A week is a long time in politics. That’s what they used to say, but today it takes 24 hours to make or break a political career.

Now that all the infighting in Westminster has ceased, they’ve stopped throwing their toys out of the pram in their quest for political aggrandisement.

So they have at last woken up to the fact that the Conservative party has lost the confidence of the country and the next government is destined to be Labour.

This may not be such a bad thing for farming. True, in the midst of sorting out the fallout from Brexit, the pandemic, Ukraine, the Northern Ireland protocol and minimum wage will most likely be increased, this may not be a bad thing, as it could open up the availability of labour in the agricultural sector.

Advised

Although the Labour Party will be novice at handling an agricultural budget, they can quickly be advised that no matter how high wages go, if there isn’t food on the shelves in the shops to be bought, they will not control the nation.

As I have said before, a hungry nation is an angry nation.

Having seen Boris Johnson travel all around the world failing to secure significant trade deals, they can be easily advised of the need for homegrown food and how to administer the agricultural budget.

Full winter rations

Here at home, we have just finished our third month of feeding full winter rations to the milking herd.

A friend from south Wales called in the other day to collect a bull he’d bought after seeing a video online.

While he was here at the other end of the table, I showed him the calves, including a lovely black five-week-old half-Friesian pedigree bull calf we were keeping for breeding. His eyes lit up and he had to have it.

He quickly agreed to the price the wife suggested and happily left with two bulls in his trailer.

I would have loved to have used that bull in our herd

He was smiling so much, I think he thought he had got a BOGOF (buy one get one free).

As we stood in the yard, the trailer disappeared in a cloud of dust and the wife turned to me and said: "I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing there. I would have loved to have used that bull in our herd."

I put my arm round her and said: "You sell the best and it sells the rest."

Every visitor to Clive’s farm will be shown that bull and the fame of our herd will spread up the south Wales valley.

How often will they get to see the progeny of a herd which is classified as 78% very good and excellent - that’s the culmination of your 50 years breeding?