For over four years now we have been employing NZ-based adviser Trevor Cook, who comes to see us twice a year to review progress being made both as a business and in terms of our team’s development.

We look forward to his arrival and find the process both invigorating and exhausting at the same time: we are forced to think ‘out of the box’ and over the years our farming systems have certainly developed, although maybe not quite at the pace we would like.

My feeling is that the pace of change within our business is about to be cranked up a couple of gears, and I suspect that this will be reflected in the wider industry as Brexit kicks in next year. Change is often seen as a negative within our industry, but what excites me about it is that it often brings opportunities – finding and maximising them is where our energy and resources should be directed.

At Fearn we now have a team which combines a blend of youth and experience, is hungry for knowledge and wants to push the boundaries in terms of what our farms can achieve from grass and forage-based systems.

One of the main topics of conversation with Trevor this time has been farm culture. I have never really thought much about this before, but the more we delve into the subject, the more we realise how big an impact it could have.

Over the coming months we will set about developing our culture; our whole team will undergo a personality traits exercise which should give us a better understanding of how we all function.

Listening to Doug Avery talking about how he functions on his recent tour of Scotland made me think long and hard about myself. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with everything I unearthed and change will no doubt be required.

Again this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but an opportunity – just like scanning our heifers last week when eight from 39 were empty is an opportunity for us to save on winter feed and bring some much-needed cash into the business.

Speaking of winter feed, what we have is of good quality, but much like the rest of the country quantity is certainly down and we will need to ration things very carefully over the coming months.

I haven’t attended many breeding sales over the autumn, much to the financial controller’s relief (wife and co-pilot in life, Fiona).

We didn’t need sheep this year, although some gimmers were bought at Lairg which were extremely good value for me but nowhere near enough for the seller.

Finally, it’s great to see the new lamb marketing campaign released by QMS. The team has worked extremely hard to make it happen and now it’s up to us as farmers to get behind it with all our might, while continuing to deliver a truly awesome product to the market place.