November 2011

I was very interested to receive the latest copy of ‘Business Pointers’ from EBLEX (the English Beef & Lamb Executive), particularly as it dropped on my doormat the very day after I’d been reading its much earlier counterpart, “THE FARM AS A BUSINESS – Aids to Management – SHEEP”, published in 1963 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

MAFF, (before it was renamed Defra in 2001 following the devastating Foot & Mouth outbreak in that year), published a range of booklets to help sheep farmers benchmark their businesses against the average results gained by a cross-section of farmers in their sector, and to analyse their own farm data for forward budgeting and planning.  And what fascinating reading it makes!  There are a couple of points that are worthy of note: firstly, the Government of the day guaranteed minimum prices to farmers for their lambs, hoggets, other clean sheep and fleeces (no free market in those days!), and secondly, the lambing percentages achieved then and now:

Type of Sheep Enterprise	1963	2011
Lowland Sheep – early fat lambs (born by end of December)	120	151
Lowland Sheep – fat lambs (born mid-March onwards)	140	169
Upland Sheep (LFA)	120	164

Of course there are numerous differences between sheep farming then and now, but I selected the lambing percentages, as they are a clear indication of the improvement there has been in sheep husbandry, management and genetics in the past 50 years.  Obviously this is driven by commercial imperatives, but there is no reason why the smallholder flock-keeper can’t also take advantage of all the advances in sheep production to create a healthier, happier and more productive flock.



I find that the weather is a recurring theme of this diary, and this month will be no exception!  On the final Sunday of November, I checked the thermometer as I do every day, and recorded it in my ‘farm book’ (a rather muddled but oh so useful record of everything that goes on around the smallholding).  I then compared it to the temperature on the same day last year.  There was a 23^oC difference between the two.  And there are dog roses flowering in the hedgerows all along the lane!

November 2011

There’s so much talk these days about ‘local produce’ and ‘self-sufficiency’, and it made me wonder just how local and self-sufficient it would be possible to be. 

We recently invited some friends to join us for dinner, the ingredients of which were wholly produced at Green Farm (with the exception of olive oil, salt & pepper … and a really good Spanish plonk – but next Spring we’ll be quaffing our own perry!).  We’re fortunate enough to live in a mixed farming area, producing an amazing variety of crops (grain, orchard and horticultural) and livestock, including a beekeeper with 60+ years experience.  Much of this produce is grown and reared on relatively small family farms, often having been in the same family for several generations, and is farmed in traditional, low input systems.  Within a very small radius, we can source beef, lamb, pork, poultry, eggs, honey, a wide range of fruit and vegetables, preserves, pickles, and the odd bottle of country wine and pitcher of cider or perry.

Not only does this represent a huge saving in food miles, but also handling, packaging, warehousing and the whole electronic infrastructure involved in modern food production systems.  

Sadly, there are no washing powder wells in the locality, so the occasional trip to a supermarket is still necessary!  Robin has been talking about getting a little 4-wheel wagon and hitching up a pony for the weekly trip to our local market town – sounds great in good weather, but I’m not so sure about how much exercise the pony would get in winter?

Last month we set about the task of sorting the ewe flock, and having separated this year’s breeding ewes, we now have to decide about the rest.  We’ll keep the best ewe lambs born this year to grow on as replacement breeding ewes – they’ll have their first lambs in the spring of 2013.

Next, we take a very critical look over the ewe flock and any that have had lambing problems, recurring or chronic lameness, mastitis or blocked teats, or low resistance to internal parasites – now have to go.  And this is the part of farming that I like least.  I don’t mind taking healthy lambs to slaughter – it’s what they were bred for, I know they’ve had a good life and we are lucky enough to have a very good village abattoir fairly close by.  But in a small flock the shepherd gets to know the ewes, especially older ewes that have born lambs for several years, and there’s a distinct sense of betrayal about taking them to market as ‘cull’ ewes.

There are options, of course, but hanging around on a patch of grass ‘til they get arthritic and lose their teeth is not one of them!  We have had some slaughtered for mutton, which is a most underrated and delicious meat when produced and cooked properly.  We’ve also had a couple slaughtered and minced for our dogs.  But until there is a more accepting market for quality mutton, there will always be cull ewes to take to market.

Livestock markets vary hugely these days.  As a child, I remember my grandfather taking me to the Cattle Market in Hailsham, West Sussex.  It was in the middle of what was, in those days (the ‘60s), a small country market town.  Market day was chaotic, smelly, noisy and very exciting - many farmers still drove their animals in on foot!  These days, livestock markets are more often situated on out of town trading estates, and are housed in big industrial-looking sheds.

If you’ve never taken livestock to market before, it can be quite daunting – it’s always worth phoning the auctioneers beforehand to check which day is the most appropriate for the type of animals you have, and the staff on-site are used to novices and will explain exactly what you need to do when you arrive.

You’ll need to do some paperwork:  Movement Licence (AML1), MV Accreditation forms if you’re selling accredited stock for breeding, and Pedigrees if appropriate.  When you book your animals in at the market, you’ll have to complete the auctioneer’s form, giving your details and the stock you’re selling.

We arrived with 8 ewes loaded in the trailer, leaving ourselves about an hour before the sale to get our ewes settled in two pens – one for ‘culls’, and one for ‘breeding ewes’.  It’s always interesting to follow the auctioneer, and you can learn a great deal by talking to the other farmers and watching the buyers.  On this occasion, I was really surprised to see that good quality ‘fat lambs’ sold for only a few pounds more than ‘stores’ – why would anyone bother to bring on stores when the margins are so low?

