Grain maize has become an important break crop for an 11,000-acre agribusiness just north of London. All sold as feed to dairy and beef producers, we find out why it is best made and traded as crimp, rather than dried.

Convention has it that the Lune valley in northern Lancashire – sandwiched between the Forest of Bowland,  the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales – is not an area suited to growing and harvesting grain. Any cereals grown are usually wholecropped early in the season and stored as forage. And any attempts to harvest grain have often been met with disappointment in one of the UK’s highest rainfall regions. But the Norris family have never been constrained by convention.

No two years in farming are ever the same, and the stark contrast between 2024 and 2025 demonstrate this better than many. As well as global political and economic volatility affecting the whole country, agriculture is arguably at the mercy of the British weather more than any other industry.

Kelvin Cave Ltd is delighted to announce that acclaimed former farm manager, Steve Jones, has joined its team.

As we approach harvest and consider the best way to preserve combined cereals or pulses, knowing the moisture content accurately is critically important to ensure that the preservative selected is suitable for the crop at that moisture.

A VERSATILE GRAIN PROTECTANT Prevents contamination from insects and retains the quality of stored grains.

A Scottish dairy producer has lifted yields by 1,000 litres and seen milk from forage peak at 5,000 litres by radically improving his grass and wholecrop silage.

New research carried out by an independent silage researcher has shown that silage additives containing heterofermentative bacteria produce maize silage which is no better than that conserved without any additive at all.

When you are buying forward stores – bringing cattle on to the farm at 18 months or more and selling everything to slaughter little more than three months later – your focus has to be on achieving rapid growth and well-finished carcasses from a cost-effective ration. 

Each one of the five words on this Scrabble board represents a vital stage in successful home-grown feed preservation
and processing.