June 2014

Each year, usually starting around mid-June, I find myself spending an excessive amount of time looking at long-term weather forecasts, wondering whether we will have a good window of time in which to get the hay in. Not having all the equipment to do the job ourselves, we are reliant on our contractor. He’s never let us down, and the sweet hay has always been mowed, turned, rowed and baled to perfection. But that doesn’t stop me loosing sleep over it!

I simply cannot imagine what it must be like to have a valuable crop of ripening grain in the fields, watching every day for kind or inclement weather, checking for any one of the multitude of pests and diseases that might attack the crop, and carefully monitoring each stage of growth, levels of moisture and numerous other variables – all of which have to be spot-on before harvesting can commence. We have just 7 acres shut up for hay, and that stand of grass occupies a hugely disproportionate amount of my waking hours at this time of year!

We got very close, but a change in the weather brought heavy rain, and we postponed haymaking. I console myself with the thought that July hay is generally better quality; June hay is inherently ‘wetter’ and unless really baked by the sun for several days, can start to ‘sweat’ once baled, leading to the growth of moulds. So, I shall have to suffer another month of fretting about the weather and our, as yet, empty hay barn.

The early June weather was, however, perfect for another filming project we’ve been working on, that took us to firstly to the rolling hills of Devon in the South West, then onto the rugged hills of Northumberland in the North East to interview farmers about the criteria they use when selecting rams for their flocks. Increasingly, rams are selected for their figures (!) – based on ultrasound or CT scans which are fed into the Signet Breeding Services system to produce accurate EBVs, or Estimated Breeding Values. These give an increasingly accurate forecast of the qualities that the rams will pass onto their progeny, such as the depth of muscle over the loin, and the growth rates of their lambs – essential information for farmers needing to produce grass-fed, fast-growing lambs, that will meet the retail buyer’s carcase specification.

I recently had an interesting exchange with a fellow “Tweeter”, which as those of you who are Twitter users will know, can be an interesting experience, with just 140 characters to express your thoughts! The assertion was that farmers who rely on ‘subsidies’ to survive, such as hill farmers, should be allowed to go under, like any other business that doesn’t show a profit, rather than be supported by Single Farm Payments (SFP) and Environmental Stewardship payments, or in other words, the British taxpayer via the EU. In effect, farming is a business that should succeed or fail, just like any other – but is it? And why should a special financial case be made for farmers?

At this point, I reach for my copy of the snappily titled publication: “Complementary Role of Sheep in Less Favoured Areas”, published in 2012 by the National Sheep Association, possibly with the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, due in 2015, in mind. In 25 carefully-crafted chapters, it describes “the many hidden benefits that sheep production and grazing delivers”, and even as someone familiar with lowland sheep farming, I was amazed at the scope and breadth of benefits that sheep farming brings to Hill and Upland communities, and has done for many generations. Here are just a few, selected at random:

• Sustainable, healthy food production (extensively-reared, grass-fed meat is higher in Omega 3 and lower in Omega 6 – the ideal balance for a healthy diet)
• Wool production (renewable, biodegradable, sustainable, beautiful, versatile)
• Grazing helps maintain biodiversity by preventing scrub encroachment, as well as helping prevent wildfire damage to peat bogs which act as carbon stores
• Grazing sheep help limit the spread of toxic bracken, which harbours disease-carrying ticks
• Upland sheep farming maintains the social fabric and creates viable working communities that use local schools, transport, health services, shops and businesses – all supporting the local economy, traditional skills and knowledge
• Tourism – the wide, open spaces created by grazing animals are a draw for walkers, and the variety of traditional breeds in the hills are a great attraction

Many of the farmers who work in these hills may not make a living wage, but their contribution to the rural economy is immeasurable. The SFP is coming to an end in 2015, with as yet fairly vague proposals as to the system that will replace it. Let’s hope that it will support the farmers and the communities that have helped create some of the wonderful, living landscapes that we love to visit.

And finally, this has undoubtedly been the year for lush grass; perfect for growing lambs, and our not-so-little Hampshire Downs have been no exception, growing at unprecedented rates and looking very fine indeed. At just 8 weeks of age, the average weight was over 30kgs, with the heaviest at a staggering 42kgs! So here’s a collection of photos of our lambs, now aged between 12-14 weeks old.