We got a very good price for our ewes – just under £70 each, less the auctioneer’s commission, the Livestock Levy, a small Meat Inspector’s charge and VAT on these items – the total of all charges came to just under £25.  The cheque arrived in the post a week or so following the auction.  I don’t know who bought them, or where they will go – a large proportion of cull ewes these days go into the ‘ethnic’ trade to fulfil our insatiable appetite for ‘Indian Takeaways’!

Trip to Corsica

Well, the summer has ended in record-breaking fashion, which rather seems to be the way of all things weather-wise for the past couple of years.  During the last few days of September we recorded temperatures in the region of 29^oC – a confusing contrast to the autumn leaves and ripening berries, but a very welcome way to see out the summer.



Just for a change I thought I would write, not about life on our smallholding, but about our recent holiday to north Corsica.  Yes, holiday – not something that smallholders can often indulge themselves in as, of course, the animals at home won’t look after themselves.  So the holiday, our first in 6 years, was preceded by several evenings spent getting everything in order on the smallholding and writing copious instructions for our ‘sitter’ – a veterinary nurse, so more than capable of looking after our horses, sheep, poultry and dogs!

This was our third visit to the island, a great chunk of granite with a fascinating history, glorious mountain and coastal scenery, and relatively untouched by mass tourism, especially in the mountainous interior.  Of particular interest is the pride that Corsicans take in their natural resources and the food they produce in a landscape that is a few degrees off vertical in most areas – which makes driving an interesting experience!



During our travels I’d spotted sheep grazing on impossibly high slopes and craggy outcrops – of course the sheep are a far cry from the heavy lowland Hampshire Downs we keep at home.  The ones we saw were rather more like goats, and of course goats are also bred for their milk, cheese and meat – we only spotted this one by following the sound of its bell up the mountain!



The local free-ranging cattle, small and compact, are also unfazed by heights, and seem to be able to survive on next to nothing, though some appeared to me to be in rather poor condition.  Obviously they are a dual-purpose breed, bred to produce both milk and meat for the village; there is certainly no scope for mega-dairies in this landscape!  Similarly, semi-feral pigs and sanglier (wild boar) are reared in the chestnut forests on the equally mountainous eastern side of the island.  The sweet chestnuts they feed on gives the charcuterie the most wonderful flavour.

All of this is a far cry from the relatively intensified farming methods that we are used to in lowland Britain.  Even those of us who rear our livestock extensively on pastures are likely to spend a great deal more time observing and ‘cosseting’ our animals, and consequently it can come as something of an eye-opener to see how livestock have to fend for themselves in far harsher environments, with far less human intervention.
One of the island’s specialities is ‘Fromage du Brebis’, cheese produced from sheep’s milk ranging from matured hard cheeses such as ‘U Pecurinu’ to fresh soft cheese called ‘Brocciu’ – all of it absolutely delicious.  Having filmed the whole process of making ewe’s milk cheese from lambing through lactation to labelling for our “Sheep for Business, Enterprise & Profit” programme, I was really interested to learn something about how the various types of Corsican cheeses were produced.

The specialist-milking breed, the ‘Corse’ (one of the breeds recognised as a ‘Heritage Sheep’ by the EU) is small (the ewes weigh just 35kgs) and very hardy, living outdoors in arid Mediterranean grassland and mountainous areas.  In spite of this, the ewes can be milked for 180 days after weaning the lamb at 35 days, producing over 130 litres of milk per lactation.



We stopped one day to visit one of the lowland sheep-breeding farms, and if I’m honest, I didn’t really like what I saw.  It was lambing time and we watched the flock of about 300 ewes and their newborn lambs.  I’m used to the smell of sheep and I don’t find it at all unpleasant, but there was a very unpleasant smell here, which I quickly traced to a heap of small lambs that had been slung into a ditch.  A lot of the ewes were very lame, and several showed signs of mastitis.  In general, the standard of husbandry was not what we would consider adequate, and the disregard for what we call “Disposal of Fallen Stock”, was shocking.

So, as you see, our holiday wasn’t quite of the sun, sand and sangria variety, though by way of compensation, we did spend a couple of days on this heart-achingly beautiful beach!  And I didn’t think about sheep once.











At 9 weeks old, the chicks are now almost fully feathered and are displaying all the behaviours of grown-up chickens – despite never having had any contact with a real chicken (being artificially incubated and brooded).  They peck at anything that moves and scratch the ground to uncover interesting insects and grubs.  They roost on their perches at night and have begun to preen their feathers.  We’re just waiting for the first egg, though of course the earliest we can expect this is at around 18 weeks … if, that is any of them are hens and not cockerels!  Last month we were guessing that of the four, three were hens, but are now having to revise this based on the appalling behaviour of the little Welsummer.

Welly chases the other 3 around their little run, barges them away from the food and pecks them at the slightest excuse – a typical cockerel in the making, and there is a distinct upturn to the tail feathers.  It’s almost impossible to tell for sure until a chicken either lays an egg or crows, but, sadly, my money is on Welly crowing.  Time will tell.

