Wednesday, March 3 2021 may well go down in Welsh farming history as a nail in the coffin for our industry, writes Hugh Besent.

The members of the Welsh Senedd voted against a motion to annul the introduction of an all-Wales Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ).

The vote was close; 30 against and 27 in favour.

To my disbelief, Lord Ellis Thomas, the member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, with many small traditional livestock farms supported the NVZ proposals and Kirsty Williams did not even vote.

I believe that both these members of rural constituencies should have shown more respect for their farmers.

Had these two voted to support the Plaid Cymru motion to annul, a more sensible approach could have been forced on the Welsh Government.

As usual Welsh Government is not capable of radical thinking in trying to solve a problem. I hope the same NVZ rules will be applied to all other sectors like sewage works which frequently discharge straight into waterways.

However, life on the farm carries on and our cows keep looking over the cubicle shed gates hoping to be let out.

Unfortunately, our fields are still too soft, and they will end up poaching the pastures too much. But it won’t be long. Fertilizer has been applied to all the grazing fields three weeks ago and all the silage fields have been shut up and fertilized.

Our mole catcher has had a busy time and hopefully has caught them all. Mole hills in the silage must be avoided so as not to allow soil contamination which can lead to listeria poisoning and certain death to a cow.

This last week we have managed to spread some slurry following a few dry days – our motto is, little and often – so as to avoid run off to water courses, not the Welsh Governments’ NVZ way – January 16 will now be known as Welsh Muck Day.

As on all livestock farms fencing is a necessary evil and something we seem to be always doing.

Our latest piece is on a rock by the farmhouse, and what looked like a quick job turned out to be a big one, clearing bushes and drilling the rock to concrete in steel posts. Hopefully when completed, it will last a while.