Farm Blogs from Around the World: Canola

Showing posts with label Canola. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Arcadian Advocate (Wiltshire; 1500 acres; Mixed - cereals, cattle, sheep, pigs, beans, rape) - Recommender

Arcadian Advocate is a relatively new blog from England in the U.K., but I'm already checking in on it.

What I like about it is that it gets inside the daily workings and thoughts of a relatively large (by farm blog standards) farmer but anyone whose goal is "to enthuse, inform and comment on all things rural and agricultural" gets my support automatically.

It's strapline is "Rural musings, farming, food production and all things connected to the countryside."

The blog covers: farming, how food is produced, local food, food security, food miles, countryside, fly tipping, animals, people, regulations, nature, bio fuels, AND all sorts of other things.

Up until now Arcadian Advocate's "daily tasks have been to look after the family, keep careful accounts and also in busy times to help outside on the farm".

However, "she currently feels so strongly that both farmers and farming are constantly misrepresented she has taken off her pinny (apron) and picked up her pen."

The farm itself is over 1500 acres and what I like about it is that (unusually now in England for farms of this size in the part of England where she is based) it is a mixed farm. Hallow be.

"We grow wheat, barley,oats, field beans, and oil seed rape [canola]. We also keep cattle, sheep and pigs and make hay and silage. We feed home grown rations wherever possible."

The blog is currently very text heavy but more pictures are promised shortly; it's only a month or so old, but I recommend checking it out, not least of all to encourage Dorothy to keep going with it. It's just the type of blog I have been looking for from the UK and hadn't yet found.

Personally I hope she focuses on the farm and her direct experiences and doesn't wander too far into all matters rural/political but that's for her to decide and us to find out!

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Saturday, 20 September 2008

The Future Cow-calf Producer (Alberta, Canada; General Resource)

The Future Cow-calf Producer was recommended to Farm Blogs by Scott, at Cedar Cove Farm.

It's an unusual blog, and if you are a cow lover, definetely one to visit regularly.

Written by a a 4th year undergraduate with a major in Animal Science, currently attending university at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, it's is all about beef cattle, from cow-calf to feedlot, facts and information that comes with knowing how to raise cattle economically and practically, as well as the general cattle industry.

The Future Cow-calf Producer wrote to me and explained more about her background, her plans for the future and her blog.

"I was born and raised on a mixed farm near Barrhead, Alberta, Canada. We have two quarter sections (~160 acres each) owned and operated by a family-run farm business for mostly hay (alfalfa-brome-timothy hay) and barley for grain and silage, with a little canola. We also have half of a quarter fenced off for pasture and drylot for backgrounding stocker steers.

I have been thinking and planning in the past year or so to turn our stocker operation into commercial cow-calf in the future, thus the blog I created.

I even share personal experiences with cattle from time to time, whether it be working at the vet clinic or going on a field trip for school."

Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Morvenvale Farm (New South Wales - between Walgett and Collarenebri on the North Western Plains; 14000 acres; wheat, barley, chickpeas. fababeans)

I've been in touch with Dave Ricardo in Australia about his blogs Morvenvale Farm and his 'comic distraction' David's Farm.

Firstly, Dave was quite right to pick me up on my definition of farming (now changed accordingly) to include food and fibre.

"There are many cotton growers about my district," he wrote, "not to mention numerous sheep breeders well known for their fine merino wools."

Dave's blogs work off a platform he has developped for farmers called Farmnet , something I want to come back and post about in the near future in more detail.

"Farmnet," Dave writes, "is all about farm blogs and is based on the popular platform, Wordpress. I have modified many bits to suit farmers including themes, weather widgets, classifieds, and more. I believe its a basic right for anyone to start their own webpage or blog much like freedom of speech is a basic right, and it should be free. So, I have committed myself to building this collection or community of farm blogs. It's a hobby and very much a part time thing. I am farming about 25,000 acres this year having taken on alot of share farming. So that keeps me busy - often at the loss of family time (wife and four kids) and sometimes Farmnet is often like "whenever I get there." "

But for now, a little more information on Morvenvale

Morenvale looks like it could be a great site and blog if you want to get a handle on what a 25,000 acre grain farm is all about.

However, it's clear Dave allocates his time along the lines of farming and family first, Farmnet second, David's Farm third, and Morvenvale ?

Well, Morenvale isn't exactly being updated at the moment.

Dave hopes to keep the news page at Morvenvale updated "so folks can follow the stages of crop development over the season" and he "hopes to install a crop cam in the coming months also".

I personally wouldn't recommend it myself right now until all of the above happens. For now it's essentially a single home page, so it's very much under construction, but it looks like it has the potential to be a very interesting blog.

All the information there is about Morenvale can be found on this home page, but en bref, it's:

a grain farm located between Walgett and Collarenebri on the North Western Plains of New South Wales, Australia, owned and operated by brothers, David and Peter Ricardo and families.

they are zero till farmers cropping around 5600 Ha (14000 acres) on 475mm (19 inch) annual rainfall.

they grow a mixture of crops in rotation. Wheat, barley, chickpeas and fababeans are their main crops with some canola too.

I hope Dave lets me know when Morenvale takes flight and when it does, I'll be sure to post again about this blog.

And as soon as I have a moment I will be posting about his project Farmnet .