Stocken Farm News

Hallmark November 2022. Report by Richard West

This autumn has been relatively dry, we had expected it to turn wet after the drought of the summer. We have had good recovery of grass, allowing a group of the milking cows to graze well into October and a good number of youngstock are still out.

The dry weather of the summer has certainly affected our silage stocks (the main feed for the cattle for the winter) and I think it will have to be carefully rationed over the winter to make it last.

Some of the other by products we use are also in tight supply. The supply of brewer’s grains which are the mashed residue of barley (a good form of protein) from the brewing process are in erratic supply. We use about 30 tonnes every fortnight but cannot always get them in time. The ones we use usually come from the Carlsberg Brewery in Northampton. Hopefully beer production will increase in the run up to Christmas. We are no longer able to get citrus pulp, which was the residue of fresh oranges squeezed for juice, as small part of a ration they provided sugar and fibre.

As predicted the harvest in the summer was very early (see photo of harvest behind Culverton farm). At times it was quite worrying; with tinder dry conditions, fire was a serious concern. On one day whilst harvesting, smoke could be seen from three fires, in the local area at the same time.

In the Chilterns we are at risk of fires being created when the combine skids hit flints on the ground causing sparks and starting fires. We did have a small fire behind the engine of the combine, this could have spread uncontrollably in seconds but with several fire extinguishers we were able to put it out quickly with only minor repairs to get it going again.

Compared to last year where we dried everything, this year we didn’t have to dry any grain, which saved a great deal of time and money. We did have to cool it as the grain comes in at a similar temperature to the day temperature, and it can heat up and sweat if it is not cooled.

Considering the dry year, we were very happy with the yield. The specific weight was exceptional and the Hagberg was good, however the protein was generally too low for milling wheat (I know, I did predict in the last article the protein would be high). As this is a nation-wide issue the mills have reduced the specification they require, to keep their supply. They will probably import more wheat from Canada as that usually has very high proteins.

For the last three months we have been very busy with many of the cows and heifers calving. We have been quite tight on staff over the last few months, and this creates a lot of work looking after the calves and starting to milk the heifers (new cows coming into the herd).

The new heifers are not always sure they want to be milked, they can lash out with their feet at the milker who must have their wits about them. Generally, they settle down within a few days and are fine. Thanks to all our team who have put in many hours looking after all the stock.

We have had several visitors to the farm over the last few months. Rob Butler our MP had a tour of the farm, wisely he turned up with wellies. We were able to discuss issues that are affecting farms producing food in a sustainable way.

We also had Princes Risborough Junior Young Farmers for a tour one evening. The club seems to be thriving, but new members are always welcome (you don’t have to be one (farmer) to be one). The juniors are for 10 to – 14 year-olds, the seniors are from 15 to 26 year-olds.

In June we had a fly tipping incident in a field in Smalldean Lane, this was dumped on the edge of one of our fields. This was made possible because somebody had stolen the gate from the field a few weeks beforehand.

Interestingly it was domestic rubbish and in it were several letters all from the same address, in Buckingham. The council official I was with when these were found was delighted and assured me that the resident of the address would be given a visit, hopefully they were.

I wonder if we will see more green fly tipping into fields due to the new council charges. This is always a concern as gardens often have plants that can seriously harm cattle.

The cluster group has been doing reptile surveys, thanks to Lavinia and friends who have been monitoring various sites around the farm throughout the summer. (The photo shows her checking under the mats for reptiles).

am not sure there has been much on our patch, but I do I know some farms have found grass snakes and slow worms, I expect the results will be published soon.

The cluster group is just starting some meetings discussing chalk stream catchments, specifically issues such as field run off and aquifer recharging.

Quite a few of the farms have chalk stream catchments so it should be interesting.

Hallmark May 2023. Report by Richard West

I hope by the time you read this you will have dug out your fans and sunglasses and be getting fed up with dry warm weather! The dry February allowed us to do a little field work, but it’s not until March we really have lots to do. Six weeks of damp wet weather has pretty much ground us to a halt. On Monday 27th March I think that every farmer in Bucks was out spraying or fertilising or rolling, the Monday after that was nice as well.

