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Farmer Writes: silage 2023 meant pulling an all-nighter
James Strain
The first cut of James Strain's red clover silage has gotten underway with 60 bales made from five acres.
8 May 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: cattle are a rare breed
James Strain had a bit of fencing to do after letting cattle out to grass.
24 April 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: red clover looking impressive
James Strain is happy with his red clover reseed and is aiming to get the first of four cuts off it in mid-May.
Farmer Writes: diabolical weather in recent weeks
I toyed with letting some of these thinner cows out to grass over the weekend, but again the diabolical forecast for the week ahead dissuaded me.
12 April 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: is soil sampling good news or bad?
James Strains is skeptical about the results he received from the Department's soil sampling programme. However, he is a big advocate for the new liming scheme.
28 March 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: planning for first cut silage
James Strain is thinking about doing things a little differently around silage this year.
14 March 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: organising the slurry
From getting slurry agitated to getting it piped across a busy road, there’s a bit of organisation involved in getting slurry out at this time of year, James Strain writes.
28 February 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: lambs performing well
James Strain got a big batch of lambs away to the factory. However, he hopes they're not too big and are over 23kg.
14 February 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: soil sampling, even more important than ever
Many farmers may not be aware of the new nitrates and slurry rules included in the nitrate action programme 2022-2025, James Strain writes.
31 January 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: a little false economy
Waterlogged fields, fast filling slurry tanks and pneumonia are among some of the challenges the New Year has brought, writes James Strain.
17 January 2023 Farmer Writes
Farmer Writes: December stresses out of the way
With his annual herd test out of the way, James Strain is hopefully now on the wind down to Christmas.
20 December 2022 Farmer Writes
Farmer writes: my ACRES mindset
Farmer James Strain considers whether the payment rate for the riparian buffer in ACRES is worth taking a patch of land out of production.
21 November 2022 Farmer Writes