MORE than 70 farmers gathered at the farm open day organised by the Farmer Network.

Thanks to funding from Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, the Farmer Network was able to organise the event to take place the home of the Bowness Family at Threapland Lees Farm near Wigton.

The Farmer Network was supported by several guest speakers. Ian Steele from Bellevue vets covered a number of animal health topics primarily within the dairy sector. Agronomist Steven Gate of Agrovista led a farm walk looking at soil health, grassland management systems on the farm and herbal ley establishment. Local consultant Andy Dyer gave the farmers an SFI and grant funding update. Host farmers Ian and Tina Bowness also gave a guided tour of the farmstead, looking at the farm buildings and systems in place within them.

Farmer Network Managing Director Adam Day said “Right now, knowledge is everything in the farming industry and farmers will have an eye open across the business including income streams, cost-management, funding opportunities, productivity and system management. Hopefully today gave our farmers some food for thought and useful information to chew over”.

Farmer Network coordinator Kate Chester continued “We certainly covered much ground today at Threapland Lees. We try to be a useful first point of contact for farmers with such a plethora of information for them to have to digest while continuing to run the business seven days per week”.