August 2007 Archives

The suggestions have ranged from a pig-sheep hybrid to a type of French wild boar.

The curious animal picture I posted yesterday is, in fact, a Mangalitza pig, a small number of which are now being kept in the UK.

Dog lovers have been on my case since my eulogy in praise of cats.

Chrissie, who writes the Taking Stock blog (covering livestock shows and sales), tells me I'm talking complete claptrap and sent me this picture of her Japanese Akita.

She describes Kizzy as "graceful, powerful and a great protector of the family home".

More changes to the Dorset landscape.

Remember the giant Homer Simpson that appeared next to the Cerne Abbas giant? Well now someone's been back - and has painted a certain part of the giant's anatomy.

Just been sent this photo by a friend.

I was totally flumoxed. I didn't have a clue what breed it was (I wasn't 100% sure, frankly, what type of animal it was!)

Can you do better than me? I'll give you the answer tomorrow...

Here’s a blog post by East Anglian farmer David Richardson which made me laugh.

I’ve upset a few vegetarians recently as it is. Not sure how chicken killing will go down. Ah well. I’m away next week…

Went to the wire a bit this time, but have now finally booked next week’s holiday.

We’re going walking in the Quantock Hills in Somerset. The cottage we’re staying in is Nether Stowey – a village which was once home to the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

My friend Johann Tasker, who’s been an agricultural journalist for more years than he likes to admit, will be looking after Field Day next week. Be nice to him!

Nicely put, Charlie. Of course you're totally wrong about dogs making better pets than cats, I'm afraid.

Cats win hands down (or should that be paws down) and here's why.

Oh dear, I’ve started something now.

I suppose it was inevitable all my cat talk would prompt a backlash. Farmer and definite dog devotee Charlie Flindt has penned a piece in praise of our canine friends.

You can read his article, which will appear in Farmers Weekly on Friday, below. I'll post my response bigging up cats tomorrow.

Artist Paul Eugene Riley has launched the NFU/Weetabix straw sculpture competition.

He unveiled a sculpture over the weekend at Quinton Green near the Weetabix headquarters, near junction 15 of the M1.

There are ten £3,000 prizes on offer to farmers who design and build bale sculptures on their farms.

The closing date for entries has now been moved back to 30 September due to the weather.

We all like to think we're different - all like to think we're a bit out of the ordinary, not one of the herd, a bit special.

I've just realised I'm part of a demographic. Let me explain.

You'll have to excuse me if I sound bitter at any point in this blog post.

If I do, it's probably because I am. Hugely. Anyway, one of the most famous blogs around at the moment is Wife in the North.

You may have heard of it - it chronicles Judith O'Reilly's ups and downs after moving from London to Northumberland and has even won her a £70,000 book deal, according to the national press. (Cue general, probably unjustified bitterness at this point: it must be hype, it can't be any good, jumping on the "downsizing bandwagon etc etc.)

I thought it was just me.

I was convinced every slug in the county had converged on my garden, but now I hear I'm not alone.

Experts think this could be a record year for the slimy pests, and estimate there could be 15 billion out there (quite how they estimate this, I've no idea.)

I've heard it said before that certain people have an ancient right to drive sheep over London Bridge.

Found out this morning from the great Round the Water Trough blog what the exact score is with this.

I also like the idea of being able to 'go about the city with a drawn sword'... That would keep the hoodies at a distance!

It's not just cows that are contributing to global warming with their belching, moose are guilty, too.

According to new research from Trondheim University, a full-grown moose expels - from both ends - the methane equivalent of 2100kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

Boffins reckon that's the same as a return flight from Norway to Chile.

I'm worried.

I've been talking a lot lately about beauty treatments and food and kids' tv programmes - and, interesting as they all are, I'd hate you to think I was an entirely cuddly touchy-feely new-age sort of man.

I like boys' toys as much as the next bloke. And if you do, too, here's a review a mate of mine, Paul Spackman, wrote after he got his hands on the world's biggest tractor.

You can also watch a video of the beast (the tractor, I'm referring to there, not Paul!)

When farmer’s son Jonathan Webber isn’t busy running his own Exmoor-based business, he's a captain in the Territorial Army.

