the seed has sufficient soil cover. The fields are then left for a few days so that any weeds germinate on the surface of the soil. We then comb harrow the fields to try and pull out any small weeds that have germinated. This process is repeated both pre and post crop emergence depending on the ground conditions. This is also carried out in the spring to give the crop the best chance possible to grow without weed competition.

On the beef front, the autumn herd are nearing the end of their calving period with three cows left to calf, to date we have had two still births, two sets of twins and no assisted calvings. So we are on an even keel overall! The finishing steers and heifers are now housed on their winter rations. Although we have a reasonable supply of grass, quality at this time of year deteriorates and we have to keep these finishing animals going in the right direction to attain the right finish levels within the specified weights and ages. We visited the Waitrose abattoir in Yorkshire last week to take part in a training course on their newly implemented 15 point grading system. This follows the lead of some other European abattoirs and I believe is the first one to do so in this country. The EUROP grading system is still the basis of the new system, but each category is split into 3 so that they will be able to differentiate each group better. Looking at this cynically, it is another way of dropping the price! Seriously though, better quality will be rewarded and animals that do not meet their specifications will be more heavily discounted.

Last Thursday was spent at Builth Wells at the annual Welsh Organic Producers’ Conference and was a chance to catch up with some old, and a few new faces. The main political parties at the Assembly and Westminster were represented and assured us that there was a future for Organic Farming in Wales. Other worthwhile topics discussed during the day were Benchmarking and the need for us all to calculate our costs of production (Organic or not) and the need for us to work more closely with our local schools to provide good wholesome food and to educate the next generation where their food comes from and how it is produced. This was highlighted by the statistics that 90% of the food purchased in this country is processed and only 40% of our school children know how to cook a potato. Food for thought!

Written By: Gareth Jones

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