The Pasture Pod – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Many moons and almost an equal amount of suns ago, our anti-hero MC Swardstick set off on his pilgrimage to find a mythical being. A dairy farmer who didn't work 90 hours a week.  He found this creature and he was well cool and interesting. They spoke for almost 3 hours and MC left with his sound recorder full of wisdom.  Unfortuneately, MC was very lazy and no where near committed enough and didn't do anything with the recording for a painfully long time.  Today represents the end of the constipation and the episode has come out. The End.

A Canadian themed episode to bring "Season 2" to an end. Arron came over to the UK in January 2023 and spoke to loads of people over the course of a week. I went to see him at the AHDB meeting in Northumberland at George Burrell's and it was such a refreshing and positive experience. Even though he has such a different environment to contend with, the principle of system first is such a powerful thing.  He popped into Culteuchar, met Mo, stayed the night (not in that way) and was polite about my handful of heifers and sheep.

Hope you enjoy it.  If you do, Arron is starting a new podcast of his own with Amy Hughes called Think Outside the Fence. 1st August 2023 release, I think. First guest is me and the interview has happened. I don't think I'm catastrophising but looking back on it I am definitely getting Gerald Ratner / Holly Willoughby vibes, so this might be the last Pasture Pod before I'm cancelled.

Gus and Duncan are full siblings with impressive EBVs for 3 Hour Bantz; Low CoP and Positive Mental Attitude. They are both structurally correct with good locomotion and teeth but increasingly bare heads.  

The Pasture Pod returns to its roots with this episode - hardore farming chat and a glimpse into the motivation of a couple of awesome individuals.

If Nikki is a human being, I am a slug.  By this I mean - we share 80% of our farming DNA but it still seems we see things differently.  This was a theraputic conversation that allowed me to accept the final 20%.  "It is what it is" as they say in Love Island. It's OK not to think exactly the same way and maybe there's wisdom in other opinions.  Now I feel like Jerry Springer.

I mentioned "Scotland the What" and specifically the Balleter Toy Shop sketch.  Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS3AdzZ0Nw 

Hope you enjoy this episode.

Holly Beckett could possibly change your life. Quietly and without a lot of fuss she has been helping people become more focussed,  less stressed and have a renewed appreciation of life.  She has been introducing mindfulness to the UK farming industry and its making a difference to people.

Keep an open mind.  Even if mindfulness is not for you, I think this interview is full of wisdom and great stories.

If you fancy trying the 5 day brain training challenge click here

More generally, Holly's website is here: https://www.focussedfarmers.com/

The Steve Jobs speech Holly mentions is brilliant: Steve Jobs Speech - Joining the dots

Holly also mentions research that suggests the human mind can have an effect on physical matter. Not quite as much as the girl from Stranger Things but ..... Slit experiment - detailed; Slit experiment - simpler

This is enormous.  Its the biggest and longest.  Don't be scared.

Alex Brewster is a fascinating chap whatever your own farming philosophy.  In my opinion he is one of the best communicators in UK agriculture. A Soil Farmer of the Year, a Nuffield Scholar and someone who stole the show at the Oxford Farming Conference.

You will soon know him as Beanie due to some sort of mystical unexplained force makes you ditch his real name.  Try and play along with Beanie Bingo which involves drinking alot each time the phrase "Point of Balance" is used.

Daniel has grown a beard that provides more biodiversity habitat than Knepp Estate. He cares for it deeply, sometimes with product.  He has scanned many sheep in his career but his true destiny is to be the biggest sheep nerd in either hemisphere.  He is from a place called New Zealand and if he was on a cruise liner his favourite deck would be deck six.

I honestly know of few people with such strong sheep chat.  I think you'll like it.

With his long torso and teeny, tiny legs Graham Lofthouse and his family own 109.99999999999999 Hectares in Galawater in the Scottish Borders.  A man driven by the knowledge that nothing is ever perfect but there's always hope that one day it might be, we speak about all sorts - sport, psychology, decimal points and obsessive attention to farming detail.  I make a big enough mistake to probably get a Hawick Fatwa issued on me regarding 1980s lock forward Alan Tomes.

Graham has a huge agricultural knowledge and breaks down how he makes money from a relatively small land resource.  A former AgriScot Sheep Farmer of the Year, I hope we can be best friends in future.

If a life lived in fear is a life half lived then Tim has a double life #pasturearithmetic.  One of the founders and drivers of the Exlana breed he loves breeding and statistics .... what are the chances of that?  The Exlana sale is on Tuesday 3rd August. Checkout their website https://www.exlana.co.uk/sales

Link to register for the Farmax ‘The Benefits of Pasture Monitoring and Data Collection’ Webinar go to: https://forms.gle/oAwuiWtVGr3ynz7n9

Recorded when Jamie was 38 years old, this week Jamie has his 40th birthday.  We didn't talk that long rather the editor is well rubbish.

Jamie is from Shetland and has made great strides in his farming business despite being in a challenging environment.  He is also the most northerly Fodder Beet grower in the world though his friend Matthew from up the road is wrestling this crown from him as we speak.