October 2011

A lot of pedigree sheep breeders will already be well into their breeding season, and the rams, having done their work for the year, will be back in their bachelor paddocks with their happy memories!  But for most of us, the idea of abandoning the Christmas turkey for a stint in the lambing shed has limited appeal!

We lambed in mid-April last year, and I must say, it suited us perfectly.  So this year we put our ewes onto our best pasture in the last week of September – aiming for a condition score of 3.5 (for optimum ovulation and implantation) within 6 weeks, at which time they will be joined by our handsome ram, Kinky.  He was put onto good grass to bring him gradually up to a score of 4, which will ensure he has good firm testicles (ie. fertility) and libido!  He only has 12 ewes to serve, so he doesn’t need to be too fit, but we do need him to be keen enough to serve them all during their first cycle so that all our lambs are born closely together – this makes lambing a joy, not a nuisance as it was in our first year when lambing 12 ewes took 6 weeks!

This year’s lambs have done tremendously well – the best we’ve ever produced, and this makes it even harder than usual to select the first batch to go off for slaughter.  As we leave the ram lambs entire (uncastrated), they grow quickly during the first few months, producing a very fine, lean carcase.  So by 20-22 weeks they are well up to our target weight of between 40-42kgs.  The ones that aren’t good enough to retain for breeding have already gone, and will soon be filling our customers’ freezers.  We’ve kept the two best ram lambs; as we lamb late, they won’t be ready for breeding purposes this year, but by next spring they will look magnificent!

We’ve decided to keep all this year’s ewe lambs on farm over the winter, which means we can see how they develop as potential breeding stock.  Any that aren’t up to our specification will then go as hogget, which has been given the ‘thumbs up’ by all our customers.

13th September 2011

As a member of various smallholding and farming associations, I take every opportunity to participate in the various farm walks and meetings that are held throughout the year, so when I received an invitation from FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group http://www.fwag.org.uk/) to go on a very special farm visit in early August, I jumped at the chance.  The very special farm in question belongs to Eric Freeman, a Gloucestershire farmer renowned for his passion for preserving the Gloucestershire breeds of livestock and the old farming and country traditions, including Wassail, Harvest Home, and Morris Dancing!



The farm, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean, is home to the Noent herd of rare Gloucester cattle (a dual-purpose milk and beef breed), Ryeland Sheep (native to the rye-lands between Herefordshire and Gloucestershire), Gloucester Old Spot pigs (the original ‘orchard pig, who reputedly gained her spots when apples fell on her back!), and assorted rare breed fowl.  He’s also had a life-long passion for heavy horses, and until relatively recently, worked a team of Shires.  During his tenure of Byfords Farm, Eric has restored the ancient cider apple and perry pear orchards, planted new native-species hedgerows and laid the old ones to restore their vigour.  The old pastures are springy, and full of native wildflowers.  His immaculate farmyard houses original old wagons awaiting restoration, and – of particular interest for the evening ahead of us – a traditional working cider mill and press, with tables laid out with tempting local dishes.  Following a wonderfully sociable supper, we gathered by the old barn, home to pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats, and watched them emerge in huge numbers, then disappear into the darkness.



The evening was wonderfully evocative of country life in the middle part of the last century, and whilst being under no illusions that farming was a very tough life in those days, a part of me would happily take that big step back!



As a change from complaining about the weather, during August we have been celebrating the start of what looks like a tremendous soft and hard fruit harvest.  First the plums; we grow a local variety called ‘Blaisdon Red’, once an economically important crop for the village it was named after.  Another great local countryman and author, Humphrey Phelps, wrote about these plums in his book, ‘Just Across the Fields’.  He vividly describes how the pickers balanced precariously on the long wooden ladders used to reach the topmost fruits – this of course was in the days of massive orchard trees, whereas nowadays they are all grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks to facilitate mechanical picking.



The next fruits to ripen are raspberries and damsons, both of which we have in abundance, and the branches of our apple and pear trees are almost touching the ground with the weight of fruit!

Meanwhile, the massive old perry pear trees are starting to drop their fruit (no possibility of picking them, as the trees are nearing 40’ tall) and we’re gathering them into paper sacks ready to crush and press them later to make into perry (or ‘pear cider’ as it’s often called these days).





All this bounty quickly finds its way to the many Farmers Markets around the country, as we’ve been discovering while filming a piece about how to go about getting your own produce to market.  Our nearest Farmers Market is Gloucester, reputedly England’s oldest city and well-worth exploring for its many mediaeval gems (though you do have to ignore some of the awful town-planning mistakes of the ‘60s and ‘70s) … and its small, but really excellent market selling a huge range of top quality produce, including (really) wild boar from the Forest of Dean, venison, smoked and shell fish, all manner of vegetables, organic beef and lamb, extensively-reared poultry, eggs, country wines, dairy produce, artisan breads, flowers, olives, and a bewildering choice of prepared foods to take away.



I’ve never been a fan of supermarkets, and the Farmers Market gives me several more reasons to avoid them!

