Paul Vicary is still keen to take on more cows

This is my last Farmer Focus article. I have enjoyed writing them immensely and I’m grateful to Dairy Update for giving me a platform to rant.

Over the period of writing we sold all our cows, had a summer off, started again, went on to three-times-a-day milking and built a new farm. We’ve also taken on two new farms and have put the family in a very strong position for the future.

It has been eventful along the way – droughts and floods have made farming difficult and rewarding in the same breath. Luckily we have all had good health and welcomed into the world my son and daughter, who make all the pressure worth it.

The future looks bright for farming. The perfect storm scenario of higher demand and higher prices is upon us and the whole sector has increased in value dramatically. Despite greater costs, the rewards are there for hard, thoughtful work and brave decision-making.

As for the future, we will strive to fill the unit and then maybe get a few more cows, depending on our mental state. We will always be up for more land, being the megalomaniacs all farmers seem to be. With farmers being priced out of the land market, investors need capable partners to work their assets. Unfortunately the cash potential of the land has no relation to the value, which can take some outside investors a while to realise when it comes to rent reviews, but this situation provides lots of opportunities.

Lets hope this next year provides us with more favourable conditions and we can all do the job we love with a little less pressure from that hard taskmaster, Mother Nature.

Paul Vicary farms 458ha at Hilders Farm, Kent, in partnership with his parents helen and Graham. They milk 220 cows three times a day and have 200 followers. they plan to increase the herd size to 350 by 2015. They also run 500 ewes and ewe lambs.