We have had a great few days at the Nuffield Farming Conference where returning scholars come back to give their reports having travelled the world studying a variety of topics.
The topics ranged from robot tractors to farming insects with eggs, the environment, silos, pigs, soft fruit, water sustainability, managing pesticides, carcass grading, anaerobic digesters, slugs and genomics in between.
Did you know that slug slime can make great face masks as the slime contains all sorts of antiaging properties? Lovely!
A scholar from Zimbabwe gave a very moving account of how he was forced out of his family farm by the Mugabe brutes and how it had affected him. He has started a new life in the UK and by all accounts is doing really well, but you could see the emotional scars were still very raw.
It is always a really stimulating conference with so many different ideas and challenging thoughts and great to catch up with old friends.
In the meantime Sarah and Maria worked the horses - Sarah is now kitted out with one of our new heart rate monitors so she can send us the readings on her phone after she has done a piece of work. It is a great way of seeing how hard they have worked and checking on their fitness.
They certainly seemed very well when we turned them out this morning - Secret just exploded just before I had unhooked her rope and knocked me flying, she then proceeded to gallop over the top of me. When I rode her on Wednesday she suddenly fly leaped in the air and I was looking down on Sarah's head who was riding Ted - Neck straps from now on!

Secret last season. She has grown since and is feeling rather too well!