Allow me to introduce you to Meggie, our size zero supermodel!  Meggie is now 6 years old and her diminishing waistline has been giving us mild cause for concern for some months.  Historically, she has produced twin lambs with consummate ease for the past 4 years, is a very ‘milky’ ewe so raises them brilliantly, and she’s never been lame, so – she’s been a good ewe.  As we’re now selecting which ewes will make up our breeding flock for the year to come, we decided to investigate any possible reason for her lack of condition.  There are a number of conditions that could be causing this, ranging from a heavy worm burden to something nasty like Johne’s Disease (more often found in cattle, but has been an increasing concern for sheep farmers).  Our excellent vet (who was trained at Liverpool Vet School by specialist sheep vet, Agnes Winter) came ready to carry out a number of tests to see if we could pinpoint the cause.  Our flock is Maedi Visna (MV) accredited and was blood-tested for this just a few months ago, so we know we can rule that one out, we’d also carried out a faecal egg count (FEC) recently that showed a very low count, so parasitic gastroenteritis (PGE) was unlikely.  We could also rule out Caseous Lymphadenitis (CLA) as our flock has been tested negative.

Firstly, he checked her teeth to make sure she was able to bite and chew properly (all fine), and then carried out a manual examination to check for any lumps or tenderness – she didn’t flinch at this.  Next, he listened to heart and lungs with a stethoscope, and although her heart and respiratory rate seemed normal, he carried out the ‘wheelbarrow test’ – lifting her hindquarters to see if any fluid dribbled from her nostrils, which would be an indication of Jaagsiekte (OPA, or a lung tumour) – although she found the test rather undignified, Meggie was clear on this one.  Time for biochemistry samples to be taken for laboratory analysis: blood and faeces.  Blood to check for albumen and protein levels – anomalies would indicate the presence of fascioliasis (liver fluke), and Johne’s disease (which affects the small intestine), and faeces to detect internal parasites.  Two days later the vet called, giving Meggie the ‘all-clear’ on all counts.  So, we can only assume that either she puts all her energies into raising her lambs each year, or, she is terribly conscious of her figure!  Either way, she will stay with us and go to the ram this autumn, and I have no doubt that we will be posting photos of her twins next year.

Meanwhile, the chicks that we introduced to you at the end of last month’s diary have spent the past 4 weeks growing at an alarming rate!  They are now almost fully feathered and are very vocal, chirruping loudly as soon as they hear human voices, which they associate with food!



If you’re wondering what breed they are, the three golden-red coloured ones are New Hampshire Reds, quite a rare breed based on the Rhode Island Red (we’re guessing that of the 3, 2 are female one looks like a cockerel due to its much more prominent red crest), and the brown one (we think a hen) is a Welsummer, renowned for laying chocolate-coloured eggs.

31st August 2011

It seems one of the recurring features of this Diary is the weather, and this summer has given us plenty to comment on!  Apart from a few very light passing showers, we had no rain since the end of February, which made the concept of ‘managing grassland’ a bit of a joke!  For optimum nutrition we aim to have a sward height of about 6-8cm for the growing lambs, which means regularly topping excess growth to stop the pasture getting ‘stalky’ and allow light in to encourage new growth.  It also means moving the stock onto fresh grass as it reaches the right height, and allowing the previous pasture to recover.

Thankfully, the last two weeks of August brought a few good downpours and our parched paddocks quickly went from the colour of sand to lush green, just as we were about to break out our precious store of hay to feed the sheep and horses.

It’s been quite a difficult year in the vegetable garden, and we’ve had to water the plot every day, which makes me wonder how sustainable traditional vegetable growing will be if the overall climate really does get warmer and drier in the future?  Having said this, we’re again having to come up with some interesting and original ways to deal with gluts of courgettes, cabbages, French beans and all the root vegetables which seem to have made an extra effort to grow down to find water!  Incidentally, I devised a cunning strategy this year to avoid the ‘overgrown’ courgette syndrome: I planted twice as many plants as usual so that there were always several small ones ready to be picked – this avoided the ‘it’s not quite big enough to pick so I’ll leave it for a couple of days’ … by which time it’s grown into a monster!



This year has also been another bumper one for orchard and wild fruits, though this seems to be matched by the number of wasps that are invading our orchard.  Plums and damsons are amazingly prolific this year, and you might like to try this recipe for Damson & Port Wine Jelly.




Even having given loads of surplus produce to friends and family, we still have plenty left, which brings out my squirreling tendencies!  This is my pickling time of year – anything that can’t be successfully frozen, made into jam or bottled – gets pickled: cucumbers, onions, cabbage (sauerkraut), and – best of all, carrots with chillies – delicious but lethal!

In the true spirit of self-sufficiency, I decided that we really should make the most of the wild food on offer in our countryside, specifically rabbit.  It’s a very lean and healthy meat, freely available and delicious – and we are overrun with them!

Our favourite cameraman, Dave, is equally at home shooting a high-powered air rifle, and within less than a half-hour had bagged two nice fat rabbits in our ram’s paddock.  I really wasn’t looking forward to the next bit, but, following instructions and with a very sharp knife managed to ‘paunch’ and skin both rabbits.  It’s recommended to soak them in lightly salted water for 12 hours to remove any bitter taste, then casserole slowly with lots of herbs and a good slug of brandy!

Management of Gut Worms in Horses

I’m a great advocate of managing animals – whether companions, working or farmed – in the most natural way possible, and this certainly goes for horses.

With increasing resistance to each of the main groups of wormers used to control gut worms in horses, owners and keepers are now being urged to review their current worming policies, which on many yards is simply ‘blanket’ treatment for all equines on a routine basis every few months.

