Scotland's Farm Advisory Service Podcast

The aim of this guide is to help farmers to evaluate more accurately the potential nutrient value supplied to crops from organic fertilisers such as livestock slurries and manures. This guide has been compiled as part of the delivery programme for the Dumfriesshire Soil & Nutrient Network. You can view presentation slides to accompany this presentation at https://youtu.be/beF8Wa1dLuc Technical Note (TN650) Optimising the application of bulky organic fertilisers

Niall Jeffrey and family farm at Bielgrange which is our Soil & Nutrient Network host farm in the East Lothian region. Niall gives us an introduction to the farm and chats with agricultural consultant Donald Dunbar about what he hopes to learn from being part of the network.

In this podcast, we hear from our Moray Soil & Nutrient Network host farmer, James Milne who farms at 'Balnellan'. James chats with soil & drainage expert, Gavin Elrick & grassland specialist Dr. Paul Hargreaves. James has been applying distillery by-product/digestate at Balnellan for about a year and has an interesting discussion with Paul & Gavin about the pros and cons of the use of organic manures with a view to making savings on artificial fertiliser applications. The Technical Notes referred to in the podcast can be found using the links below: TN699 - Agricultural use of biosolids composts anaerobic digestates and other industrial organic fertilisers TN650 - Optimising the application of bulky organic fertilisers For anyone interested in finding out more about sourcing or using digestate, Zero Waste Scotland's "Farmer’s guide to sourcing and using digestate and compost" contains a lot of useful information. Find out more about the Soil & Nutrient Network and the other 11 farm hosts from our webpage: www.fas.scot/crops-soils/soils

In this final episode of our Alternative Watering series, we hear from agricultural consultant Donald Dunbar and farmer John Anderson. John explains that cattle had previously been drinking from water from springs and ditches and burns. This caused poaching and health problems e.g. fluke and lungworm. Having limited alternative watering options available for the farm animals, John decided to install a traditional RAM pump. The pump is lifting the water up 105 m and pumping it a distance of over a kilometre. Technical Notes referred to in this podcast can be found at: Technical note (TN665): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock I – abstraction systems Technical note (TN666): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock II – pumping systems

John Prentice a livestock farmer in the Scottish Border's chats to agricultural consultant Donald Dunbar about his alternative watering systems. John installed both a solar-powered pump and a cluster of pasture pumps a number of years ago. Farming in a diffuse pollution priority catchment, John wanted to ensure that he was able to provide livestock drinking facilities beyond the minimum 5m from a watercourse to prevent livestock poaching. He's found both systems beneficial and has a few hints and tips for others who might be installing similar systems. Technical Notes referred to in this podcast can be found at: Technical note (TN665): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock I – abstraction systems Technical note (TN666): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock II – pumping systems

Agricultural consultant Donald Dunbar visits Paul Adams, who farms at Monashee Farm in the Scottish Borders. About four years ago Paul installed a Papa pump as part of an alternative watering project for his livestock. Hear directly from Paul about the installation process and how the Papa pump has performed in his system. The links for the Technical Notes referred to in the podcast are: Technical note (TN665): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock I – abstraction systems Technical note (TN666): Alternative watering for field grazed livestock II – pumping systems

We talk to Bridget England of the RSPB about Corncrake populations in Scotland and what can be down by farmers and crofters to boost their numbers.

Sheep Specialist Poppy Frater and Nutritionist Karen Stewart, both of SAC Consulting, talk finishing lambs in the challenging situation many farmers find themselves as we head towards the end of the 2018.

Donald Dunbar from SAC Consulting talks to farmer John Prentice who's land lies on the Eye Water River which is part of the Eye Water and Pease Bay Priority Catchment area.

The weather from late 2017 through to the recent drought has left many Scottish farmers struggling for forage going in to the winter of 2018. This podcast features Davy McCracken of SRUC's Mountain Research Centre, Kev Bevan, a senior agricultural economist and Andrew Taylor, an agricultural consultant and dairy and beef farmer talking about what can be done to maximise your grassland output in the current climate and build resilience for the future.

Woodland Specialist from SAC Consulting, Douglas Priest talks to Donny Chisholm from the Woodland Trust. This podcast will give you the why, where, what and how of starting woodland on your croft.

Did you know that FAS is Gaelic for growth? Well that's the theme of our first ever podtcast as we look at how to support crofts and smallholders.