The weather has been kind this past week which has enabled us to harvest the remaining few acres of wheat, and 80 acres of oats which have been ready but not dry, for some while. We now have an acceptable heap of golden oats in the barn which will hopefully keep Mr Quaker happy, despite some of the crop having shed when buffeted by the recent wind and rain.
 
The temptation was to rest on Bank Holiday Monday but as they say, ‘make hay while the sun shines’, so John spent the day mowing 40 acres of grass which if the weather holds, should bale by Wednesday. The crop is light but a few extra bales will see us through the winter.
 
It is not about ‘No-deal’, it is about No Brexit. The Remain lobby still determined to stop Brexit are out in force doing all they can to undermine attempts by the Prime Minister to broker a workable trade deal with the EU, in time for our departure on 31st October.
 
Normal, democratic and pragmatic members of the public are fully behind the efforts by Boris and his very able and determined team, who have obviously been working behind the scenes for months, and have hit the ground running.
 
The Remainers, including MPs of various political colours, the left wing London  elite media, and the BBC are doing all they can to scupper his chances, including telling anyone who can be bothered to listen, that he has no plan.
 
However, now that they are beginning to realise he does and has momentum on his side, they are absolutely petrified that his strategy has legs which could ensure we exit with a reasonable deal which will be acceptable and workable in the long run. And if not the PM is prepared to leave with No Deal, on our terms and with very little disruption.
 
The UK is ready for business outside the EU, but what is certain is the EU is not prepared. Neither is it economically able to manage without British monetary support or our purchasing power.
 
Instead of supporting the PM who is doing what the hapless Mrs May should have done three years ago, they are instead reignited project fear.
 
They are pulling out all the stops in the hope they can spook the public, most of whom are falling in behind Boris who they recognise is a Prime Minister who is determined to honour the democratic result of the Referendum. Boris has promised to put Great Britain first, embracing the business community, including farming, the NHS, and making the British public a priority.
 
What really baffles me is that we have yet to hear a single Remainer explain exactly what is so great about being a member of the EU. They are quick to criticise and tear into the idea of Brexit but fail to justify their condemnation by explaining what is so wonderful about being subservient to the EU, an organisation run by an unelected and undemocratic commission.
 
As Lord Wolfson, Next Chief Executive and chairman of Open Europe, put so succinctly in The Mail on Sunday, ‘The time has come to pull together. The country is best placed to succeed if it prepares well.  If Government prepares effectively for No Deal and if businesses follow suit; if we embrace an optimistic outward looking vision of Britain’s place in the world, at the forefront of free trading and democratic thought, then the worst we have to fear is mild disruption.’
 
‘Ironically, it is this very confidence in the face of No Deal that is likely to deliver a deal with Europe, one that can command the support of the British people and see us move forward as an independent nation once again.’

It is encouraging to see that the NFU has raised a complaint with the BBC. The organisation which regularly broadcasts inaccurate and biased stories about farming and the countryside in general.
 
On this occasion regarding it’s heavily biased commentary on the latest IPCC report. The result of which is that BBC News is holding a ‘Farming Week’ where they will be looking at British agriculture and its future.
 
The NFU has apparently been engaging with its production company. Several NFU officeholders and members have already been interviewed and more will take place throughout the week.
 
We can only hope that a more accurate view of farming emerges, rather than the blatant attack upon agriculture, livestock farming in particular, so enthusiastically embraced and reported by the BBC. The organisation needs to recognise that livestock and arable farming is part of the solution to climate change.
 
The countryside, farms in particular, are already under siege. Rural crime including the slaughter and theft of lambs out at grass. The creep into rural communities of drug dealers and those intent upon theft and worse. And the epidemic of fly tipping, are rife.
 
What is certainly not acknowledged by the BBC on the IPCC document on global land use, is that far more damaging greenhouse gas come from the human population than farm livestock, which are receiving such bad press.
 
