Farm Update - March 2023

It's been a tough month for us here on the farm - everything feels like a bit of an uphill battle! TB continues to cause us problems, and the continued heavy rain has meant we have been unable to plant any arable crops. Our spirits have been lifted slightly by the arrival of our first few calves, so we are holding on to the joy of their arrival and trying to remain positive!

TB 

Most of you who have followed us for a while will know that we have been down with TB on and off for 4 years now. Initially we only ever failed with 1 or 2 animals per test, and these animals never showed any signs of TB at post mortem. Whilst it was sad and annoying to be under movement restrictions, and it limited our ability to grow our cattle business, the impact was manageable.

Over the past 6 months however we have lost nearly 30 animals. Our herd is now half the size it was 4 years ago meaning we are only producing half the amount of calves and only have half the amount of product to sell - the impact is huge. Our last test was the 'extra sensitive' blood test. Renowned for taking out large numbers of cattle, but supposedly the 'circuit breaker' to help farms rid themselves of the disease. We took the hit losing 10 cattle from the blood test. and we entered our latest test positive, with the hope of a clear result . Sadly, we did not pass this test. This has hit us hard and left us feeling pretty helpless. 

We do get some compensation for each animal but sadly it doesn't cover all of our losses. You don't get compensated for the calf it is carrying, or the calf that it leaves behind  who will never thrive without a mother. It doesn't compensate for the hours upon hours we have spent testing cattle and moving cattle to conduct the tests - the staff wages we have to pay for a task that is not income generating. It doesn't pay for the years of breeding genetics that we have within our herd and are losing rapidly. It doesn't pay for the loss of income from sales of pedigree breeding stock. On top of that, the compensation is not usable until we are clear of TB and can buy in replacements. If we buy in whilst we are down with TB those cattle are not compensated if they get TB ... a risk we cannot afford to take. 

There is literally nothing we can do. We just sit and watch as our herd and our business gets smaller and smaller. We try our hardest to be positive, but it feels like the whole system is broken ... inaccurate testing, inferior research & development, an absence of vaccines, the inability to appropriately manage wildlife ... we just can't find a way out. Of course we will pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and look in to the future, but it's a gruelling place to be. Onwards and upwards until our next test in 60 days. 

Calving 

Just at a time when we needed reminding of why we do this job, calving kicked off, with the arrival of 5 calves in 2 days over the weekend - the ideal way to lift our spirits. All 5 are bright little things, full of energy and skipping around the pens. We have another 19 due to calve over the coming weeks and hope they continue to arrive untroubled. When the weather finally dries up we're looking forward to putting the cattle back out to grass. Winter feed stocks are almost gone even taking into account the extra we have brought in from elsewhere following the dry summer and poor grass growth last year.

Lambing 

Lambing is due to start in the second week of April, but inevitably a handful will come early so we are expecting arrivals any day now. The ewes have been moved back to close proximity of the farm so we can keep an eye on them. Once again this year we will be housing those expecting singles and triplets inside. This is for 2 reasons - firstly it enables us to foster one from a set of triplets on to the singles so each ewe has 2 lambs, the optimum number. Secondly it is because the singles and triplets are more likely to have problematic births - the singles because the lambs will often be quite big, and the triplets because they are often smaller and weaker, can become entangled when in utero, and can be rejected by their mothers who think they only have 2 lambs. Being inside enables us to easily and closely monitor them, pen them up individually, and provide hands on support if needed.  

Generally the twins will manage well outside - ewes will normally birth on their own, and will happily look after and raise their 2 lambs. That being said, we ensure they are in the field behind the house, check them regularly, and even have the binoculars to hand! If needed we will catch them and either help them in the field, or bring them inside. It does mean we need to get the running shoes on as we don't have a sheep dog, so for anyone local, keep your eyes peeled in the fields around the farmhouse as you could be in for some comedy scenes as we try to catch and wrestle sheep to the ground! 

Arable 

March is usually the time that we would be completing lots of our arable work - including spreading of farmyard manure, minor land cultivations, and the drilling of crops ready to be harvested in the summer. Sadly the extremely wet conditions means we have not been able to do any of these tasks as we are unable to travel on the fields in heavy machinery. We are getting to a stage where, if we don't get a period of consistently dry weather soon we wont be able to plant any arable crops. This will have a critical impact on our finances and bottom line as we will not have the crops to sell, but we also won't have the straw to use for animal bedding, meaning we will have to buy it in at great cost.

We are keeping everything crossed for some dry weather, so please all do a sunshine dance for us!!! 

School Visits

Once again we are hosting a series of school visits to the farm this year. The trips last anything from 2 hours to a full school day, with activities tailored to meet the individual learning outcomes of the particular group. We've worked with children from 4 to 15 - nursery aged children to secondary aged academic scholars. In the past we have done everything from digging for worms, to splashing in puddles, to tractor and trailer rides, to nature crafts, to bottle feeding lambs. We've done farm walks, discussions about regenerative farming practices, and debated topical issues within agriculture. We always love welcoming school children to the farm and inspiring children about food, farming and the environment, and can't wait to host visits again this year! If you know of a school or home educated children who would like to come to the farm for one of our free visits drop us an email.

So that's it from us for this month. It feels like it's a bit of a negative update this time, but we hope the spring weather will arrive along with the calves and lambs, and we will be able to bring you brighter news next month! Don't forget to get in touch if you'd like to place an order.

Many thanks,

James & Fi