He’s been serving in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province and couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to show some of the nomadic farmers a copy of his favourite farming read.

There is “an unbelievable attitude of get on and make-do” among these farmers, he says.

They certainly cope with tough conditions: temperatures of 60 degrees centigrade in the summer, minus 10 in the winter, no shoes, hardly any machinery, sandstorms, stones everywhere plus landmines from the Russian occupation. “Afghan farmers have a pride equal to that of those in the UK.”

The French, for all their faults, get some things right.

One of my bugbears is people moving to the countryside and then complaining about the noise of tractors or slow farm machinery on the roads or the smell of manure.

The mayor of one French village is obviously similarly irked by this.

We've had a nightmare in this country because of the floods, but I suppose one - albeit tiny - consolation is that at least we don't suffer hurricans like our rural contemporaries do in the States.

Livestock websites over there even provide 'hurricane preparedness' guidance.

I've got nothing against vegetarians (much).

After suggesting some 'meals to tempt the Minister back to meat', this post on the caterer blog about things not to say to a vegetarian made me chuckle.

If you, like me, often bemoan the demise of the once-unmissable ritual of Sunday lunch, don’t despair.

New research reveals that while the number of people who regularly sit down to a Sunday family lunch has halved compared to 45 years ago, the custom has been reinvented.

Friday evenings are now the time when families get-together over a meal.

I’m going to resist the temptation of making any smutty puns in this blog post.

You might have to bear with me, though, because I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be hard (there’s an opportunity for one, for a start!)

We like animal stories here at Field Day. This is undoubtedly a tragic one – but why, then, did I find myself smiling when I read it?

An Australian woman was killed at the weekend by a camel trying to – and I’m doing my best to be delicate here – become amorous with her.

First it showed up by the M62, then next to the M3. EBLEX's giant sheep - designed to promote British meat - has caused quite a stir.

Not everyone is a fan, it seems, and it caused quite a rumpus when it was moved to Hampshire.

This is, frankly, not what I wanted to see first thing in the morning. It put me off my breakfast.

That said, it’s all in a good cause - so no offence, Nick.

It’s a shot of Nick Drane of Cornish Hall End in Essex who is one of the brave models who’s doing his bit for charity - starring in a 2008 calendar to raise awareness of male cancers.

Can't claim to have made this up - a friend sent it to me, it's one of those emails that's doing the rounds. It's about the difference between cats and dogs - and it's so true.

I'm probably contravening all sorts of copyright laws re-publishing it here - but life's too short to worry about technical details like that!

I read on Ramblings of a Cotswoldgent’s blog about how he names absolutely everything with an engine. He’s got Sophie the Dyson, Victoria the Lawn Mower, Ralph the electric razor and even Charlotte Wibble the motorbike!

Having had an ask around my farming friends, it appears this is a common trait in the countryside (common as in widespread, rather as in any other sense CotswoldGent!)

So far, I’ve heard of ‘Big Boy’ the tractor, ‘Billy’ the billhook, 'Old Bess' the tree (so named because a dog of that name was buried under it) and, my favourire of all, a Land Rover called 'Pumba'. The word, I’m informed, is Swahili for warthog.

They managed to attract 35, apparently.

Species of moths, I'm talking about, in case you're wondering - and the occasion was when members of the public joined staff and students from Writtle College for a moth hunt as part of National Moth Night.

Using traps with high intensity light bulbs, the species found included the exotically named Canary-shouldered Thorn and Svensson’s Copper Underwing, along with the more abundant Common Wainscot (pictured).

Incidentally, if you'd like to attract moths to your garden, forget the specialist traps - they can be pricey. You can make your own, all you've got to do is mix up a special food and paint it on trees or fence posts.

Apparently a mixture of brown ale, dark brown sugar, black treacle and bananas works a treat.

Mmm, sounds tasty...

After the meat advert, the Homer Simpson effigy and the pole-dancing club promotion, now someone's using a field for an altogether more romantic purpose: to propose.

Read the full story and watch a short video here. Then altogether: Aarrrgh!