As a farmer recently said, “None of my cows have been on a plane or have driven a car. They don’t need electricity to charge their phones, cook or watch TV. Indeed they seldom need electricity except to power lighting in an emergency. They eat grass, the grass is home to worms and other microscopic species. The grass has clover and other flowers liked by bees, hover flies, moths, and butterflies”.
 
“They do poo, just like humans poo but they don’t wipe their backsides with paper or wet wipes, so no need for huge factories making loo paper for them, or felling forests to provide the raw product.”
 
“Their poo attracts flies and beetles. Birds eat flies and beetles. Birds nest on the ground and in trees near the source of food – insects. So where there are cows there are birds. Cows live on massive carbon sinks, it is called grassland. Humans can’t eat grass.”
 
It will be interesting to see if this accurate and simple message will emerge from the joint venture between the BBC and NFU. I won’t be holding my breath.
 
On Sunday the three remaining iconic cooling towers at Didcot Power Stations were raised to the ground. Didcot power stations consisted of an active natural gas power plant that has provided a reliable source of energy, powered by a combination of coal, natural gas and biofuel to the National Grid.
 
The construction of the power station for the Central Electricity Generating Board was completed and commissioned in 1968 at a cost of £104m. Up to 2,400 workers were employed at the site at peak times.
 
Major power cuts are occurring fairly frequently due to ‘systems failures’, causing disruption to the operation of the national electricity network. The unreliability of renewable energy from solar farms and wind turbines is now being questioned by eminent professionals in the field.
 
There is currently a government inquiry into the recent blackout which affected a million people in London and the South East, caused when the Little Barford gas-fired power station in Cambridgeshire and a major wind farm off the Yorkshire coast both temporarily stopped producing electricity.
 
There are fears that similar incidents could become more frequent, and there are now calls for limits to be imposed on the construction of new wind and solar farms to help avoid a nationwide blackout.
 
Perhaps the decommissioning and destruction of the reliable Didcot power station and other similar energy generators, has been somewhat premature.

It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security when the sun is shining and the harvest is progressing smoothly. As the weather encourages the grass to grow ahead of the cattle, and the winter barley is trucked off to a waiting boat in Shoreham harbour, all seems well with the world.
 
Circumstances can change abruptly, which is not entirely unusual.
 
Indeed, the weather has turned, bringing combining to a halt for the foreseeable future. We had two fatally sick steers within a period of 24 hours, and another incident of illegal fly tipping; the padlock and chain having been ripped off the gate giving access to the field. Then to cap it all our lovely long term residential tenants unexpectedly told me they are leaving for family reasons, which I totally understand.
 
Such is life, but it all adds pressure when trying to balance several ‘balls in the air’, while fighting off assaults from unexpected quarters, and focusing on potential projects which will secure the future of the farms.
 
However, it is important to focus on the positives and we have many for which to be grateful, including our genuine optimism for the future.
 
Theresa Villiers and Defra need to get a grip and address several issues. Two in particular are currently top of my wish list.
 
Farmers and landowners should not be responsible for the cost of disposing of rubbish illegally tipped onto private land. Local municipal tips are totally liable for the incidents around here. Their policy of not accepting anything unless it fits into the boot of a domestic car, results in this criminal activity and something must be done.
 
Thirty Month beef is more complicated but could be solved with a sweep of the Minister’s pen.
 
The BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) crisis which was first confirmed in British cattle in 1986, led to numerous laws about beef – including how old beef could be before being slaughtered.
 
The success of eradicating BSE was down to the meticulous measures imposed by the government to control the disease; steps which have led to British beef being amongst the safest and best in the world, and profitable once again.
 
One of the measures which was put in place after the epidemic was the Over Thirty Month Rule – cattle could not be sold for food if they were aged over 30 months. This rule was lifted in November 2005, then in March 2013, the government agreed that cattle aged over 72 months no longer had to be tested for BSE.
 
