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.
