New figures revealed by insurance group NFU Mutual show the cost of farm thefts went up 15% in 2013 compared to £3.4m total in 2012.

UFU President Ian Marshall said: “The rural crime figures published today indicate that this is a major issue which must be dealt with head on.

“The unfortunate reality is that farmers are having valuable livestock and machinery stolen on a regular basis which is having a devastating impact on their businesses and families.

“The cost of livestock theft in particular has risen by a staggering 25% across the UK as thieves target sheep and cattle, making 2013 one of the worst years on record.

“Furthermore, a surge in cattle and sheep rustling in Northern Ireland has ranked us as the most seriously affected part of the UK for livestock theft.

He added: “These statistics however won’t shock farmers who know from experience that theft from farm yards and livestock from fields is an all-too common and costly occurrence.”

Mr Marshall stressed the importance for all farmers to be vigilant and to take the necessary precautions to ensure tools, machinery, livestock, equipment and property are secure.

“The UFU continue to work closely with the PSNI on this important issue and have stressed repeatedly that more needs to be done to ensure consistency across Northern Ireland,” he added.

A major rural crime conference organised by UFU will be held at the Crumlin Road Gaol on the 4 November.

Visit mediahq.com for the original report

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In the past couple of weeks we have been drawing in the round bales of hay through connected fields and then spreading our precious organic FYM on the aftergrass. Not for the first time, I found myself debating with myself over my wheel tracks, their location, their effects and the underlying soil science principles involved.

Left to ourselves, we seem to be like sheep and cows, i.e. at our happiest when following our previous tracks. Without thought, this seems to be the default mode of tractor drivers. But are we on the right track? Is this the best path for our soil?

A couple of months ago, I was lucky to attend an ASA outing to the impressive tillage operation in Ballyragget run but by Larry O’Reilly and family. On so many levels, this operation is a real eye opener and learning opportunity for any farmer, tillage or other.

Earthworm count

Unlike most of us, Larry treats his land, both rented and owned, as the three dimensional property that it is. Larry monitors his earthworm count, has tracks on his combine, variable track width on his chaser bin and doesn’t allow straw buyers onto his fields unless they have low ground pressure equipment. He prefers to move the bales himself onto hard standings for buyers to collect.

This meticulous attention to the environment below the surface has paid off in making this one of the most profitable and fuel/Carbon efficient farms in the country, if not in Europe.

Soil scientists like to separate the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils and compaction is commonly treated as a physical property of the soil and assessed and measured by soil density, etc.

By assessing compaction via a biological parameter – the earthworm count – Larry O’Reilly is recognising the holistic truth that our soil is a dynamic complex living environment that needs more than just a dash of chemical fertilisers to enhance its productivity.

Tyre tracks

But getting back on my own tracks, I am thinking that when soil conditions are dry as they are this summer, that by varying my tracks on each run across a grass field, I will cause less harm to my few earthworms, and other soil life, than I will by sticking to the same tracks and making them harder and harder with each pass.

At other times of the year, or in other soil conditions, I might reach a different conclusion though. We always need to be observing and considering. As the old farmers used to say, the best fertiliser is the farmers foot. I would love to know what other people’s views are on this.

Thanks to the Farmers Journal for the article. You can see the original at farmersjournal.ie

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But instead of worrying about our future robotic dystopia, we’d like to take a moment to appreciate the fact that smarter ‘bots are helping humans defeat the struggles of farm life. Here is a list of three real, futuristic farm-bots, plus a bonus wish list of the three robots we’d like to see next.

1. Crop Disease Bot

At the Georgia Tech Research Institute, a team of researchers in the food processing technology division are developing a micro gas chromatograph (GC) that can detect crop disease in its early stages.The device is a portable chip, roughly the size of a 9-volt battery, and dozens of the GC’s are meant to be attached to a ground robot that would circle crop fields and take samples from each plant.

“It’s estimated that each year U.S. farmers lose 12 percent of their crops to pests and another 12 percent to diseases,” said Gary McMurray, the division chief, in a statement. “The key is to give farmers the ability to get early diagnostic results, which allows them to take action before its too late.”

