The year round: All is green on our land at the moment

On our 74-acre lowland holding the 50 acres of wheat, include grafton grown here for the first time, all our fields are mainly clear of nettles and thistles as we spray regu- larly.

We sow no break crops to clean the land. We have neither cattle or sheep, but maintain a high level of fertility through regular dressings of pig slurry and poultry manure.

All is looking green at the moment.

Winter wheat was sown here at 12.5 stones per acre, or 180kgs using metric.

I now find metric easier to use when reckoning sowing rates. Crops here have had their first weed sprays of the season.

Our 30,000 poultry here have reached the 40-week stage. Fertility rates of 90 per cent are pleasing, and mortality has been low. All birds are housed, with modern egg collecting and grading equipment.

Interesting meetings attended include details of Danish pig production. Danish methods have been followed in the UK for years, as the small farms there are constantly on the lookout for new methods to increase production.

They are pioneering a system of early weaning of piglets that enables the surplus young to be brought on from other litters.

This results in larger numbers to substantially increase output.

Whether this will be attempted here remains to be seen. With the world population constantly increasing it may well be attempted.

The cost of feeding seems to go up with every order so we must try any new techniques available.

At White Smocks we did some forward buying but with hindsight we should have done much more. This is a common farming problem at the moment.