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.

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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 …