2. Apple Scab Drones

As previously discussed on Modern Farmer, apple scab is the biggest problem for growers in the eastern U.S. and can easily ruin a whole crop. Luckily, researchers at the University of New Hampshire are working on a drone to help spot the scab. The small unmanned aerial vehicle, armed with an infrared camera, can fly over an orchard and take multispectral images, which are then analyzed by a computer program for signs of apple scab. According to Kirk D. Broders, an assistant professor at UNH and one of the researchers on the project, “We’re trying to develop a low-cost system that could actually be used by either individual researchers or individual growers.”

3. Berry Picking Bot

Developed by the brilliant minds in Japan, these robots are programmed to pick berries at optimal ripeness, harvesting one berry every eight seconds. These robots fight an unending battle against unripe berries (a scourge against humanity) and human laziness (same, but less so). “This robot would harvest two-thirds of the strawberries during the night when growers are sleeping,” said Mitsutaka Kurita, an official at developer Shibuya Seiki, to AFP-JIJI. Sadly, this dream machine will reportedly cost about $50,000 once it goes on market.

3 Farm Robots We’d Like To See

1. Social Media Bot

Frankly, there are not enough cute animals on the Internet to satisfy our demands. If farmers can’t take time out of their busy day to Instagram each baby duckling — no judgment — why not have a friendly drone to fly about the premises and shoot hi-res pics and vids of all the little darlings? The SEO-expert drone would keep tabs on your social media accounts, and followers could subscribe to an emergency SMS system the next time a baby goat begins to prance.

2. Watch Bot

Are the local rascals treating your lands like Mr. McGregor’s garden? Shaped like an enormous steel direwolf, this future watch dog will patrol your fields and, with the latest in motion sensor technology and robot footspeed, instantly scare the life out of any meddling kids. No free turnips today; no free turnips forever.

3. Poop Bot

Just what we’ve always dreamed — oh wait, this actually does exist.

Visit modernfarmer.com for the original article.

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Two-thirds of farms make baled silage each year, and on many cattle farms in particular it is the silage-making system of choice.

These baled silages span a wide spectrum of quality, ranging from top grade feed with a nutritive value similar to grazed grass through to low grade feed incapable of meeting an animal’s maintenance requirements. In many cases, the cost of producing excellent or bad quality baled silage is the same, but the rewards are considerably greater with the good quality feed.

Although crop yield is always important, it is less influential in determining the feed cost of baled silage compared to pit silage since contractor harvesting costs are per bale rather than per hectare.

SILAGE QUALITY

Baled silages of excellent nutritive value will have high intakes by cattle or sheep, and will be efficiently converted to meat and milk.

These excellent bales of silage will be:

• 1. Highly digestible,

• 2. Well preserved, and

• 3. Free from visible mould/yeast.

Whereas chop length is not directly important with cattle, shorter silage particle length can be beneficial with sheep.

HIGH DIGESTIBILITY

The baled silage on each farm should contribute appropriately to the specific energy needs of the cattle or sheep being produced.

Thus, high silage digestibility (eg 73+% digestibility) is required for animals that are expected to reach a high rate of performance while consuming silage, whereas a more moderate digestibility (65-67%) is appropriate for dry spring-calving beef cows, store cattle, etc.

In contrast, silages of less than 64% digestibility are rarely appropriate in commercial farming systems. Major factors determining the digestibility of baled silage are:

Sward type: The planned production of highly digestible baled silage is more easily achieved with perennial ryegrass swards. In contrast, moderate digestibility baled silage can be made with virtually any sward.

Previous management: The main requirement here if producing highly digestible baled silage is to avoid the presence of dead vegetation at the base of the grass crop.

Experiments at Grange found that such accumulations of dead vegetation reduced overall digestibility by about seven percentage units. Grazing swards down to a 5cm stubble height in autumn or in early spring avoids this problem.

Grass growth stage at harvest:

High digestibility depends on mowing the crop while it is still dominated by leaves and young stem – ie before seed-heads emerge fully. In the same context, paddocks or fields identified as surplus to requirements within a rotational grazing system can also produce baled silage of excellent digestibility.

Losses: Slow or intermittent wilting (eg due to prolonged, heavy rain on partially wilted grass), poor preservation or imperfect sealing of the bales will reduce the potential digestibility of the baled silage.

GOOD PRESERVATION

All baled silage needs to be well preserved. This means it must be stored in an air-free environment and must be appropriately fermented. Factors that influence the preservation of baled silage include:

Sward type: Ryegrass-dominant swards are inherently much easier to preserve as baled silage compared to grass swards dominated by non-ryegrass species. This is because ryegrasses have a much higher content of sugar which is needed to fuel the preservation process. Quick and adequate wilting can largely overcome this potential limitation with non-ryegrass swards.