At the risk of boring you with another maize-related tale, here's a gem of a story. Farmer gets lost in his own maize maze - you really couldn't make it up, could you!

First it was dwarves in maize (you had to be there!), then a forage harvester in a field of it, now I get this picture of an owl in the stuff. It's at Tulleys Farm in West Sussex.

Thanks to the team at Adrian Fisher Mazes for sending it in.

Sometimes I think we haven't come as far in the countryside as we like to think we have.

It's disgusting that there are people who still kill beautiful birds like this golden eagle. Held in this photo by a policeman, it was found poisoned.

All this coincided with the start of grouse shooting on August 12th (actually, the season started on the 13th this year as the 12th was a Sunday).

When something like this happens, the Glorious 12th doesn't feel quite so glorious.

Farming's fraught with dangers. We don't face quite the same hazards as our agricultural contemporaries elsewhere, though, as this incredible story demonstrates...

I know we've all been saying for a long time farmers should have more to do with the food chain - but this is taking it a bit. Poor guy almost became part of it - literally!

Field Day reader Nick Fone has lodged a complaint. He's unhappy about how much I'm banging on about my cats.

Not, you understand, because he doesn't like cats - but because he thinks his are getting overlooked.

So here, just to keep him happy are two pictures of Ginge.

And while we're on the subject, you might as well have one more of mine!

If you want to look better, you've got a few options.

One route is to take part in a tv show like 10 Years Younger. Another is to experiment with wacky beauty treatments.

If you'd like to go down the latter route, here's a few more ideas. The flesh-eating fish sound particularly unsavoury!

They're from the Sunday Mirror. So they must be true!

Traditional crafts were on the agenda when scouts from around the world - including some from Hong Kong, Canada and Italy - attended a willow weaving course run by Writtle College’s Centre for the Arts and Design in the Environment (CADE) recently.

Our kids tv reviewer (OK, the woman who sits next to me in the office's grandson) watched the first episode off my preview dvd of Shaun the Sheep last night - and he reckons its ace.

In Abracadabra, a magic wand made all the sheep disappear causing the poor old farmer to almost collapse when his dog Blitzer and all the sheep invisibly rushed around the farmyard.

Four-and-a-half-year-old Harry Graham laughed so much he nearly fell off the sofa!

Ever feel you've aged more quickly than you'd like to?

A reseacher from the the hit C4 makeover show 10 Years Younger has got in touch with Field Day, because they'd like a farmer or farmer's wife to feature in the next series.

They reckon their team of anti-ageing experts can "help peel back the years and restore you to your former glory".

The show's looking for someone who's "riddled with wrinkles" or "has hideous hair" or "catastrophic clothes". For what it's worth, I can certainly tick two of these boxes, but you won't catch me on telly!

The team at 10 Years Younger can, they reckon, fix the lot. They'll also, of course, expect you to bare some of your innermost secrets on national tv - so it's only for the bravehearted!

If you fancy it, call 0121 224 8381 or see the website.

Under four weeks now until the new series of Shaun the Sheep starts on telly.

Just this morning I got my grubby mitts on a preview dvd of some of the episodes (it's not a dodgy pirate copy, I should stress - it's legit!)

In the meatime, here are some new photos for fans of the BBC1 show - incuding some previously unseen behind-the-scenes shots.

First it was bull semen used to give you better hair, then bird droppings used as a beauty treatment, now I'm informed that people used to put deadly nightshade in their eyes because they thought it made them prettier.

Back in the Middle Ages it was used by Italian ladies to dilate their pupils and make their eyes more attractive. Hence another name for the plant, Belladonna, meaning 'beautiful women'.

The theory has, I should point out, been comprehensively rubbished. You'd have thought that the fact that it could make you blind and kill you would have been a clue!

Farmers sure love their tractors.

I was sent this photo by Field Day reader David Bastable - it's a snap of his friends David "Boom" Foster and Ronnie on their wedding day in Kent.

There were a dozen tractors present, apparently - not to mention lots of Young Famers!

When they used the word 'hitched' they obviously weren't just referring to the trailer!

