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Great day at Herefordshire County Rally
2013-05-20 10:12:37
It was a shock to walk into one of the vast sheds at Hurstley Court and see it cleared - and now filled with HFYFC Rally exhibits and competitions taking place. Bert Thomas, Fay's father, said it had taken them 28 days to clear it out. My memories are of sheds full of sheep, lambs, cattle, and farm machinery, especially the tree planting machine which Bert Thomas has designed and engineered himself.
We bumped into Fay Thomas, who was very busy - with their farm hosting the Rally, and in her job as Vice Chair of Competitions. We managed to get a photograph of her and also one of her entry in senior the flower arranging competition.
 
Sheep shearing is always a big event and this year the event was looking inreasingly professional. The senior shearing competition was won by Chris Rowberry while the commentators kept us all well-informed and entertained.
 
Chris Rowberry - Senior Shearing Winner
And here are a few of the other competitions and exhibits which you could see on the day.
 
 
It was great to catch up with everyone and once again, to be impressed by all the skills, passion and energy that goes into the annual Rally!
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We Return to Hurstley Court for Herefordshire YFC Rally
2013-05-14 00:00:00
One of the great pleasures of filming Tune for the Blood, was the opportunity to spend days with the young farmers and their families at their farms. One of my favourite scenes in the film is one where I wasn't even there for the filming. Richard went out and filmed Fay Thomas and her family planting a new cider orchard one April day. The scene is full of golden light, with the entire family working together to put in the saplings using a machine that Bert Thomas had designed and engineered. Real family farming.
It will be great to see them all and to catch up with everyone this Saturday at the Herefordshire YFC Rally!
And it's a special Rally for us - we are judging the Under 16s Video Competition. Results only days away...
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Social Media - Important Tool for Farmers
2013-05-07 00:00:00
Over a year ago I followed a twitter conversation #agrichatuk which took place on a Thursday
evening from 8-10pm. It seemed like a  great way for people in the farming communities and people interested in the farming issues to communicate and share ideas - and also a way for non-farmers like me to be able to chat to farmers regarding issues I was interested in. Over a year later, it is a hugely successful Thursday night gathering. It is joined by many other agritwitter groups such as #AgGen and #clubhectare. Farmers Weekly published a very good introduction to these three groups, The Farmers Leading a Twitter Revolution, which is well worth a read.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/05/01/2013/137031/the-farmers-leading-a-twitter-revolution.htm#.UYuwo4KCiiY
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Tune for the blood screening In Dumfries
2013-01-15 00:00:00
I wish I was going up to Dumfries to see Tune for the Blood in a wonderful venue - The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre. It's also very exciting that it is being screened through a collaboration between the Centre and the local young farmers association with Young Farmers members being offered a concession and We hope that this kind of collaboration can be a model for other groups and help to make links between venues and young farmers. We hope to post some photographs of the event soon - although I wish I could be there to take the pictures in person!
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Jono Rogers, our favourite dairy farmer, inaugurates his new milking parlour!
2013-01-08 00:00:00
Jono Rogers, one of the young farmers featured in 'Tune for the Blood' has longed to get a new milking parlour. In the film he talks about the problems with the old parlour, then 30 years old, and the pressing need for a new parlour. As always, there is much to consider as the investment is large and involves taking on a considerable loan. Jono has been to dairy events and seen robotic milkers at work and admired the technology, but they are very expensive. One of the proposals is to re-locate the parlour and build new housing for the cows. Again this involves considerable expense. At the end of the film, Jono is left pondering whether they can afford the investment - and indeed whether they can afford not to invest.
Well yesterday we witnessed the inauguration of Jono's new milking parlour! It was wonderful to see it all up and working! We had seen various stages of its construction and posted a few pictures in a previous news item.
The cows went through like a dream. Jono had a got them used to the new system all by a few 'dry runs'.
We raised a glass of bubbly afterwards! So here's to many more days, years and many more litres of Cropthorne Farm milk!
A very happy Jono Rogers with his new parlour.
The parlour accommodates 8 cows down each side.
Jono and his father, Steve, with one of Jono's 'reds' in the foreground.
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