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All the latest news 

From Kelly Farm Consulting

Details on FETF grant funding for 2025 applications have been released today by DEFRA.

 

The application window will open on Thursday 29th May, for a period of six weeks, closing at midday on the 10th July.  The scheme will again be competitive and work on a scoring basis.  As with the last round, eligible items are grouped into three ‘themes’:

 

1.       Productivity (up to £25,000)

2.       Slurry Management (up to £25,000)

3.       Animal Health & Welfare (up to £25,000)

 

DEFRA have made a total of £46.7 million available across England.


Who is Eligible?

 

  • If you are a farmer, horticulturalist, forestry owner or contractor you are eligible for funding.

  • The Animal Health and Welfare Grant is only available to beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep, pigs and laying/broiler chickens. Unfortunately, Goats have been excluded again. 

  • You will be eligible to apply if you have received FETF grants in the past, however if the fund becomes oversubscribed, applicants that have not claimed more than a total of £10,000 of productivity and slurry management funding from previous FETF rounds will be favoured.


What Items Are Available and How Are They Scored?


Productivity


All available items under the ‘Productivity’ theme can be found here. Applications for productivity items are scored on their productivity benefit, their environmental benefit and their level of adoption by the wider industry.

 

Slurry Management

 

All available items under the ‘Slurry Management’ theme can be found here. Applications for slurry items are scored on: improving slurry management, environmental benefit and their level of adoption by the wider industry.

 

Items under both the productivity and slurry management themes have a score of up to 100, with your application total calculated by adding up the individual score of each item, and dividing it by the number of items applied for.

 

You are able to apply for a score uplift of 25% if your SBI number has received less than £10,000 in funding across these two themes in previous FETF rounds.

 

For both the productivity and slurry management themes, the RPA will pay you a grant amount of either 40% or 50% towards either the average cost of the item (if it costs you the same or more than the RPA’s listed price) or the actual cost you pay for an item (if the item costs you less than the RPA’s listed price).

 

Animal Health & Welfare


All available items under the ‘Animal Health & Welfare’ theme can be found here. You can increase your application’s score by 20% if you provide evidence that you have discussed your application with a vet.


If you would like to discuss your options, or prepare an application, please get in touch!


 


Sam Kelly

07777 696080


Charlie Davies

07904 601104


Alfie Rumsey

07399 117257

 

Office 01454 614624


 


 

 

 

 
 

With 1st cut underway for most of you, we bring you the final update on grass for silage quality monitoring.  


Despite the sunshine, fresh grass sugars have dropped slightly this week in Gloucestershire. Rapid growth rates have diluted sugar concentrations, pushing the protein:sugar ratio above the 1:1 target. If your analysis shows similar trends, consider using a preservative additive to avoid composting your silage.


📉 Check nitrate levels before mowing!!


Want all the detail? Check out the full report here:



Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help in any way. 



Sam Kelly

07777 696080


Charlie Davies

07904 601104


Alfie Rumsey

07399 117257

 

Office 01454 614624




 
 

We are now into the third week of grass quality monitoring for the year. In the last week, we have seen a huge variation in rainfall across the South West, with some of our farms seeing rain exceeding 30mm and others seeing hardly any. There is also a wide variation in soil temperatures, with highs of 15 degrees and lows dipping as far as 1 degree still. The 10 day forecast looks positive, so consider whether its worth getting the contractors booked in for the end of next week!


Key points from this weeks report are:


  • Sugar levels have climbed by 20.3% compared to our previous set of samples, with results further south remaining static.

  • Protein:Sugar ratios have fallen sharply in the Gloucester & Bristol areas, moving much closer to the ideal 1:1 balance.

  • Nitrate concentrations remain comfortably below the 250mg/kg limit.

  • Maize drilling window is now open, but be cautious – soil temperatures are climbing well, but risk certainly remains.


Want all the detail? Check out the full report here:



Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help in any way. 



Sam Kelly

07777 696080


Charlie Davies

07904 601104


Alfie Rumsey

07399 117257

 

Office 01454 614624




 
 

Kelly Farm Consulting 

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