We were fortunate enough to be invited to the Dennes & Zantra seed trials day by Pat Goode. Neither of us had attended one before, and being from livestock backgrounds had very little knowledge on wheat varieties between us. Nevertheless, we headed off to a very grey looking Faversham on the morning of the 25th.
Now I won’t humiliate myself by discussing the lack of disease resistance in Cougar, or which variety makes for the best milling wheat, but I certainly can comment on the fantastic hospitality provided by all involved.
The event was well organised, and set out to keep all visitors safe. We arrived in good time, and found the site very easily. Once we’d signed in, we headed off to find Carina who was dutifully filling cups with hot tea and coffee, to which we certainly enjoyed. After a brief chat with a few members we set off on our 90-minute trials walk hosted by Andrew Bourne of Dennes and Stan Harrison of Zantra. The walk was both interesting and informative, even for the clueless duo (Sarah and I), and, although we couldn’t follow all of the technicalities, we certainly learnt a considerable amount.
The grey skies held off during our walk, with the worst of the rainfall coming when we arrived in the refreshments tent. Sarah and I were extremely happy to find a hog roast stand – with crackling and apple sauce! Team Dennes had thrown a real spread, with plenty of refreshments available to enjoy. As always, there was Dennes merchandise in abundance, we were grateful for the free pens and Sarah has a variety of rain gauges dotted around her farm that we have collected over the years.
In all, a lovely morning out seeing lots of familiar faces. Southern Farmers at a trials day isn’t something we had envisaged before, but it’s certainly something we will continue to do in the future!
Abi
