Posts by Malcolm Barker
Farming News – June 2021
This is the month for sheep shearing and hopefully the making of silage and the best hay, if the weather permits.
Read MoreFarming News – May 2021
Well, we wanted the rain to stop and we got what we wanted. The rain stopped at the perfect time, allowing all the spring crops to be sown with relative ease.
Read MoreFarming News: On Lambing – March 2021
I usually know when a ewe is soon to give birth. She licks her lips and talks to her unborn lambs in a gentle bleat, which is in contrast to the loud, harsh bleat when shouting for food.
Read MoreFarming News – February 2021
The phone call came out of the blue. Was I interested in renting out some land for a solar farm? This was pushing at an open door with me because I have heated our house for the last 30 years with logs gathered from our own woodland and have always tried to find the most environmental route to follow.
Read MoreFarming News – January 2021
January was named after the Roman god Janus whose head had two faces, one looking forward into the coming year and the other facing backwards to the old year.
Read MoreFarming News – December 2020
When I left school, farming was simple. Produce food for people to eat, as much as possible to feed the nation. The more we farmers produced the better off we were financially. By the time of the Ethiopian famine, I thought that we could help feed the world.
Read MoreFarming News – November 2020
This year potato picking is slow, challenging work as the ground is heavy and wet after a year of drought and flood and an unusually dark summer making all varieties smaller. As I write, half the potatoes are picked and half still in the ground. All the potatoes I grow, Valour, Eurostar and Rudolph, are…
Read MoreFarming News – October 2020
The crop yields this summer have been poor to average at best. In a normal year imports would fill the ensuing shortages but after the New Year it is possible that Brexit may cause a bottleneck at the ports leading to shortages on the shelves.
Read MoreFarming News – July 2020
The landscape has suddenly turned green since last month. The parched grass (which can reveal archaeological features) has become vibrant and is now growing fast.Â
Read MoreFarming News – May 2020
Seen from my tractor window, one of the few good things to come out of the lockdown is the number of families walking around the village. I hope this family time continues when the current crisis is past.
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