For many years I’ve questioned the almost universal practice of routine interval dosing of horses.  This alone is a recipe for creating parasite resistance to the chemical wormers.  Neither of our horses has been wormed for the past 4½ years, since their quarantine worming when they came to live at Green Farm.  We knew that there hadn’t been horses here for over 20 years, so it was highly unlikely that there would be any equine-specific worm larvae in the pastures, so we devised a targeted, strategic approach, which in our case is effectively a ‘no-worm’ policy:

• On arrival, the horses were wormed and stabled for 24hours, then put into a quarantine paddock for 2 weeks
• At the end of the quarantine period, a Faecal Egg Count (FEC) was taken for each horse: the results were <50epg – no worm eggs seen, so horses were turned out onto the pastures
• One month later, a further FEC was taken, results again were <50epg, so we were fairly confident that the pastures were ‘clean’
• Droppings are collected on a daily basis – regular clearing of the pasture is probably the most important element in a reduced-dosing regimen, and even weekly collection of droppings can significantly reduce pasture contamination by worm larvae, and consequently horse worm burdens·
• Horses follow sheep onto the pastures (and sheep follow horses) – as worms are host-specific, the larvae of any horse worms are destroyed in the gut of sheep, and vice versa
• FECs are carried out 4 times per year (the result has always been <50epg) – if there was any change to this count, we would consider dosing, taking all other factors into account
• When horses travel to shows and have access to grazing that has carried other horses, they are tested within a week of returning home (this is adjusted if we have several outings closely together)
• Once a year horses are blood-tested to detect the presence of Tapeworm, which due to their lifecycle may not be detected in an FEC – although our vet has now advised that since our horses are so healthy, this isn’t necessary every year – only test if they lose condition
• In late summer, when bot flies are active, we keep a close look out for bot eggs, especially on the horses’ lower legs
• We also check under horse’s tails for signs of pinworm eggs
• And, finally, we give garlic granules in horses’ feeds throughout the year – not only is this reputed to discourage gut worms, but also the horse’s garlicky sweat is said to repel nuisance flies!

An element of caution is needed with regard to encysted redworm – in winter, worms may be present in an encysted (larval) stage of their lifecycle, meaning that there is no egg output despite the presence of the worm larvae.  In spring, the larvae hatch in large numbers and may cause colic-type symptoms.  Repeatedly low counts over a period of years make this less likely, but not impossible.

If you run your smallholding on organic principles, this management system should comply with the accreditation bodies’ requirements, and it’s wildlife friendly, as the horses’ dung won’t contain endectocides that harm dung beetles, earthworms and other invertebrates, which in turn are eaten by hedgehogs, badgers and foxes.

An additional incentive to adopting a targeted approach to worming is cost.  By carrying out a worm control programme as described, you can actually save money by reducing the amount of chemical wormers you administer to your horses.
This system is not going to suit all horses, or their owners, but it’s certainly worth looking at ways to reduce the use of wormers as routine worming can lead to the development of drug-resistant worms, and a major problem for all equines.

By the way, it does a FIT horse no harm to carry a small burden of worms – they develop a natural resilience to them, and there is some evidence that a low level of worms may actually be beneficial to horses.  An older horse, or one with compromised health may lose their acquired resilience, and consideration should also be given to foals, which have no acquired immunity to gut worms, so always follow your vet’s advice for individual horses on this subject.

www.smallholderseries.co.uk

July 2011

During July the fields around us all turned blue!  It’s quite an unusual colour to see in the countryside, but does create a beautiful effect set against the bright green hedgerows and the blue sky above!  To the south, we overlook a field of borage that has flowers of a beautiful cerulean blue . The crop was planted by our beekeeping neighbour: borage nectar produces a honey that is light and delicate in flavour, and being a late flowering crop is often the last honey in the season.  Borage is also a rich source of fatty acids, especially GLA, which is used in treating inflammatory disorders.  The only other major honey crop that flowers later is heather, so next month the hives will be taken up to the Welsh heathlands to make heather honey, which has a highly distinctive strong taste.

In the other direction, on a southwest-facing slope, is a field of linseed with delicate sky-blue flowers – in a light breeze, the slim stems wave, creating the effect of a land-locked rippling sea.  Linseed is mostly grown as a ‘cash-crop’ (though it’s also used in livestock feedstuffs); the seeds produce oil with unique properties, making it invaluable in the manufacture of oil paints, putty, wood hardener (used in the making of cricket bats) and linoleum flooring.

These kinds of ‘novel’ crops have been in and out of fashion for some years, but are of interest to smallholders with a few acres of accessible land, as a niche crop sold to a specialised market can be a profitable enterprise.  But it’s best to do a lot  of homework first, especially into yields, prices and costs – and advisable to have a contract in place with a buyer, rather than rely on the open market.

There are other very sound reasons for considering growing diversified crops:  lupins, for example, are very high in protein (38%-40%), which compares well with soya beans that constitute a large proportion of the protein fed to livestock.  The majority of soya imported into the UK has been grown on cleared rainforest, and much of this as a GM crop.  Furthermore, soya requires additional processing – ‘de-fatting and toasting’ – before it can be fed to non-ruminant livestock, whereas unprocessed, homegrown lupins can, with caution, be fed to both ruminant and monogastric livestock (and humans!).  Food for thought, perhaps, for those seeking a more sustainable model for food production?



