A top Suffolk farmer showed lightning-fast reactions as he avoided being showered with dung by one of his cows.

James Forrest of Stonham, near Stowmarket, lightened the mood at last week's Suffolk Farming Conference as he shared the moment one of his Red Poll heifers fired off a volley of excrement while he was in a stall tending to her calf.

The farmer bounced back - narrowly avoiding being showered with excrement - and all the while unaware that his cousin was filming the whole thing.

He was inviting his cousin's children to name the calf - and his cousin was there to take a photo to share with them.

James - a guest speaker at the conference at Trinity Park, Ipswich - was talking about "too much data - not enough information".

The crop grower - who also keeps a herd of Red Poll cattle - made the point that technology can create more work rather than saving farmers precious time. 

He also explained how technology in his farm office had developed since he was a lad in the 1980s - using what was then cutting-edge office equipment - including a farm radio communications system and a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer.

But despite the advances - and the huge amount of data gathered - farmers could end up feeling hopelessly overloaded with desk tasks, he said.

It seemed they were still being denied the promised benefits as intuitively joined-up technology remained frustratingly out of reach, he explained.

"I spend more and more time in the office and less time outside doing the things I want to do," he complained.

Then he showed a very low-tech moment on his farm as he went to check on his cattle and found himself in the wrong place as the young cow expelled her last meal.

"I hoped it would make people laugh a bit because sometimes these things can be quite serious and sometimes a bit of light relief at the end is welcome," he explained.

"However much precision farming you have, nothing can prepare you for the unpredictability of working with livestock."

The children were tasked with finding a name for the calf beginning with the letter 'N' - and chose to call it Nutella.