"Small No Glam".....I like it!

This week I passed an unhappy milestone.
In slightly under 10 years I have driven 600,000 miles in the UK.
This doesn’t include Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany or France where I have used a rental car for farm consultancy business. It’s a long way by any measure!
As I pound along the M5 the stats play on my mind…....      600, 000 miles (or just short of a Million Kilometres) that’s approx 10,909 hours driving or the equivalent of 273 working weeks. (Nearly half of each year over the last 10 years I have spent driving on UK roads to & between dairy farms). At 40 MPG that’s 68,200 litres of petrol. OMG!

The Carbon foot print of that mileage is horrific. At approx 168gm CO2/km then the mileage over the last 9 years & 9 months is 168 Tonnes of CO2.
To this end I’ve tried to offset these emissions by establishing a tree planting on a nearby farm.
To those of you who are concerned about my mental state (after driving on average nearly 4 hours every working day for the past 9.75 years) don’t worry…..I believe they are coming to get me……Don’t Worry Be Happy (Bob Marley song)…..I’m in a very happy place with Tangerine sky…..Say goodbye to a tangerine sky say hello say hello to tomorrow(lyrics)……..oh dear!
“dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry
dont worry be happy
don't worry, don't worry, don't do it,
be happy,put a smile on your face,
don't bring everybody down like this
don't worry, it will soon pass whatever it is,
don't worry, be happy,
i'm not worried”

On a slightly more serious note………..did you notice at the Dairy Event……maybe I got it wrong (Yeah Right!). I thought there was a direct relationship between the size & apparent glamour of the Site architecture (read expense) & the number of farmers on the site. The greater the expense the less people visiting the site!
As I say I may have got it wrong but I don’t think so.

I was so pleased to see (on the small no glam sites) our commercial friends were unbelievably busy. Take for example our friends at Kiwikit whose site was constantly crowded with lots of buzz & discussion.
Other examples of “Small No Glam” included our friends John Stones at Nuffield, Richard Capper & Steve Corkill at CSL-Varivac, Phil Evans & LMS, Barry at Agrinet, Wendy at Datag Kingswood, Bertie & his small team at Grasstec.
Long live “Small No Glam”
www.agrinet.ie, http://www.datag.co.uk/,  http://www.kiwikit.co.uk/,  http://www.liquidminerals.co.uk/,  http://www.nuffieldscolar.org/,   http://www.grasstec.ie/,  http://www.rcapperdairy.co.uk/,  
Now that the Dairy Event is over we can concentrate on really serious things like Rugby!
Lets give cows a break!

May I wish all my friends in Argentina, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia, South Africa, England, Wales & Scotland……the very best for the Rugby World Cup cos I think you’ll need it! To my close rugby following friends in France I love you guys but I just can’t bring myself to say……anyway to my French friends …have a good few matches, may your team Les Bleus enjoy their brief visit to New Zealand.
"Ka Mate: Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! I die! I die! I live! I live!

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! I die! I die! I live! I live!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru This is the hairy man
Nana nei i tiki mai Who fetched the Sun Whakawhiti te ra And caused it to shine again A upa ... ne! ka upa ... ne! One upward step! Another upward step!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra! An upward step, another.. the Sun shines!!
Hi !!! "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYphXmGwa8
Enjoy everyone!
Current UK Pasture Measurements
TheAverage Pasture Cover (kgsDM/ha) & Pasture Growth (kgsDM/ha/day)
Cumbria AFC 2543, Growth 49 adding 3kgs DM Very wet here.
Shropshire organic, 1358, growth 14, only had 208mm rain this year in total??????
Lincolnshire growth Very Good av 54 in really good shape cows doing well
Hereford, 2201, gr 24, de23, had 12 mm rain
Gloucestershire, 2387, gr 47, alot of rust have now had good rain
Dorset 2800, gr 82, de 43, chicory & Plantain growth 120-175kgsDM/ha/day
Dorset, 2550, gr 70 should hit 1st Week of Oct targets of 2700-2800