Ragwort Awareness Week took place during July, and created a bit of a stir between those who consider it to be a deadly threat to livestock, particularly horses, and those who consider it to be an ecologically valuable plant.  The plant in question is Senecio jacobaea, not the much prettier Oxford Ragwort, which rarely causes a problem.  Of course, both parties have a valid viewpoint: alkaloids contained in the plant will cause irreversible liver damage to grazing horses, cattle and sheep, the poison is cumulative and deadly in hay as its bitter taste is lost as the plant wilts; ragwort is also the essential food source for many invertebrates, the best-known being the Cinnabar moth.  So it’s clear that a little common sense is required.  The plant has a value, but is a danger to grazing animals: therefore, it should be allowed to flourish in areas where it cannot be inadvertently grazed, and eradicated from grazing land – and scenes like the one below, must be banished forever.



Regular readers of this diary will know that I’ve been complaining about the lack of rain in these parts pretty well since February, so another whinge won’t come as a total surprise!  According to NADIS (http://www.nadis.org.uk/), between March and May our area received about 40% of the regional average rainfall (tho’ it seems a lot less than that to me!); since then we have barely had a drop.



Our pond, on which Moorhens usually raise
two clutches of eggs, has turned from this:                 … to this:

No Moorhens, no Moorhen chicks, no dragonflies – and goodness knows where all the newts and other pond life has gone.

Having sacrificed our hayfield to grazing in May due to lack of grass growth making a successful haymaking unlikely, we have benefited from an additional 7 acres of grass for the sheep, which I thought would have been more than adequate to keep our small flock happy through the summer months.  Well, things haven’t quite turned out as hoped:  firstly, we didn’t have the clean ‘aftermath’, or re-growth, following the hay cut to wean our lambs onto – though, on the plus side, since there has been no rain the gut worm eggs on the pasture have desiccated and the lambs’ Faecal Egg Counts (FECs) have remained low throughout the season.  That’s the good news.  The other side of the coin is that we’re already running out of grass, and what there is left is parched, and browning.

For the time being, our lambs are looking great.  At 15 weeks old, we already have quite a few that are ‘finished’ and ready to go, which is quick even for Hampshire Down lambs, that are renowned for fast growth rates (and much more importantly, for outstanding flavour!).  So this year we shall be sending them off as lambs, rather than keeping them on-farm until next spring, when we would normally produce hogget.

And finally, at the end of the month, we had some new arrivals …

12th July 2011

I always feel a little sad at weaning time, for it marks the end of the lambs’ carefree days with their dams, and the start of us having to decide which ones we’ll keep or sell as future breeding stock, and which ones are destined for someone’s freezer.

The process of weaning lambs is quite simple:  gather the flock, separate the ewes who are taken as far away from the lambs as possible (preferably out of earshot); sort the ewe lambs from the ram lambs and lead each group into their segregated paddocks.  I dream of one day being able to justify buying a custom-built handling system that would enable us to ‘shed’ ewes, ewe lambs and ram lambs into their separate groups at the switch of a gate.  Our reality is a ragbag collection of hurdles and homemade sliding gates.  It does the job, but takes split-second reactions to slide the gate at precisely the right moment to prevent two nippy lambs slipping through, or letting one of the ewes trot off with the lambs!

Before the lambs are put back onto pasture, we gave them all a vitamin and trace element drench to counteract the stress of weaning.  Then, for the next two days we listen to the pitiful bleating of the lambs calling for their mothers.  But good grass and time soon quieten them!

Meanwhile, the ewes are put onto our poorest paddock so that their milk, which is waning now, dries off as quickly as possible to help prevent mastitis occurring.

It seems incongruous to think that breeders of pedigree sheep and those producing Spring Lamb will be putting the ram in with the ewes this month, to lamb by Christmas so that lambs will be well grown in time for the spring livestock sales!

29th June 2011

It seemed very strange watching our ewes and lambs grazing Seed Piece, our hayfield, throughout June and a few times I did a double-take thinking, “How the heck did they get into there!” before remembering that we’re NOT MAKING HAY THIS YEAR!  Since making that decision we’ve had a few bursts of rain, some quite heavy for an hour or two, but nothing like enough to get the grass to thicken up into a decent hay crop.  On the plus side though (I can always think of a reason to be cheerful at Green Farm!) the old herb-rich pasture has done our lambs the world of good.  I know this because as part of our basic performance recording we weigh all the lambs at birth, and again at around 8 weeks of age to give us an idea of their inherent growth rates, in other words, whether they’ve inherited a good growth gene!

Well, this cracking chap seems to have inherited them all!  Weighing in at 44kgs at just 10 weeks of age, I reckon he measures up rather well – he’s got a superb long, straight top line and a really nice meaty backside (probably not the right technical term, but you get my drift?).

I’m hoping his good start means he has the potential to become a pedigree stock ram and go on to found his own dynasty – perhaps I’m getting a bit carried away, but it’s certainly very satisfying to have bred such a promising animal, and gives me confidence that our overall flock planning and management is working well.

Following an outbreak of Orf in the lambs last year (the first time on the farm), we were in a bit of a quandary as to whether or not to vaccinate the flock this year.  Orf is a viral infection that causes painful skin pustules (scabs), often around the lips and noses of lambs, which can spread like wildfire in the lambing shed, and can also spread to a ewe’s teats, making her reluctant to feed her lambs.  It is very persistent in the environment, and scabs left over from one year can infect lambs in the following year.  The orf vaccine is ‘live’, meaning that it induces a mild form of the disease in the treated animal in order to stimulate the production of antibodies against further, more aggressive infections.  It has to be used carefully as it can infect humans too. 

