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This week, I want to talk about something which has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, even more so since I started farming in my own right and probably since I grew up on a farm where my desire to be like my father and uncle first started.

Spikey is the flagship product of Pastoral Robotics, a New Zealand company focused on reducing nitrate leaching and greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farming.

Not only do I trade on farmers’ markets, I am a director of the community interest company which runs our village market.

Well, the back end of the year is definitely here and it is cold and wet. We are currently trying to finish off tailing and dipping the ewes, but the weather here is playing havoc with our plans by bringing what must be the wettest stretch we have seen since February.

Catherine Hynd, 27, is from Jedburgh, Scottish Borders. She graduated from Heriot-Watt University with a degree in business management and is working towards becoming a rural bookkeeper.

A ban on low-standard imports may not be possible, but there are still plenty of ways our local produce can be championed, says Janet Finch-Saunders, Welsh Conservative Shadow Rural Affairs Minister.

I am a naturally optimistic person. I can usually find some sort of silver lining to most clouds and, currently, the livestock sector is feeling pretty good.