It always amazes me how the months fly by on the farm. It is one thing that I have learned through harvest is there is no concept of time in farming. Hours, days, and weeks all start to blend into one! As I write this, I am taking a sneaky break from doing some Continuing Personal Development training (CPD) for carrying out Crop Spraying. October has been quite the month for training; as we have also been doing first aid, farm health and safety and risk assessment refreshers, and also catching up with all of our other CPD and professional registrations.
A lot of people think that farmers just drive tractors and ‘grow stuff’, but there are lots of very strict rules and regulations to follow to allow us to grow crops and rear livestock. For our crops we are inspected annually by Red Tractor Food Assurance, and for livestock, we have 3 monthly vet and also RSPCA assurance inspections to make sure everything is tippity top! Spraying is even more technical, with us having to attend regular courses and earn a certain number of CPD points a year. Without this, our individual registrations would be cancelled and Richard, Martin and I would no longer be able purchase and apply plant protection products to our crops. Part of this process also entails having some of our farm machinery and equipment professionally tested and calibrated. This is done annually and ranges from the testing of the huge self-propelled sprayer all the way down to the quad bike, and even the different types of thermometers we use for checking the temperature and moisture readings of our wheat and also our industrial fridges! We are delighted to report that to date, we have passed everything with flying colours, so long may this continue 😊.
I have tried to avoid mentioning the weather, but it feels like the elephant in the room. I do think, we have been very spoilt the last couple years, with hot long summers, allowing us to start combining earlier, and thus getting all of our drilling done by early October, however it doesn’t make it any easier! The farmyard has gone from reasonably dry to a mud pit and some of our fields even have ponds now! This was not the October we had hoped for, but the upside of wet weather is we manage to catch up on all the jobs that get put aside during the busier periods, so it is not all bad!
The lads have been maximising time in the workshop, and carrying out maintenance to the ploughs, and servicing the JCB telehandler and other bits of machinery. We have also had a fun few days working at Sunderland Docks this week helping to unload some of the cargo ships, which has been very welcome, allowing us to stay nice and cosy tucked up in our tractors.
Thankfully, we had a much-needed break in the rain two weeks ago and started Maize harvest for one of our customers. They had a fabulous crop; it was taller than our tractors in some areas! So, there will be lots of happy cattle at feeding time this winter! Sadly, we got rained off, so as soon as we have some dryer ground conditions, we will be back on for one last hurrah before the winter weather really kicks in!
We were also fortunate to get a lot more of our wheat and barley sown. A lot of it has now popped up and we are hoping the rest of it does not rot in the ground due to it being so wet. Something I have been told by Mr Farmer, is that ‘barley and wheat do not like getting wet feet’, so fingers crossed it dries up soon! There is once again a lot of concern amongst farmers UK wide for autumn drilled crops, with many farmers newly sown crops failing due to their fields being under water. It has certainly been a trying year, and we are all hopeful, this is not a sign of things to come.
Judith has had another successful month with her lamb boxes, selling out within a few days! We will be doing one more lot of lamb boxes in mid November, and then that will be it until next year. We only have a small number available next month, so please do get in touch quickly if you would like to order one. Full details can be found on our website.
On a really exciting note, we were delighted to win two awards this month. Something we were not expecting, and a lovely surprise when the email came through:
Best Family-Run Farming Business 2023 – County Durham & The SME Agricultural Impact Award 2023
We all giggled that if the judging panel knew how grumpy we all were with each other during harvest, they might not have given the award to us!! However, on a serious note, whilst we are a family farm, we would not be the successful business we are without the hard work of our staff. We are truly blessed to have a super team around us, and special mentions must be given to Jake, Will, Dave and Matty for working all the hours under the sun, often at a moment’s notice, and always staying until we get the job done. Thank you.
Lastly but not least – TURKEYS! They are growing fast and looking fabulous! Have you ordered yours yet? Sales are coming in thick and fast, so do pop over to our website and get you order in to avoid disappointment: www.drydenfarms.co.uk or Call or text Tanza on 07736-018822.
Until next month.
Wishing everyone all the best,
Martin, Judith, Richard, Tanza & George