The squeeze on milk and meat continues...

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Still ongoing, there's an Irish company developing fly protein currently - maggot farms could be very sustainable.

Edited to add: as feed, not for humans.
There's multiple firms working with black soldier fly in the UK.
As you say, intended for animal feed, not humans. Aimed at chickens and potentially pigs, as they are omnivores. Still regulatory hurdles to overcome unless feeding live. But costs look high to very high currently, though no doubt will come down in time.
 

digger64

Member
They have gone because we have been burning irreplaceable diesel as an easy fix, but burning fossil fuel is a lot less sustainable than feeding a horse on oats and hay grown on the farm. With less ploughing and more direct drilling I don’t reckon I’d need as many horses as my grandfather needed. And they can turn on the headland without treading on the swedes.😆
I think that the land ploughed with horses would have been more like todays min till than tractor ploughed land in terms of depth and dont forget they had to grow feed for the town/transport horses too out of the 30% of land needed for them
 

digger64

Member
It and its replacements eat a third or more of the available land holding if used for work on the land. It was always the case and always will be. That was sustainable when labour was cheap and produce expensive, however it has disappeared precisely because it was not sustainable. It never will be viable again in future. It has failed the basic sustainability test. What alternatives may be used in future is anybody's guess but it certainly will not be the horse.
wasnt it more a case of needing more food /land for people than sustainability financial or otherwise at the time possibly ?
 
Great, assuming you will have that choice. It may be that imports will replace most of the very much reduced and uncompetitive [through legislation] UK produce. This will allow the required UK emissions target boxes to be ticked while keeping you fed. Remember that we are led by people whose attitude is "fudge business" which effectively means 'fudge UK farmers' in this context.
That's very true Cowabunga. The govt doesn't seem to have learnt the lessons from the start of ww1 and ww2, when the UK was depending upon a lot of imported food. Looks like they are getting ready to push uk farmers and farming "off a cliff".
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
I think that the land ploughed with horses would have been more like todays min till than tractor ploughed land in terms of depth and dont forget they had to grow feed for the town/transport horses too out of the 30% of land needed for them
I read once about the landlord of a coaching inn in Croydon having over 700 horses on his books. Not all working of course as a proportion would always be resting, due to foal etc..
 

jondear

Member
Location
Devon
I'm not telling you what to do. I'm telling you what current policies and trends are and trying to explain what it means to you if they are carried through. What you do or don't do about it is your business. In fact I don't really care if you agree or not but don't come back in three or ten year's time and say your weren't warned.

I really do hope that policies and the rhetoric will change but the train has already left the station and it currently seems unstoppable.
How much time do you spend writing on tff ?I don't know how you find the time !Are you on furlough?
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
You need animals for those and there aren't going to be any.
I don't think you guys realise that proteins don't have to come from other proteins.
They are comprised of C, H, O, and N, all to be found in the air, which is free at the mo'.
A free feedstock, handy.
The protein content of 45% urea fertiliser is about 280% if I remember correctly. This may puzzle some people but I can assure them that it is in that region.

I used to use food-grade urea, very very sparingly, in my cow ration many moons ago. The problem was that it needed a very assured thorough mixing with other bulky ingredients. Never had any issue but it was too much hassle and too time consuming to mix properly with my available equipment.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
How much time do you spend writing on tff ?I don't know how you find the time !Are you on furlough?
Less time than you think because I only read and contribute to a tiny fraction of topics. Ones that interest me.
None of your business but I'm semi-retired now. I haven't milked the cows for many years due to tendon and back trouble, which is partly why I spent a decade doing work outside the farm. There is more to life than farming, I found late[ish] in life.
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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