More delightful news from Lord Bonkers, in particular, how he manages his agricultural estates.

Earlier in the year he revealed his insistence on the $3-a-day EU subsidy paid for each cow be paid directly to the cow:

Did you know that each European cow is subsidised to the tune of $3 a day? As a Liberal I insist that this money is paid directly to the beasts themselves, and that has made a great difference to the rural economy in these parts with many cows now owning their own sheds, running small businesses and enjoying holidays abroad. I also touch upon the topic of ‘set aside’: this year I am not growing barley, but in past years I have not grown more exotic crops such as linseeds and lupins. Indeed, people would drive for miles to look at the brightly coloured flowers not growing amid the green fields of Rutland.

In his most recent Diary in Liberator, we are treated to details of the Rutland estate 4-year crop rotation system:

Here on the Bonkers Hall estate I have long practised the rotation of crops: clover one year, wheat the next, then turnips, then a cricket pitch and then back to clover. So it was that during the tea interval of my XI’s last match of the season I gave orders for the pitch to be ploughed up. There were one or two raised eyebrows when we went on to bowl the other side out cheaply, but I am sure all my readers will understand that my actions were motivated purely by a concern for the principles of sound agricultural management.

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