Welcome to the Farm Improvements Blog! There are many things to love about agriculture, however my favourite thing might just be the capacity for continuous improvement to one’s farm and the impact that can have on daily life as well as the bottom line.
Farm improvements can range from building grand infrastructure projects; cattle sheds, grain stores, silage clamps; and new equipment for more efficient harvesting, hauling and feeding. However some of the best and most important improvements are the small small ones; hanging a new gate, fixing a trough. No matter what sort of farm you have, no matter what size of farm you have, these small improvements are the ones that make everyday life bearable. In my opinion, there is no point in having hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of kit if the gates don’t latch and the cows are stood in water. Sometimes making small improvements to adapt existing infrastructure is better than tearing it all down and starting afresh (that is not to say that that sometimes stating a fresh isnt a bad thing).
Let me tell you about myself; I am a small dairy farmer from central England working on my families 250acre dairy farm. After Uni, I did a short stint in industry and now have returned home full time to look after roughly 150 holstien-fresian milking cows run on an indoor robotic milking system. We grow forage and cereals to feed the livestock, rear our own replacements and rear the beef offspring to sell as stores. I will save digging into these enterprises and the farms history for other posts but as you might be able to perceive, we have been constantly trying to improve the farm and let me tell you! There are plenty of improvements still to undertake.
My goal for this blog is to document this journey of improvement. I have plenty of projects in mind, from the big to the small. Most of it will be looking a day to day improvements, focused on quality of life and improved efficiency. However I hope there will be some larger projects to share down the line. This blog might be a flash in the pan but I would like it to help me with my own personal improvement journey. Giving a project the dedication over a long period of time is something I haven’t been great at; growing up multiple sports fell by the wayside and musical instruments gather dust. One of the few things that has carried on throughout this time is the farm. I also want to use this blog to improve the farm; I hope I get some readers who, will then suggest improvements. It would be really cool to get people from other parts of the world suggesting new and unique ideas. Hopefully they will also get ideas to take home.
Alternatively sometimes I might share my thoughts and opinions on a topic, I’m not sure what form this might take, or whether it is really a good idea, however I do believe in “the man in the arena” and the importance of opinions. Sitting on the fence can be worse than expressing an unpopular opinion. If these sorts of things are not welcome, I’m sure I will find out soon enough(if anyone even reads this).
Finally, doing this should help me to appreciate the improvements that have been made and motivate me to keep making new ones. Dairy farming is an all encompassing job that takes up the majority of my time. I love it and the purpose it gives me. However finding time to pursue projects can be hard if they are not of immediate concern. Setting time aside to do this blog should help me to take a step back, appreciate what has been achieved, to look up, and to look forward to what is next. Just like with this blog, getting started is the hardest but most necessary part.
The Farm Improvements Blog 