Little has happened on the farm since I last wrote; we have been busy ditching, hedgecutting and drain cleaning.

We are seeing a benefit in putting time into these operations over the winter months as the rainfall does not seem to hang around on the fields for as long as it did at the beginning of winter.

My daughter is applying for her first harvest role. It brought back memories of my first harvest and the places I have worked. You forget how many people have taken a punt on you over your career.

See also: Farmer Focus: Up to ‘Plan H’ with cover cropping trials

About the author

Robin Aird

Arable Farmer Focus writer Robin Aird manages 1500ha on the north Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border, with a further 160ha on a contract farming agreement. Soils vary from gravel to clay with the majority silty clay loams. The diverse estate has Residential, commercial and events enterprises. He is Basis qualified and advises on other farming businesses.

Read more articles by Robin Aird

If I look at my harvest experiences, I started at Robert Cooper’s farm just outside Avebury, which was my first proper experience of a harvest.

I learned new skills driving tractors and trailers on the roads. Back then it was a MF390T with a 10t trailer.

Next, I started helping at Temple Farming where Chris Musgrave and Al Brooks gave me my first experience of driving a combine, putting in serious hours when grain needed moving around the estate.

It was always where I headed back to during university to earn extra beer tokens at weekends and holidays.

During my Harper Adams course we were lucky enough to have a year’s placement and I headed down to sunny Brentwood in Essex to work for Scott Norris and here I found out how to plough, spray crops, and apply liquid fertiliser.

With all these jobs, I made errors and broke things, but I also learned. I can still remember dissecting a plant of wheat with Scott and him explaining the growth stages.

Having finished university I was lucky enough to get my first managerial role at Lutton farms working for James and Steve Long.

This was a whole new experience with straw, strawberries and contracting, exceptionally long hours, but some of the best times of my life.

I moved to my current workplace 21 years ago. The late Lord Suffolk put a lot of trust in me and let me develop as a manager.

However, none of this would have been possible without the superb mentoring and leadership of Andrew Mason who has made me the person I am today.

So, I suppose what I am trying to show my daughter is that it is imperative that you work on a wide range of businesses, across the country and embrace every opportunity you get.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has given me these opportunities.

Now I suppose I had better stop reminiscing and start writing some fertiliser and spray recommendations and go farming.