Fertilizer and slurry/manure:

The effective rate of nitrogen application can be up to 125kg N/ha for a first-cut, and this should be applied at least six weeks prior to mowing. Excess nitrogen or too short a duration between its application and mowing can greatly reduce the sugar content of the grass, thereby making it more difficult to preserve as baled silage. Where slurry is applied in spring, it should only be applied to a short stubble so as to avoid any carryover of contamination with the harvested crop.

Weather: Obviously, drier, sunnier weather is ideal for making silage.

Grass growth stage at harvest: Leafier grass usually has less sugars than very stemmy grass, making it more difficult to preserve.

Therefore, successful wilting is particularly essential when making baled silage with leafy grass.

Wilting: Wilting is a routine part of aiding the preservation of baled silage, and important guidelines here are –

(a) Don’t mow the crop until after the dew has evaporated — this will remove about 2.5 tonnes water per hectare (1 tonne per acre), (b) Solar radiation is the main factor that then wilts mown grass, so the more grass surface that is exposed to direct sunshine during wilting the better.

Thus, whereas tedding is the ideal solution, placing the mown grass in wide rather than narrow windrows (eg 67 rather than 50% ground cover) will result in more effective wilting.

Air-free storage of the bale: This is the single most important step, and is dealt with below.

MOULD/YEAST-FREE

All baled silage needs to be free of visible growth of mould/yeast. This means that the air-free seal that is needed to permit good preservation must be fully maintained through to feed-out.

Important steps to achieve air-free conditions include:

• Good wilting (ie drying) for one day can help produce bales that will be better at retaining their shape. The target is to reach 30% dry matter. This was discussed above. 

  (Make very firm, regular shaped bales. This involves producing even-shaped windrows and using a relatively slow forward speed for the baler. Engaging sharp cutting blades in a baler should increase bale density by about 10% (ie bales will weigh 550 rather than 500kg), thereby making them firmer. When allied to properly wilted grass, these bales are likely to retain their shape during storage, thereby helping maintain the integrity of the plastic seal)

• Uniformly apply not less than four layers of film. Four layers of conventional film are necessary and, if applied properly, are adequate in most circumstances. Six or more layers of film are occasionally used where confidently producing a visibly mould-free bale of silage is particularly important. 

  (Under Irish climatic conditions, the colour of the plastic film does not have a direct effect on baled silage quality – thus, black, green and white films can be equally effective)

• Ideally, transport the bales to the storage area and then wrap them. In many cases, it can be difficult to transport a wrapped bale weighing 400 – 600kg without causing some mechanical damage to the plastic film. This risk can be greatly reduced by transporting the bales to the storage area and then wrapping them. However, this is often not practical.

• Move field-wrapped bales to storage area immediately.The reasons are that – (a) this reduces the risk of wrapped bales being attacked by birds in the field, (b) the bales are moved while their shape is more perfectly cylindrical (thereby reducing mechanical damage), and (c) the freshly applied plastic film can more effectively adapt to the mechanical strains applied during handling and transport. 

  (If wrapped bales cannot be moved quickly to the final storage area, they should at least be removed from around the stubble field)

• Handle wrapped bales very gently when lifting and transporting. The importance of this, so as to avoid damaging the plastic film and thereby compromising its ability to seal the bale from air, should not be under-estimated.

• Protect wrapped bales from livestock and wildlife. This entails: (a) using livestockproof fencing, and (b) using netting to deter larger birds from landing on the wrapped bales. The netting works better if tyres are placed between the bales and the netting.

• Repair any damage to the plastic wrap. Bales should be regularly inspected, and any damage should be immediately repaired using appropriate adhesive tape.

Link to the original article Farmers Journal

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The focus strategy has been on minimising the emissions intensity (or carbon footprint) of local food by lowering the amount of carbon associated with producing primary agricultural products.

The GHGIP continues to highlight Northern Ireland’s position as an efficient food producer, well equipped to supply home and external markets with the ever growing quantities of food needed to service an increasing global population.

