February 2009 Archives

After a long search, we've found our new columnist for Farmers Weekly.

Meet her here - and read her winning article.

Potato and delphinium tsar Matthew Naylor has been following our Pet of the Day slot (not to mention blogging about dogs in wigs), so I wonder what he'll make of this.

He likes tractors, but he doesn't like cats so I imagine it'll present him with a bit of a conundrum. 

Thanks to Edwina Smith of Mountnessing in Essex for supplying it. She says it shows "Pippa and George on a tractor made for two".

More Pet Photos of the Day.

If you want to make sure you get to the church on time for your wedding, travel there in a tractor. That's exactly what James Ford did recently when he married Chloe Wyles at Bethel Baptist Church in Llantwit Major. His tractor of choice was a Massey Ferguson 5475 tractor.

Tom and Nicola Jenkins, on the other hand, opted for a Valtra for their special day.

Not content with savaging growbags in Brighton, big cats have been making a nuisance of themselves in Norfolk.

Retired farmer Alec Garrard has spent 30 years creating a scale model of a biblical temple.

Apparently he's hand-baked and painted every clay brick and tile of his replica of Herod's temple, along with sculpting 4000 tiny human figures to populate the courtyards.

The question that springs to my mind is: Why?

What a fantastic picture.

This is a piece or work called Morning Walk (it's a 50cm x 75cm, acrylic on board) by the Devon-based artist Mike Jory.

Mike is about to hold an exhibition and sale of paintings (of cows and other animals in landscapes) called On To Pastures New at the University of Exeter.

It runs from April 24 to May 15. More details of the event and his work are on his website.

Field Day regular wil remember the Know Your Sheep book. OK, so it never troubled Harry Potter in the bestseller lists, but it proved popular in sheep circles.

And now I've been sent the follow-up (the sequel!), Know More Sheep. I think my favourite is the Manx Loaghtan (picture below) which looks like an extra from Doctor Who.

The East of England Agricultural Society has set a new Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Simultaneous Roast Meal'.

They arranged for 1,362 people to eat a Roast beef lunch in the Peterborough exhibition hall on Sunday.

The event has also raised over £6,500 for Help for Heroes, the charity supporting wounded service personnel.

Lorna Rogers from Clevedon supplied this incredibly cute photo. It's her collie pup, Sky, when she first got her home. Apparently Sky's desperate to be a proper sheepdog when she grows up, but for now is practising rounding up ducks.

See more Pet Photos of the Day.

The Cumberland News has caught up with the guy who bought the Withnail Farmhouse.

Here's what he plans to do with it.

I don't normally give product plugs on Field Day (especially when people ask for them!)

But I've just eaten a delicious yoghurt - so thought I'd mention it. It was made by the Duncans at Stapleton Farm in Devon. Delicious.

Ceri Davies (above) was crowned the Champion Hedger at the recent Brecknock Annual Hedging Match at Brecon organised by the young Farmers.

He's also pictured (below) with other winning Hedgers Stuart Davies, Trsytan Davies, Gwilym Williams & Rhodri Jones.

A dog may be a man's best friend - but a goat is a girls, says Judith Mckinley of Co Tyrone who sent us this picture.

It shows Lucy "posing for the camera when she is not up to mischief".

See more Pet Photos of the Day. 

My old friend Clarissa Dickson Wright has been getting in a stew (getting in a stew, geddit!) baout food labelling.

This is a big problem and it needs addressing, so well done Clarissa.

Watch her short video here.

He might have turned his back on RASE, but that John Torode does make good TV. I was shouting at the telly last night. I so didn't want Chris to get the boot on MasterChef.

That, of course, was after having slept off my lunch for an hour when I got home!

Amy Blackwell sent me this photo of a lamb born at the farm where she lives at Stewkley in Bedfordshire.

The unusual colour makes it look like a little calf. Her and hubbie Robert came up with the caption: I'm conf-ewe-sed, am I a lamb or a calf?

