Scotland's Farm Advisory Service Podcast

Farmers should look carefully at their farm to find small areas where they can engage with agri-environment management to provide a greater benefit to the wildlife and fauna in their area is the message from Professor Davy McCracken, Head of Hill & Mountain Research Centre as he chats with Upland Ecologist, Dr John Holland, at SRUC’s Kirkton and Auchtertyre research farms. The farm has engaged with SGRPID agri-environmental schemes, and the resulting increases in biodiversity prompted a slight shift in focus for the farming businesses. Previous scheme managements have brought changes in water margin management, the planting of and mountain forest area for use as silvo-pasture and more recently the farm has engaged with moorland management and wader scrapes in order to benefit a range of farmland birds within the area. Species such as golden plover, Black grouse, Barn owls, otters, highland voles and even beavers are making returns to the area as a result of the changes in management. Previous production on the farm had seen higher outputs, but at the expense of considerably higher inputs which was unsustainable in the longer term and had gradually reduced the diverse wildlife within the farmed area. Moving forwards, incorporating more agri-environment management strategies has produced a healthier habitat for wildlife and is working towards helping the farm become more resilient to extreme weather conditions.

The Aberdeenshire Soil & Nutrient Network farm for 2018-19 is Kincraigie Farm at Lumphanan, which is farmed by the Marshall Family. The business is run by father and son partnership, Robert and Robert Jnr. Kincragie is a mixed arable and grassland unit focusing on a herd of 550 suckler cows. All progeny from the suckler herd is kept and finished on the farm. All the farmyard manure (FYM) and slurry from the cattle is spread back on to the land to increase soil organic matter and reduce the use of inorganic bagged fertilisers. In this podcast we chat with Robert Marshall from Kincraigie and Stacey Hamilton from SAC Consulting.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – and more particularly, antibiotic resistance – is one of the greatest threats to human health globally. Food producing animals account for 37% of antibiotic use in the UK so farmers have a big role to play in reducing their use. In this podcast, we talk to vet Heather Stevenson of SAC Consulting Veterinary Services about this and what steps can be taken to cut the use of antibiotics. Links Colostrum is Gold | Farm Antibiotics

In this podcast, we hear from Agricultural Consultant Seamus Donnelly. Seamus chats with Seamus Murphy about what exactly is involved in the planning and construction of slurry lagoons. The Scottish Government's SRDP Agri-Environment Climate Scheme programme offers funding to farmers who need to improve or increase their slurry storage. Funding is limited to targeted areas, but further information is available from there Rural Payments website. Join us at one of our Slurry Lagoon Storage & Construction events being held in the south-west of Scotland between 21 February and 5 March to hear more about the rules and regulations required when considering installing a slurry lagoon. Full event details available at www.fas.scot/news/slurry-lagoons/

With lambing approaching, we spoke to Vet Heather Stevenson, who is based in Dumfries with SAC Consulting Veterinary Services. Here she talks about the importance of thinking about strategy when it comes to worming and how you can use certain tactics to reduce your use of wormers. This can not only help to reduce the chance of the worms developing resistance but also will save you money in the long term. If you're looking for more information on worm control, then visit www.scops.org.uk/

Agricultural Consultant, Chris McDonald, and Tweed Forum's Collaborative Action Co-ordinator, Hugh Chalmers discuss Natural Flood Management with particular reference to the Eddleston Water Catchment. Hear more about a range of management options that farmers can undertake which can benefit the farm business whilst also reducing the flooding risk for areas further downstream. Hugh puts the actions into context by referring back to work done within the Eddleston catchment and how they have helped with flooding problems in Peebles.

The popularity of fodder beet is growing across Scotland for those wintering ewes in a cost-effective manner while also meeting their nutritional needs. In this podcast, Sheep and Beef specialist, Kirsten Williams and Sheep specialist, Poppy Frater, both of SAC Consulting, talk to John Scott of Fearn Farm about his experience using fodder beet.

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.