Taking all this into account, together with a shortage of vaccine (due to manufacturing problems) early in the year, we decided not to vaccinate, relying instead on thorough disinfection of the lambing shed (although this is not guaranteed to kill the virus from every nook and cranny), not offering any licks or buckets which may spread infection from one animal to another, and not turning ewes and lambs out onto the same paddocks as last year.  I’m happy to report that we haven’t seen any sign of disease in the flock – hopefully this means that these precautions together with their high health status has protected them, or, we’ve simply been lucky!



I’ve never really kept track of the amount of time I spend on ‘sheep paperwork’ – but there does seem to be quite a lot of it:

Scheduling the various stock tasks for our flock, including vaccinations, Faecal Egg Counts, parasite control (internal and external), shearing, EID ear tagging, and footcare (on the basis that it’s always better to have a schedule to do all these things, rather than wait for a reason to panic!)



Recording & reporting purchase and use of medicines; animal movements for all animals that move on or off the premises (being mindful of standstill regulations); recording lost and replacement ear tags; keeping an annual inventory of all stock; making sure our pedigree and performance records are completed on time, and our health accreditation schemes are up to date

And I haven’t even mentioned all the forward planning that goes into tupping, pregnancy and lambing, let alone managing the pasture so they always have something clean, fresh and nutritious in front of them!
For anyone thinking of starting with sheep, the question of whether to run a pedigree flock often arises – what’s involved and is it worth the extra effort?



Running a pedigree flock certainly implies an added level of dedication on the part of the shepherd, or ‘flockmaster’.  And there’s the inevitable additional paperwork and cost involved, for example:

• Breed Society annual membership fee (usually discounted for young shepherds)
• Pedigree birth registration fees for each season’s lambs
• Full pedigree registration fees for breeding ewes and stock rams

Having bred a few good lambs, you may like to start showing them at local shows, which involves more time and costs:

• Entry fees
• Time spent preparing your show animals
• Transport to and from the venue
• White coat for you and halters and cotton show coats for the sheep (to keep their fleeces clean and free of hay and straw)

If you want to show lambs, you’ll have to lamb very early in the season (around Christmas is usual!) to have the lambs up to size in time for the show season.  If you’re planning to show shearlings, or older sheep, you will need to shear your sheep early in the year so that their fleeces will have grown an inch or so ready for showing, and this may mean having to house them after shearing if the weather is bad – or, you can buy them each a cosy waterproof rug from this lovely company http://www.llugwy-farm.co.uk/ who make livestock clothing for all species of livestock!

If you are considering showing your sheep, or any livestock, now is the time to get out and about and visit all the agricultural shows taking place around the country – or, better still, if there’s a particular breed you fancy, contact the breed society and find out when their Annual Show is.  Watch how the handlers manage their animals and show them off to their best advantage, and when they’re out of the ring, go and have a chat with a few and find out what’s involved – and don’t be shy, people who show their animals love to be asked about them!

Having won a few rosettes, you’ll be tempted to start competing with the ‘big boys’, which, if your breed is one of the ‘terminal sires’ means ‘Performance Recording’ and a whole new level of complexity!  Having said that, the returns – both financial and in the satisfaction of producing top-quality animals – can be very rewarding.

14th June 2011

Our Gorgeous flock of Hampshire Downs have found fame in the form of a professional photo-shoot by specialist agricultural photographer, Charlie Sainsbury-Plaice!  They now appear on his photographic library web site, www.agripix.co.uk and we fully expect to see the shots popping up in magazines, web sites and any publication needing very cute shots of celebrity ewes and lambs!

A few of the ewes and lambs have been scouring (diarrhoea), so we decided that, in line with our policy of ‘sustainable worm control’, we’d have a Faecal Egg Count undertaken.  

This means we gather a representative sample of fresh sheep faeces (yes, it’s a very funny sight to see a grown woman following sheep around the field armed with a collection of small pots!), and take them to our vet who carries out a microscopic egg count.The results of our test were good: the samples were largely clear of worm eggs, so the scouring was more than likely caused by a flush of lush grass after the rain this month.  This means we won’t need to dose the flock with unnecessary wormers, which might accelerate resistance.

This gives us a very good indication of both the current parasite burden carried by our flock, and also a guide as to how well our worming programme is working.We’re always concerned about wormer resistance, which is becoming such a great problem to all livestock farmers. 

The Show season is well underway now, and each year I think about trying to get going with showing our Hampshire Downs.  There’s such a lot of preparation to get an animal into show condition, and ‘Hamps’ are extensively trimmed for the show ring.