Well, what a fantastic lunch that was. Devilled lambs kidneys on toasted country bread, Suffolk pork chop with bubble and squeak, and chocolate pudding with marmalade icecream. I need to sleep now.

The occasion was a get-together of the judges in the Countryside Alliance's Awards. The Awards are a great initiative and I really enjoy being one of the national judges - although most of the hard work has already been done by the time I get involved.

I've heard lots of fantastic stories of successful rural businesses. Will let you know who the winners are as soon as I can...

Don't get the wrong idea here, incidentally. My job isn't one big jolly. I very rarely go out for lunch. Naturally, I could be persuaded to change this...

Andy Cartwright of Ratcliffe Culey in Leicestershire took this shot of his dog Bramble (thanks also to Lucy Simpson for emailing it to us!)

I don't get taken out to lunch very often these days. Sadly. Hint hint...

But I'm going for a nice posh lunch here today. Tell you why later...

Another big cat sighting - this one in Brighton.

A startled resident claims to have seen the beast (dubbed the Panther of Preston Park) in her garden.

Apparently one of her grow bags was torn open. Will these animals stop at nothing?

I'm surprised the local paper didn't christen it the Beast of Brighton. Alliteratively, that works better for me than the Panther of Preston Park.

I've heard it all now - M&S are launching a credit-busting 75p sandwich.

While that may be considerably cheaper than a lot of their sandwiches, it's still pretty pricey compared to what the ingredients actually cost.

Shoppers on a tight budget might be pleased (there again, shoppers on a tight budget probably won't be going to M&S in the first place), but others are critical.

Philip Lowery, a director of the Real Food Festival, says: "It's hard to work out who has lost the plot more - the store themselves for promoting this as a credit crunch lunch priced at 75p, when anyone could buy these ingredients for less than 10p and prepare it themselves in a matter of seconds, or the people who will inevitably buy this product for believing that everything in their so called busy lives takes precedence over preparing simple, healthy, nutritious food. On balance, I'd say M&S, who really ought to know better."

Thanks to Stanley Potts for this photo. It's Monty, the Border Terrier, in the back of his pick-up. Monty's a perky little fella, by the look of him...

Sleddale Hall - the 'Withnail farmhouse' - made £265,000 at auction yesterday, smashing the guide price of £145,000.

Sebastian Hindley a Withnail fan who runs the nearby Mardale Inn, has vowed to preserve the isolated property near Shap in Cumbria for film fans.

Having bid successfully for lot 88 by telephone at the London auction which attracted seven bidders, he confirmed he wanted to preserve its "heritage". He dubbed it "as important as Wordsworth's home to this area".

"My big mission in life," he told journalists, "is for more people to recognise the beauty of the Eastern Fells here in the Lake District, which is underlined in the film.

"I will be glad to welcome everyone - from local people to fans of the film to those who would like to spend some quality time in tranquillity."

The derelict house, previously owned by water company United Utilities, has attracted many visiting fans and the idea of a pilgrimage is something the new owner is keen to continue.

"It would have been sad if Sleddale was bought by someone rich who didn't understand what it means," he said.

The publican says the film's enduring message is the stark difference between Britain's urban and rural dwellers. "We once had the girls from Atomic Kitten visiting when it was snowing heavily," he recalled. "Their Range Rover got stuck, and when they got out they were all wearing high heels."

Another black lab today - this time, Fearn, sent in by George Morris of Herefordshire.

Fearn, says George, is a tractor dog as well as a shooting dog. She obviously wanted to prove cats don't have a monopoly on riding in tractors.

See more Pet Photos of the Day.

My cats don't kill birds.

I'm not some disillusioned owner, defending the indefensible (the pet owning equivalent of the mother of a serial killer who describes her son as "a nice quiet boy who kept himself to himself and liked to play with his train set").

But they don't.

Five TV might be running a Farmer Wants a Wife initiative - but it's not the farmer himself who's looking for love, more the ladies of the parish, according to Lucy Reeves of the countryside online dating site Muddy Matches.