Today beef farmers are still constrained by another BSE-related measure, called Specified Risk Material Control (SRM) – the removal of the vertebral column and other parts of the animal. This raises the slaughter fee, often as much as £35 a head, so OTM animals sold at auction and elsewhere fetch a fraction of the price of under 30 months.
 
Mature, grass fed beef cattle produce a marbling which is evenly distributed throughout the meat, giving tasty, succulent beef. 
 
Age and diet are the most significant determining factors for beef flavour, and beef on the bone is preferable for both butchers and customers.
 
Removing the SRM ban would have an obvious beneficial knock-on fiscal effect for farmers, suppliers, butchers and consumers – and possibly the economy as a whole.
 
We have no incentive to keep cattle OTM. A fact that is also drastically affecting Britain’s native cattle breeds which take longer to mature. It also denies the consumer the opportunity to buy top quality beef.
 
It is now time this scheme which is archaic and unnecessary is stopped.
 
I am surprised no one has questioned exactly what John McDonnell intends to ‘take over’ when he sends Jeremy Corbyn to Buckingham Palace in a cab. Does he mean the government or the monarchy? I rather suspect he intends both!

Last year due to the dodgy growing season and summer drought there was a severe shortage of straw, not to mention grain, resulting in livestock farmers struggling to source enough bedding to get them through the winter.
 
This year the crops have yielded well and there is more than enough straw to fill the barns ensuring the cattle and horses have ample litter during the long winter months. The rest we have sold to our neighbours and what is not required is chopped by the combine and spread across the field which helps to boost the organic matter in the soil.
 
Harvest is progressing steadily as we have moved onto the winter wheat which is yielding a decent crop. The humid days have delayed starting up the combine until well into the afternoon as we wait for the moisture level to dip below 15 per cent.
 
The days are already drawing in with the sun setting noticeably earlier each evening. Everything appears to be happening earlier this year, and there is already a sense of autumn in the air.
 
We have been fortunate to have been spared the torrential rain which has devastated communities in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The inconvenience of the occasional shower delaying out harvest is insignificant compared to the sight of flooded fields with dead sheep, hay and silage bales submerged in the mud, and tractors stuck up their axels and worse.
 
Listening to a Yorkshire farmer being interviewed by a moronic BBC lackey determined to blame someone for the weather, one had to admire his composure when he responded saying, ‘that in all his 60 years of farming, he had never experienced such extreme conditions - but such is life!’
 
Farmers across the country are now well into the harvest, reaping the rewards of the work they have put into the crop since last autumn. This includes preparing the seed bed and sowing the seeds. Applying a variety of nutrients to boost growth and productivity, and protecting it from weeds wanting to swamp it, and bugs and diseases hell bent upon destroying it.
 
Sitting up in the combine watching the reel ease the crop through the augers and sending the grain into the tank, in a year when most things have gone according to plan, we are grateful and relieved to have for a change the appropriate weather at the right time.
 
The instances of members of the public being injured by cattle appear to be on the increase. It is doubtful that the cattle are to blame for they mostly mind their own business unless distracted or unsettled.
 
I recently received a call from a member of the public complaining she had been terrified as she was walking across our fields. When asked why she said she had not noticed the cattle until half way across the field. Asked her what they had done to upset her so dramatically, she said, “They were in the field where I was walking”, apparently lying down!
 
Surely people who choose to walk across farmland should expect to encounter livestock. This particular woman wanted a notice warning her that cattle were in the field. As she had in fact emerged from the wood where there is no public access, I rather think her complaint was unreasonable and unwarranted.
 
The Brexit Party played a useful role during the European elections but now we have a passionate pro-leave Prime Minister who has vowed to honour the democratic will of the ‘People’s Vote’, and has vowed we shall leave on 31st October, Mr Farage and his Brexit Party are surely surplus to requirement.
 
Brecon and Radnorshire now have a Remain Lib-Dem MP which is clearly not what the majority of the electorate wanted. If Mr Farage continues to compete against pro-leave conservative candidates, he should seriously consider his conscience.