A couple of years ago I went on a trimming day with one of the top Hampshire Down breeders, Chris Westlake, and earlier this year he gave Adam Henson a quick lesson in how to select and prepare a ram lamb for showing.  We filmed this, and you can see the highlights in Sheep on Your Smallholding, Programme One – Establishing Your Flock.

www.smallholderseries.co.uk

7th June 2011

The Farmer will never be happy again;
He carries his heart in his boots;
For either the rain is destroying his grain                          
Or the drought is destroying his roots.                      A. P Herbert, ‘The Farmer’ (1922)

I’m not sure whether it’s a particularly British trait, or a particularly country one, but for the past few weeks it seems that every conversation I have with friends and neighbours concerns the weather!  In this part of the country (NW Gloucestershire) arable farmers are commenting that their grain crops aren’t ‘tillering’ (producing multiple stems) and that the plants are ‘heading’ (flowering and setting seed) when the stem is only a few inches tall.  This means that there will be a much-reduced grain crop, and a shortage of straw.  At the same time, livestock farmers are bemoaning the lack of grazing available for their animals, and the likelihood of both hay and straw shortages next winter.  And all the while, prices for imported grain and soya – the mainstays of most animal feedstuffs – continue to rise at unprecedented levels.  All rather gloomy news for farmers (a term I use to include smallholders), and for the consumer (that’s us again!) who will end up having to pay more for the weekly shop – both for our animals and for ourselves!

On a more optimistic note, our lambs are growing like billy-ho!  As our grass isn’t great this season, we started to introduce creep feed for the lambs at 2 weeks – this helps stimulate rumen development.  During the first few weeks of a lamb’s life it’s able to convert food to muscle at a phenomenal rate, so it’s well worth giving them a boost at this stage, especially if they are destined to be slaughter lambs.

At 4 weeks a couple of the lambs were showing signs of dark-coloured scour (diarrhoea), which in young animals should not be ignored.  At this age, while the lambs aren’t seriously grazing (and ingesting worm larvae), and the ground has been so dry (which hinders the development of worm larvae on the pastures) the most likely cause is coccidiosis.  This is a complex disease, so we have asked a veterinary expert on the subject to write an article specifically aimed at smallholders.  The article looks at farm history and lamb management, and goes on to describe symptoms, treatment and the advisability of using prophylactic (preventative) treatments.  This article has kindly been supported by Janssen Animal Health (coming soon).

We’ve been battling against weeds in the paddocks this year; unfortunately there is a piece of neglected land upwind of our smallholding, meaning that it’s an annual task as each year we receive the windblown seeds from this weedy plot.  Ideally, we’d prefer to manage our grassland on an organic basis, without the use of chemical herbicides – this is of course quite possible, and in most years we control weeds by regularly topping the pasture, which also maintains the sward at the optimum height for grazing, and hand-pulling weeds.

However, after a few years the docks, nettles and thistles (creeping and spear) become more problematic, and we resort to chemical control.  Dressed in overalls, mask, gloves and goggles, we individually spot-spray all the weeds; we use Grazon 90 – which is specifically formulated for this job, and has a ‘no-graze’ period of 7 days.


There are some real nasties that cannot – indeed must not be controlled by spraying:  ragwort (right image) and hemlock.  Both of these weeds are deadly poisonous to all livestock (ragwort is a cumulative poison, whilst hemlock will kill instantly – and it only takes a mouthful) but have a bitter taste so that grazing animals will usually shun them.  However, once crushed or wilted, the taste disappears and they become palatable, so the only way to deal with these plants is to dig them up, root and all, and then incinerate them.

For more information about plants that are harmful to livestock, see our Quick Guide to Poisonous Plants.

So, all in all, May was a rather busy month – but we still managed to find time to go to the Royal Welsh Smallholder & Garden Festival 2011 with Adam Henson to promote our DVD series.  You can see our brief report and photo gallery here.

www.smallholderseries.co.uk

24th May 2011

Our ‘sheep priority’ this month is to give the lambs their first combined vaccination against the clostridial diseases and pasturella, as the protection they inherited from their dams will be waning now.  They’ll have a further booster vaccination 4-6 weeks after the first and then all the sheep on the farm (including the rams) get their annual jab six weeks before next year’s lambing.

While the flock was gathered, we weighed each of the lambs; this is a fairly basic form of ‘performance recording’, which when compared with their birth weights, gives an indication of how well they’re growing.  Eight-week growth rates are one of the indicators of their mother’s Maternal Ability – a hereditable characteristic that helps us to decide which lambs to keep for future breeding.

We’re very interested in Performance Recording for our flock of pedigree Hampshire Downs.  At the moment, we only do basic recording: Birth weight, litter size, 8-week weight, and finishing time (that is, the time the lambs take to reach our target liveweight of 42kgs).  We also keep records of sheep that are repeatedly lame or scouring, as these traits can be inherited – this information can tip the scales for us when deciding which ewes to retain as replacements.

In Programme 3 of the Sheep on Your Smallholding series, we explain the complex subject of Performance Recording and EBVs (Estimated Breeding Values) with the help of Sam Boon of Signet Recording, and a very enthusiastic Shropshire Down breeder who has successfully improved her own flock through the Shropshire Breed Improvement Scheme.

May is the month we shear our sheep – or rather we have them shorn!  Each year, we promise ourselves it will be less chaotic, and we will be very prepared and organised.  So, we brought the sheep into the shed while it was dry, because, of course, you cannot shear wet sheep), made a holding pen and a further small ‘feeding pen’, so that there was a constant supply of sheep to the shearer.  It all worked very smoothly, though as the ‘fleece roller’ I always find a backlog of fleeces piling up faster than I can roll them and pack them in the woolsack!

As they left the shearing shed, we treated all the sheep and lambs with a ‘pour-on’, which gives long-lasting (16 weeks in the case of the product we use) protection against fly-strike.  Job done.


There’s much baa-ing and frantic rushing around as the newly shorn ewes and lambs reunite, and, I have to say, the naked sheep do look very comical!