Regeneration future for Field Margins' dairy farmer Jim Baird

Within two days of that article being published we found ourselves shutting them back in the house for five days. With such poor growth, grass covers were starting to get rather low. We then had two proper wet days, which quickly turned the ground back to putty. So, we decided just to house them full time for a few days and let everything outside recover.

This meant that we had to use up the very last of the silage in our second silage pit. The rather yucky stuff that has been at the back of the pit for several years. That said, there were very few complaints from the cows. I think they were just glad to get a break from the weather and get a nice dry bed.

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Stockjudging at Nether Affleck attracted a good turnout from Lanarkshire young farmers (Image: web)

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Milk production has held up surprisingly well considering all the challenges. But, that has come at a significant cost. We have never fed so much summer concentrates. Also, that is the larder now empty, so silage stocks will need replenished at some point.

Luckily, we managed to nick second cut silage off in good order. We cut on June 11, thankfully, just before the rain came. In fact, the heavens literally opened as we sheeted the pit. We then had to wait 10 days till fields were just about dry enough to carry a fertiliser spreader. And we waited a further four days before we dared think of umbilical spreading slurry on to them. That can’t have helped regrowth.

That said, silage fields are looking surprisingly well considering. So, fingers crossed for a bit more heat and a decent third cut in maybe a week or so.

A few other things have been taking up our time lately. We were asked to host the Lanarkshire YFC stockjudging. To be honest, that is not really our thing. We couldn’t be much further from a pedigree cow background, and our cows are getting well on in their lactations at this stage.

So, it stressed me a bit what sort of classes we could put together. It didn’t help that I really don’t have a pedigree myself as any kind of a stock judger. However, you can only work with what you have, and while our cows might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I wasn’t ashamed of the classes we put out on the night.

While a lot of work goes in to holding these things, it really does no harm now and again. It prompts some healthy tidying up, and there were some bits of the steading washed that haven’t seen a pressure washer in a while. We also got a few repairs done, and some concrete laid that we had been promising ourselves to do for a while.

I have managed to get off-farm a few times this last month. We had a discussion group trip over to Bute. It was great to see some really good young people getting the chance of new tenancies over there. What an opportunity for them, and great for the island to get some fresh blood into the farming community.

I was also on the Nuffield Dairy Group study trip to North Wales a few weeks back. This group has been a ‘must do’ for me ever since I got my scholarship 14 years ago. It is great to catch up with everyone, and we use this trip to introduce potential scholars to what Nuffield is all about.

Discussions are always insightful, helped by the fact that we always have a full set of financial numbers to scrutinise for each farm we visit. As you might imagine, that is right up my street, and I always come back from this group buzzing.

Another trip I did this month was to Groundswell, down in Hertfordshire. For those who have never heard of it, the best way to describe it is Glastonbury for regenerative farming. It definitely has a real alternative and festival vibe to it. This is my second year at it, and I find it fascinating. As well as a host of different trade stands there are several seminar tents, and each day you find yourself sitting through five or six stimulating panel discussions on a whole range of soil related topics.

Regen farming is on trend at the moment, and this event gets bigger every year. I must admit I have a bit of a bent for this topic. It challenges a lot of our conventional commercially-driven practices and favours biological, rather than chemical, solutions. I think there is definitely something in the healthier soils = healthier stock = healthier people. And hopefully also = healthier bank balance.

As a member of First Milk, which has rebranded as ‘the regenerative co-op’ it is becoming a bigger thing for us. I am fine with that, and a lot of what we do fits well with regen principles. Minimal soil disturbance, living roots all year, and rotational grazing of stock, all regen cornerstones that work for us.

There are aspects of regen, however, that we haven’t managed to crack yet. Multi-species swards have proved a challenge. We have tried various routes to establishing them, with very little success. Even when we have been successful, plant persistence has been poor.

I suspect we are trying to shoehorn into our system plants like chicory and plantain that are perhaps not well suited to our environment. Why plant breeders haven’t focused their efforts on improving docks and dandelions I don’t know. They certainly seem to want to thrive in our fields.

I think the argument for regen is much more compelling in drier areas with low organic matter soil. Our soil organic matter is in excess of 10%, and I do wonder if that is plenty high enough? With the extremes of weather we are experiencing, increased water retention is potentially more often a problem than it is a desirable goal. I do think our soils have a lot of life about them, but it does concern me how quickly they become tender in wet conditions, as above.

We all want to do our bit for the environment and leave a positive legacy. This winter we planted 800 trees on a steeper field bank, and also planted around 1 km of hedges. The trees have certainly enjoyed the wet weather and, so far, we have had about a 100% survival rate. There is a bit of work and investment goes in to this, but it is very satisfying to see them growing, and it is definitely something we will do more of going forward.

The beauty of regenerative farming is that it is not overly prescriptive or one-size-fits-all. You are able to pick and mix, suck and see what works for you. In some ways the more you explore it, the more you realise how little we know about the soil and the biology below our feet that we all depend upon.

Working on our carbon footprint is important, but it is a very narrow focus. We need to take a broader approach that looks to enhance biodiversity and the health of our countryside. I haven’t bought the sandals yet, but I kind of feel that we are at the beginning of a journey to try to farm more with nature rather than against it.