There is always a temptation to prioritise economic growth above cutting carbon despite recognition that man-made climate change is one of the most important issues we face. However, tackling naturally occurring agricultural emissions can bring economic benefits and we should not forget that it is the total amount of GHGs emitted worldwide that matters, not long term reduction targets in any one particular country over another. Remaining competitive by promoting a logic of efficiency and de-coupling economic activity from emissions, rather than closing down or exporting production, is being increasingly recognised as the most suitable way of maintaining food security and reducing environmental impacts.Moreover, the erosion of nature’s capacity to deliver ecosystem products and services will have a profound and damaging effect on economic growth while increasing the risk of supply chain interruption.

Our strategic direction set out in “Efficient Farming” focused firstly on spreading awareness of the issues and this Phase 1 progress report shows where we are on the long road to a lower carbon and sustainable future.

The key strands of Phase 1 were:

1. Establish a Robust Partnership – The GHGIP has established four sub-groups. These are responsible for implementation of the strategy amongst the red meat, dairy and arable sectors while a sub-group on sequestration is tasked with quantifying the potential for further enhancing carbon storage in Northern Ireland.

2. Improve Awareness – Farming newspapers, sectoral factsheets, radio programmes and events organised by government and industry have all publicised the message that efficient farming is good for business and will lower carbon intensity.

3. Begin Implementation – The GHGIP are tasked with identifying efficiency improvement measures suitable for each farming system and encouraging their implementation on-farm. The agri-food sector in Northern Ireland is highly focussed on sustainability and a significant number of efficiency measures are already practiced.

4. Use scientific research results – The GHGIP recognise that robust science is the first step in developing any efficiency measure. Transferring that scientific knowledge to farmers through appropriate training is also vital.

We will take the views of a wide range of interested stakeholders to form the direction of our Phase 2 Plan later in 2014. Those measures that we know work well will remain the backbone of our approach.

The highlights of Phase One of “Efficient Farming Cuts Greenhouse Gases” have been:

Farmer Awareness

An entire episode of BBC Farm Gate dedicated to interviews with the GHGIP sub-group chairmen.

Nutrient Management

£2 million provided in NIRDP grant assistance for enhanced slurry spreading equipment.

24 months is the optimum age for efficient first calving. Average heifer age at first calving is reducing towards this target.

Dairy

Feed Advisers Register launched to assist the transfer of knowledge on efficient animal feeding.

Arable

AFBI research informs DARD Recommended Lists of Cereal Varieties, thus increasing efficiency.

Sequestration

Peatland is vital for carbon storage. 80,000 hectares of peatland are managed by farmers under Agri-Environment schemes.

GHG Inventories (Measurement)

Accurate assessment of GHG emission levels is vital to inform government on the overall impact of climate change policies.

Renewable Energy

Practical On-Farm Renewable Energy events launched as part of DARD Renewable Energy Action Plan. Over 3,000 attendees since 2011.

36% of the total farmed land in Northern Ireland in 2013 is managed under an Agri-Environment scheme.

“Livestock is the best way we can contribute to feeding the world. The only way to convert grass to food that humans can use is through livestock. In pursuing this we have a responsibility to minimise our emissions through the most sustainable production systems possible as the industry has been doing for the past three years.” Phelim O’Neill, “Industry Insight”, Farming Life 1st June 2013.

“Soil analysis allowed me to identify the precise nutrient status of my land and with the help of CAFRE’s Crop Nutrient Recommendation Calculator, I am able to target fertiliser and manure inputs effectively and avoid applying costly excess fertiliser.” Mark McCollum, Arable Farmer, Coleraine.

This blog is taken from the Northern Ireland Greenhouse Gas Implementation Partnership Phase One Report 2014

Link to the report: http://www.dardni.gov.uk/index/farming/climate-change-farming.htm

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Stolen NI tractors end up in New Zealand

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Farm diversification involves broadening the activities of a business into other new potential money making ventures. By taking on new activities a business can supplement what it has traditionally done and increase the likelihood of a successful future.

Around 10 per cent of Northern Ireland’s farms have undergone farm diversification. These farms are now realising the benefits of taking on new income generating activities. Diversified farms can enjoy increased personal and farm family success, improved finances, increased efficiency and see redundant farm buildings back in use.

This guide sets out the main advantages of diversifying a farm. It also looks at how to diversify and identifies local sources of advice and support.

- See more at: http://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/increase-your-farm-income-diversification#sthash.TAMxbveo.dpuf

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