Farmer Focus: Cost of new broiler rules needs covering

This is my first Farmers Weekly article, and I am excited about the prospect of sharing some of my farming exploits and opinions here.

I am writing between Christmas and the new year. Given October’s Budget, I had hoped for a gift of the seven-year variety, but settled for the obligatory pair of socks instead, as we wait for the details to be clarified.

See more: How low-input spring cereals SFI action may fit this spring

The Christmas period is always a chance to reduce the workload and enjoy some family time.

This year, it has meant spending time playing farming with our three-year-old son’s new toys. I’m not sure who enjoyed setting up the new kit more, him or me.

However, as with all livestock farms at this time of year, the quiet time doesn’t last long.

Along with the daily routine of walking the broilers, feeding and bedding up cattle and checking the sheep, most of our in-lamb ewes are away from the farm on grass keep, with grazing licences expiring on 1 January.

This means a busy few days prepping the sheep shed and bringing in the ewes ready for scanning in the first week of January.

We have always winter-shorn the ewes at this point, as they will stay housed until lambing in late March.

However, this year, we have decided to leave thinner ewes and yearlings unshorn due to the impact the last two wet springs have had.

Our ewes (especially yearlings) really lost condition post-lambing and I am hoping that by leaving the fleeces on, they will be better equipped to withstand any poor weather.

This crop of broilers may be our last at the current stocking density of 38kg/sq m, with all future placements being at 30kg/sq m.

I am keen to see how this will affect performance, as I hope it will be a positive change.

It worries me that the supermarkets have given in to environmental campaigners’ demands on welfare though.

My thoughts are that this is not a consumer-led change, as perhaps you would expect, but a supermarket/non-governmental-organisation demanded change.

With a 22% higher cost of production, only time will tell whether the consumer, supermarket, or us farmers absorb the extra cost.