Farm Update - January 2024

 As we enter a new year we are excited to start with new plans, good intentions, and exciting things to look forward to. Last year felt like a tough one on the farm, but we are hopeful that things will be on the up for the next 12 months. 

TB 

2023 didn't finish on a particular high for us. As you may remember, we were TB testing just before Christmas - the dreaded 'ultra sensitive' blood & skin test combo. We sadly lost a total of 17 animals - a hard hit for us. The 17 animals represented all of the age groups within the herd - in-calf breeding cows, young stock, and fat stock - no trends, no specific outbreak, just a general cross section of the cattle.  In all honesty this felt like a huge blow. Gradually our herd is being diminished, and we now have only 20 breeding cows, when only 3 years ago we had 60, with plans for growth. 

Up until now we have been keeping heifer (female) calves to become breeding cows in an attempt to replace those lost to TB and keep our numbers up, but we have now admitted defeat and will no longer be doing this. This means that our cattle numbers will continue to drop further if we lose more to TB. Instead, we will invest our time, energy and resources in our environmental work and other diversifications, whilst also increasing our sheep numbers. This has been a tough decision to make, but we feel there are no other alternatives. For the remaining cattle, we wait for the next test at the end of Feb/beginning of March and see if the 'circuit breaker' testing has done its job. I am not feeling hopeful. 

Arable 

Fewer cattle means less demand for straw. This, coupled with significantly increasing costs, and continued environmental challenges associated with growing arable crops means we have decided not to grow any at all this year. Instead we will dedicate that land to environmental schemes, and we will then buy in the straw that we need for bedding down cattle. This means we carry some financial risk around fluctuations in straw prices, but remove the huge financial risk associated with growing crops. It also fits well with the rest of our farming system and means we can increase our environmental schemes. We hope to partner with a local arable farmer and trade muck for straw - they will have our cattle muck to fertilise their arable land, and in return we bale and clear their straw straight from the back of the combine. The theory works ... now we just need to find the right partner!

Countryside Stewardship & Environmental Work 

We are excited to report that our latest Environmental Stewardship application has recently been accepted. This means we will embark on a host of environmental projects over the coming months and continue them for the next 5 years, building on our existing set up. In conjunction with this we will be applying for further Sustainable Farming Incentives meaning we can further enhance the environmental status of the farm. 

Plans include hedge planting, hedge laying, additional land put down to deep rooting and species rich herbal leys, increased areas dedicated to wild bird seed mixtures and pollen & nectar plots, as well as many other initiatives. We are really excited to get started, but we are mindful that as farmers, we are slowly moving away from food production as our primary income. Whilst this fits with our personal interests as environment lovers, we are interested to see what will happen nationally to ensure food security. We are an island after all, and if food production slips too far down the national agenda, in favour of (rather in conjunction with) environmental initiatives, we fear we will find ourselves in a food supply crisis. 

One controversial initiative we are trialling is fencing off a small section of the Thames Path to protect the wading bird scrapes, reducing disturbance from passers by and their dogs, and improving the chances of the birds fledging their young. Back in 2001 when the footpaths were closed due to the foot and mouth crisis, we recorded a significant increase in diversity in the flood meadows, and we are interested to see if we can replicate this by protecting the fields from public access. We shall see! 

Sheep 

The sheep have had a soggy but good Christmas. With a bit of moving around we have managed to find enough grazing on higher land, supplemented by some home grown hay to ensure they have enough to eat. There are still plenty of turnips left on our stubble turnip land, but sadly this has been very badly hit by the flooding. We are hoping that when this has dried out there might still be some edible crop left, but sadly I fear they may be too rotten for consumption. Looking on the bright side, the turnips and fodder radish will have done their job of rooting deep in to the soil, locking in nutrients and supporting drainage, and the wastage will be a good source of organic matter for the soil. 

The rams have been running with the ewes over the past couple of months, and have now been taken out. The ewes will be scanned at the end of this month where we will find out how many lambs we will be welcoming in April. Fingers crossed for a good scan rate - ideally 2 per ewe. We will also be buying some in-lamb ewes (ewes that are already pregnant) to increase our lambing numbers ... wish us luck! 

Does the talk of lambing mean Spring is on it's way?! 

Many thanks, as always,

James & Fi