Shouldn't laugh because this is a serious story, but the thought of someone evading police in a tractor (with the help of a muckspreader) made me chuckle...

The days of the great animal collectors are long since gone.

One of the most famous was Walter Rothschild - and his life is currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum at Tring.

Another week, another advert pops up in a field.

After the lap-dancing club and the giant Homer Simpson, now it's a giant sheep.

About 1.7 million vehicles are expected to pass this giant sheep near the M62 at Bradford this week, marking the launch of the latest phase of a campaign by the English Beef and Lamb Executive to promote Quality Standard Mark lamb. It's 1000 square metres in size.

It's not the first time EBLEX has come up with a wacky idea to promote British meat - one of their previous initiatives involved Ian Botham's bottom!

You might never need to know what I'm about to tell you - but on the other hand it might save your life.

I've just been reading Country Life (I look at the frontispiece and the property first - both, sadly, out of my league!) and then flick through the articles.

I'm not really into machinery the way a lot of my friends are (some are obsessed with boys' toys like monster tractors and combines!) but I do enjoy looking at The Wreckers Yard.

It's a glimpse into other people's misfortunes - unfortunate mishaps with farm machinery!

I like bizarre traditions and got very excited recently by our worm charming escapades (I've got to get out more, I know!)

Another one that's always fascinated me is 'bull running' in Spain.

It's obviously a slightly more dangerous pursuit than worm charming! And this year particularly so, as this video footage from Reuters shows.

I seem to be saying this a lot recently - but don't watch it if you're squeamish.

This photo of Oliver Lewis which was sent in by proud dad Tom made me smile for two reasons.

Firstly, in an age when a lot of kids don't spend as much time outside as they used to, it's great to see the 10-year-old helping dad with the wheat harvest this weekend at the Morghew Park Estate at Tenterden in Kent.

Secondly, it's fantastic to see blue sky and sunshine after so much rain.

Tom tells me he's hoping for 3.5t/acre - which is not bad considering that a lot of it was flat because of the rain!

There are lots of non-native introductions we don't like - but here's a new one that nature lovers are welcoming.

The Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum, if you want to get technical!) arrived in Britain in July 2001. The first spotting was in the New Forest, but now it's been found 300 miles north.

One has recently been spotted in Northumberland National Park by biodiversity officer, Shaun Hackett.

The species is thought to have come here from France and has a penchant for nesting in trees - hence its nickname ‘Le Tree Bee’.

It is set to become widespread in Britain and experts say that this species does not offer any threat to our native bees and so will be welcoming it.

Unless it tries to sting them, presumably, in which case I imagine they'll be rolling the newspapers up with the rest of us!

I know Field Day concentrates on the lighter side of life in the countryside, but I'm sure many of you - like me - will be holding your breath, waiting to see what happens next with foot-and-mouth. If you want up-to-the-minute news, here's a good place to get it.

Great news. One of the guys at Aardman has just told me that production of the second series of Shaun The Sheep has now been finished – and the new series of 20 episodes is set to start on September 3.

It’ll go out on BBC1 as well as CBBC. Although mainly aimed at children, the first series was a hit with adults, too. I’m certainly a big fan. There again, I am a big kid!

Probably best not to look at this if you're squeamish, but it's a story about a seven-legged lamb which has been born on a farm in New Zealand.

Shropshire Young Farmers swapped their wellies for walking boots in aid of the local air ambulance with a 'Walk to the Welsh'.

They did a sponsored 60-mile walk from Shrewsbury to Builth Wells – coping with floods along the way – in three days.

I've had my kittens for over a couple of months now and they're great fun.

I'm so pleased I got them - but the vets' bills have made me realise quite how expensive pet ownership can be.

Below is a sneak preview of an article that'll be appearing in Farmers Weekly, considering the trials and tribulations of pet ownership. If you've got a view - or a horror story regarding vets bills - you can join the debate on the forums.

First it was an advert for a poledancing club, then a giant picture of Homer Simpson, now I hear of some fantastically imaginative pictures in fields in Japan.

Here’s another super book if you’re racking your brains for a birthday present.

Petrol heads everywhere will love Roadside Relics – America’s Abandoned Automobiles.