In March we usually are preparing to plant maize by spreading manure, and starting cultivating, aiming to plant from mid-April onwards once soil temperature has got to 10c.

Wheat will have its first fungicide to protect it from Yellow Rust and a growth regulator This stops the wheat growing too tall and strengthens it, this keeps it standing upright – as a crop that falls over is disastrous in terms of yield and grain quality. The wheat will also receive some nitrogen fertiliser with sulphur. There are many varieties of wheat that have been bred by plant breeders. They all have different characteristics like grain quality, disease resistance, lodging (falling over) resistance. We try to choose a variety that has good disease resistance, good yield has grain characteristics that our grain buyer wishes to buy. The wheat looks well at present. The feed wheat price has dropped from a peak last year of £350 per ton to under £200. We could currently sell wheat for £217 for delivery in March ‘24. On top of these prices is a milling premium for bread making wheat of between £20-50.

So, will the price of a loaf of bread drop significantly? Despite wheat flour being 75% of the ingredients it generally only contributes 11-15 % of the costs, so it will make little difference in a loaf. The value of the flour element in a loaf has dropped by about 4p. A kilogram of Milling wheat is currently worth 25p, an 880g loaf will use about 0.5kg. The other costs are milling costs, bakery costs, other ingredients, packaging, marketing, and transportation, and of course retailer costs and profits.

The milk price roller coaster ride is in full descent on the steepest slope, dairy farmers are holding on tight and shutting their eyes hoping the downhill doesn’t go on too long. Not surprisingly some want to get off (sell up)! In March our milk price went down 7%, followed by an 11% drop in April. Some of our costs are going down i.e. wheat is part of our cows ration, and fertiliser has come down, but most will have bought at much higher prices.

Charlotte has just been for a short course to the Global Training Center in Washington State studying Advanced Dairy Management. She has been to several countries recently; it is fascinating to see how they all have very different approaches to producing the same product... milk! We try to adapt the best practices from all to our situation here.

In February I went to the NFU conference in Birmingham. The I secretary of state Therese Coffey gave a speech and did a question-and-answer session.

When it came to questions, she was quite arrogant, she seemed almost bored and not interested in issues like why the UK has 1 million fewer laying hens than it did, or the costs of growing salad crops, both issues people may have noticed in empty shelves at times. (Interestingly farm shops and smaller shops seem to have supply, supermarkets have had the empty shelves, probably something about supplier relations I expect).

Later in the Commons she went on to suggest we should be eating seasonable veg like turnips rather than out of season salad, which does have some merit only for the previous largest producer of turnips to remark he had stopped growing turnips because of the costs involved and the inability to find the labour required now. Food security and policy doesn’t seem to be that important to our politicians, fingers crossed other countries keep growing and producing enough for us.

On June 11th we will be opening the farm again for ‘Open Farm Sunday’. (See pictures of our last OFS in 2018). This is an open day where we open to the public to show what we do. Hopefully there will be trailer rides to fields, machinery to learn about, calves to meet and cows to see being milked. So hopefully we will see you here, fingers crossed, hoping for that long awaited sunny weather will still be here on the day!

Hallmark November 2023. Report by Richard West

This summer Charlotte was encouraged to enter the Cream Awards. These are national awards run by the British Dairying Magazine. This starts with a written entry, which is judged to create a shortlist. Then three judges visit the farms to make their final decisions. This year the awards ceremony was in the Grosvenor Hotel Park Lane, in early September. With high hopes that she would do well (the judges visit seemed to go well) we scrubbed up and headed to London.

The trip was worthwhile, to her parents’ great pride she did well winning two categories. Firstly ‘Young Dairy Farmer of the Year’ and secondly ‘Youngstock Health and Welfare Award’. Well done, Charlotte, a good achievement, only achieved with good staff, a number of whom joined us at the Grosvenor. It is interesting how many people in the trade have seen this result and have passed on their congratulations. Charlotte is making a name for herself in the dairying world.

Back at home we have had a busy summer. With harvest weather being a bit temperamental it was a bit challenging at times and the grain quality was affected. So far, our wheat has been accepted by Heygates Flour Mill but with financial claims on most loads as it is not making full specification. The current price this year is about two thirds of what it was last year, as is our milk price, ‘both have been dropping all year. We have not noticed a significant drop in the price of milk in the shops.

