Moving maize at '˜unsociable' timesis only for one or two days at most

Field operations on the clay are finished, leaving the fields greening up after the last silage cut, but free from any ruts or damage I’m pleased to say.

Modern equipment is a world apart from the kit we used to have years ago when it comes to traveling on the land.

Tractors now ride on large low-pressure radial tyres, and contractors trailers and all other equipment are also on low ground pressure tyres.

It makes such a difference to man and machine if, when traveling across the fields spreading fertilizer, or mowing not to be shaken around by a tractor which leaps across hardened ruts; inflicted on the soil in damp conditions.

Grass silage operations are now carried out in a day or a maximum of two, which makes it easier to find a window that allows good conditions during the operation; when it took two weeks, the choice was rather more limiting.

We are well under way with the ploughing, and most of the maize ground is now turned over.

Conditions have been ideal, and it’s good to make such rapid progress.

We will leave some of the fields which have no muck on them yet until the spring, spreading and ploughing it in on the sand before cultivations and drilling.

I have had a few complaints again about the maize harvest. I always write back and explain why trailers are carting maize at all hours of the day and night.

I can see how annoying it is to have tractors and trailers with bright flashing lights roaring past one’s house from seven o clock in the morning to sometimes past midnight, but it is only for one day, or at the most two.

This year the contractor’s busy schedule and the weather dictated that one block of maize, hauled in from Loxwood, would be at the weekend, something I try and avoid at all costs.

Predictably, a few people get very cross about this.

It is extremely difficult for people who have moved into the countryside to understand that the land is our ‘shop-floor’; this is our workplace, it is industrious, busy, sometimes smelly and occasionally noisy.

We try and keep our activities to a minimum at the weekends, and if we are spreading muck or slurry, we try not to do so on Fridays, or the weekend.

However, heavy lorries bringing in cattle feed, straw, fuel, and picking up the milk is part of everyday life.

Making grass silage three or four times a year, and harvesting the maize is a fundamental part of dairy farming.

n I invited the Health and Safety Executive on to the farm last week (I can hear the farmers sucking air through their teeth as they read this!), to advise me on the Anaerobic Digester Plant.

Given that Agriculture now has the worst safety record of any industry, and that we have one death and at least one near miss in AD already, I wanted sound advice.

As always, I was completely surprised by the points made during the visit. My concerns were about gas; should we be wearing gas monitors? Should we have gas apparatus on site?

With a brand new plant, I was certainly not expecting the HSE to point out a few items of machinery which were not properly guarded, platforms which were not adequately constructed to prevent an accident, lack of guard rails in one or two places and so on.

As always, it is the basics that matter, and how easy it is to worry about the complex, when almost all accidents are caused by simple mistakes.

My worry was about the things I have less knowledge about, but the dangers they saw involved the same, simple, preventable mistakes. We will now put right any areas of concern.

I will get a report, and together with the NFU, we will now have a template for others who build these plants; giving them advice on how to make them safe.

In answer to my question about fire-extinguishers, I was told that I should have a couple of small ones in case of an electrical fire, but as far as the main plant is concerned, it is far too big for any measures to be taken; just make sure the Fire Service knows its here, they said.

Given that we will not be carrying out any repairs to the main tanks, I also wanted to know if I am responsible for any outside contractors who might come on site and act in a dangerous manner.

I was advised that specialist outside contractors are not my responsibility (although I could point out any breaches – which I will do).

n For centuries, the Rinderpest virus has had a devastating effect on cattle and buffalo across Europe, Africa and Asia, with up to 90 per cent mortality when it strikes.

Last week, thanks to the novel work of the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright (Surrey) over many decades, the world was declared free of this disease.

This is only the second time that the world has eliminated a viral disease, and all field operations have now come to an end. Modern science has again brought about an amazing achievement, which will make a huge difference to so many people; many of them very poor.

n Not such good news in Australia, where the threat of locusts is the biggest for 75 years according to government.

At present, the breeding season has been phenomenel for locusts, and they are all over the ground, as they wait to develop further and then fly.

Once they swarm its all over, they will be totally out of control and will devour anything in their path.

The only hope is to spray, and kill them now on the ground, but given the scale of the challenge this year, it will be very difficult.

Our man on the ground, Frank Tyndall, has just returned from a trip to the Big Desert National Park in Western Victoria, where he saw land which was black with young locusts.

They are eating some crops as they develop, but nothing compared to what will happen once they fly.

Once the take off, they disperse and could easily travel 60 miles or so on the wind, which brings them onto dairy farms in Northern Victoria.

Cars have shade cloths over the front grill to prevent the radiators blocking, and there are signs up on the roads advising drivers to ‘Stop if visibility is low due to locusts’!