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From the Wellies - September 06

There have been a lot of people very concerned - and I have been asked numerous times over the summer - about whether Land Based Studies has finished at Breadalbane Academy. 

Alex Towns, who was the main driving force behind Land Based Studies for the past 7 years, has taken early retirement, but I am pleased to report that the agriculture and equine studies are once again being offered to pupils on a Thursday afternoon.

The school minibus now drops off 8 pupils at West Park for agriculture and another 4 pupils at Garden Cottage just along the road for equine studies.   The risk assessments have all been done and of course all the relevant insurances are in place and the pupils are already working hard at the Scottish Progression Awards Level 2 to achieve qualifications in the various rural skills.  Gamekeeping has been withdrawn for the moment, but will hopefully return at some point in the future. 

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The dry August weather has allowed good harvest progress across Highland Perthshire.  In the past we have used a gas fired mobile Grain Drier at West Park.  The drier was bought in 1996 as a shared purchase with a near neighbour and since then we have both stopped growing malting barley due to poor prices. 

The gas used for the drier comes in 47kg bottles and since the last harvest, the price has increased from £29.50 per bottle to £38.50.  As the drier needs a diesel powered tractor to drive it and 6 gas bottles to fuel the burner, it has become very expensive to run it.  Luckily, due to the dry weather conditions, most of our grain can be stored safely without drying. 

Any grain that is slightly damp and will heat or go mouldy, is being treated with ‘propcorn’.  This product is made using proporic acid and is a preservative which prevents the wet grain from heating or going mouldy.  It is only suitable for preserving feed grain as it kills the grain and prevents any further germination which would be needed if it was to be used as a malting sample.

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In a change of fortune, Scotland has enjoyed relatively good harvest weather in relation to many parts of England.  As of the end of August, Highland Perthshire was 12 inches behind its normal rainfall levels.  This means that we’ll either have a drier than average year or a very wet autumn!

  Many parts of England have had rain just at the wrong time, 3-4 weeks of wet weather has caused grain to sprout in the field before combining, consigning many quality samples to the livestock feedbins instead of the milling or malting markets.

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Sitting high up in a combine harvester cab provides a good view of hedgerows and wildlife.  Wild pheasants seem to have survived well in the dry summer conditions.  Almost every harvest field had clutches of 5-6 chicks which were well grown and looked to be well fed.

Hedgerow trees and bushes also seem to have enjoyed the dry warm summer conditions, Rowan trees in particular are sagging under the weight of bright red berries and Rosehip bushes are also enjoying a bumper season with rosehips resembling small apples!  If you’re an animal or a bird which feasts on them, then it looks like being a plentiful autumn.  Let’s see what autumn has in store for the rest of us!