We have had many cows calve this summer and autumn. We would normally sell the beef cross calves once they are about 4 weeks old, to other farmers to rear. However, since June we have been shut down with TB and unable to sell them locally.

TB looks like it must be spread by wildlife as we do not buy cattle in. The cattle that reacted to the test had been grazing in fields near Walters Ash. We must have two clear tests 60 days apart to be able to sell them without restriction. We did one in August, but it wasn't clear. We are testing at the end of October and then just after Christmas. Each test takes 4 days and many hours of Staff time preparing. Several other farms nearby (within 5 miles) that had been shut down are now Clear, so fingers crossed.

Hallmark February 2024. Report by Richard West

Finally, as we got into the new year, we have had some drier weather. The autumn has been particularly difficult with such high rainfall. The wet weather has caused us several problems, we have been unable to plant all the Winter Wheat that we planned, and some that we have has yet to fully emerge and may need replanting. We planted 60 acres of grass seeds before it started raining. This seed has rotted in waterlogged soil and will need replanting. This was for grass we hoped to silage at the end of April so another plan will have to be made. We have also ended up with more water in our dirty water lagoon, so this has needed spreading, earlier than we would have liked. Being shut down with TB we have more stock on farm, meaning more cattle are being outwintered, so drier conditions would have been preferred. No doubt it will not rain again and by summer we will be crying out for rain, it’s the way the weather seems to go at present!

The TB rumbles on with one reactor in our November test. We are testing again at the end of January. We need to have 2 clear tests to be declared TB free. We are quite over stocked, every barn is full, so we will have to look at selling some cattle at an Orange TB market. This is a market where only DEFRA registered TB fattening units can buy the cattle. Probably not very local to here and at quite a discount.

With the challenges farmers face there has been more interest in the government's environmental schemes, with quite a bit of land coming out of production. With large scale solar projects and house building also taking out land, land for food production is getting squeezed. I hope food security is a priority for the Government, it feels that it should be with the uncertainties in the world.

We have had an 8% milk price rise since the New Year, this is very welcome as we have been running under the cost of production for a few months. The price had been dropping for us for the last 12 months. I notice when the slow down in inflation is talked about food prices are mentioned as though they are just coming down, for us they have been low for 9 months at least.

Princes Risborough Young Farmers, which most of our staff are members of, have been busy in recent weeks, with 2 charity events. They organised a tractor run back in mid-December. This involved a large convoy of tractors that went from Thame via Chinnor, Princes Risborough, Haddenham and back to Thame. 225 tractors took part. Then after Christmas they did a Christmas tree collection and disposal. This was done with all the takings going to charity any costs involved the Young Farmers donated. They supported two charities the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Society which received £4,625 and the Rennie Grove Hospice which received £10,125. So, if you were held up in traffic by 225 tractors or had your tree collected by them it was in a good cause.

In 2025 Princes Risborough are holding the YFC countryside rally again, so preparations for this have already started. This will be in early June and is being held in Bledlow. Young Farmers is open to anyone (you don't have to be a farmer) from early teens up to the age of 26. They always welcome new members so if you're young and at a loose end its worth looking them up.

Our improvement work on the cattle winter housing is slowly taking shape. Hopefully it will be complete soon as it feels like the weather is changing and soon the milking cows will be better housed. The younger beef stock will stay out longer, possibly all winter.

From a drilling point of view, we still have more wheat to plant. The window of opportunity seems to get smaller each year. You cannot plant too early as the weed blackgrass will grow very strongly and be uncontrollable, but leave it too late and the ground can get too wet to work. After October yield potential gradually drops off.

We have just applied for a mid-tier agreement with the help of the Cluster group. This is an agreement for management grants and capital items to protect and enhance the natural environment. This has to be accepted by the Rural Payments Agency (part of DEFRA). We should know early in the new year if it is accepted. It involves for example tree planting, hedge planting, wildflower strips and herbal leys. Fingers crossed again we will know after Christmas, speaking of which we wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. We will hopefully be able to report the outcome in the February edition.