Something Different

Yesterday I went to Suffolk to have a look at some previous Nuffield scholars businesses. First stop was David Black and Son. James is a 1998 scholar who is managing director of the company. They have a 5000 sow piggery with some indoors and some outdoors. They also grow wheat, canola, barley and sugar beet. The piggery provides a great nutrient source for the cropped area while the crops provide not only grain but also straw for bedding for the pigs. I would also think that in a business like this that there is potential for bioenergy production in the future.

This canola was over my head with pods right down the plant. Most of the crops looked thick and healthy with the 5yr av been over 10t/ha for wheat and 4.5t/ha for canola. Goes to show the

benefits that manure can provide.

My second visit was to Paul Baker, 2006 scholar. Paul is successfully integrating a dairy and cropping business together. Crops grown include wheat, barley, canola, maize and sugar beet. Paul milks 190 cows and supplies liquid milk to a local co-op. All the cereals are harvested for grain, maize for silage, pasture for silage and hay, canola and sugar beet for rotation. Straw is also used for bedding in the barns.

I get the feeling that sugar beet is a risky crop. If it is harvested early before the paddocks get to wet, then it fits the rotation well. However if the harvest is late then a lot of damage can be done to the soil and you are not able to get the next crop in for a while, usually a spring barley.

These collars are something Paul picked up on his Nuffield. They are heat detectors and sense the movement when a cow is restless and throwing her head around. This is then graphed on a computer in the dairy and acted on as required. Since using the collars the herds figures have dramatically improved allowing for much heavier selection. A nice limo bull in the background too.