Rural women, she reckons, are twice as keen as the fellas to meet their perfect match and find love, if the numbers of people signing up their site are anything to go by.

"We're forever reading stories in the press about the lack of single women in rural areas and the wacky lengths to which some men have gone to attract ladies to their region. But what we seem to be experiencing is completely the opposite."

Having turned their attention last year to 'offline' social events such as sailing trips, clay shoots and activity weekends, Emma and her sister, Lucy, who launched the business in 2007, also noticed a similar pattern. 

"We would sell out of female places within a week or two of advertising an event, but it would take much longer, and a lot more badgering, to fill the male places!" 

They're holding a black-tie Mud Lovers Ball on February 28 in Northamptonshire. Male tickets are still available for £65.

It's the 150th anniversary of the birth of AE Housman next month.

To mark the occasion, a photographic edition of A Shropshire Lad is being published.

It celebrates the beauty of the Shropshire landscape, from Ludlow to Clun, from Clee Hill to the Wrekin.

Local vet-turned-professional-photographer Gareth Thomas has captured on camera the diversity of the rural landscapes, steeples and skies that so inspired Housman's verse.

My favourite Housman poem is this one, With Rue My Heart is Laden. 

Reiintroduce lynx?

According to a lot of people, they're already out there.

More big cat news. This time from Derbyshire.

The countdown is on to Crufts, which starts on March 5th.

If you want to see the action, you'll have to make the trip to Birmingham as the BBC has decided not to cover the event following controversy over inbreeding (among the dogs, that is, not at the BBC).

In other dog news, a pack of wild dogs has escaped from a wildlife park in Kent. Apparently they're capable of "taking down a baby elephant". Not that there's many baby elephants in Kent, of course.

You can see a photo of the creatures here. They look like the Peter Crouch of the fox world to me.

I love these pictures.

They're part of a touring exhibition called Sheep - From Lamb to Loom by Kate Lynch and Alastair Goolden.

The multi-media exhibition is the result of three years' fieldwork, with Kate having travelled the West Country following sheep farming families through the seasons.

Her story continues off the farm in the workshops of artisans and craftspeople in related trades.

The resulting collection of oil paintings and charcoal drawings forms a fascinating picture of rural life.

In the galleries, Kate's paintings and drawings will be accompanied by a sound piece designed by Alastair Goolden, who has recorded the ambient noise of the various activities as well as the voices of those involved in the trades.

Seeing as we're having a bit of a run on black labs at the moment, I thought I'd include another one.

This is Duffy and the photo came from Grant Sherriffs. I dread to think what state Grant's carpets are in!

I've stuck up for the Health and Safety Executive before - but here's a classic case of bureaucracy gone mad.

Meet the 160ft tall horse which will soon tower over the Kent countryside.

I've always loved The Angel of the North - I hope this statue proves equally impressive.

Are you a lady looking for some romance?

Don't worry, I'm not about to suggest something unprofessional - but you might want to check out Five tv's Farmer Wants a Wife.

Seeing as we're on the subject of Afghanistan and dogs, here's a story that involves both.

A Marine has written a book called One Dog at a Time - Saving the Strays of Helmand.

Here's some stuff by the author that appeared in the Mail.

I reckon it's got bestseller written all over it.

Well, surprise surprise.

The wind turbine allegedly wrecked by a UFO was not, in fact, wrecked by a UFO.

After lots of rumour, conjecture, speculation and fantasy, the official verdict is that it was damaged by mechanical failure.

Today's reporting of the investigation team's findings will, no doubt, not silence the proponents of the 'little green men' theory.

Farmers with wind turbines on their land may, however, at least be able to sleep easy, knowing they're not being targeted by extra-terrestrials.

Inland Revenue officials, maybe. Extra-terrestrials, no.

Particularly like this one's two little fangs.

Chips have never made me laugh as much as this before.

These videos are hilarious.

One of the Farmers Weekly forums regulars, Kansas Farmer, is trying to find some more out about this photo.

It features his great great grandfather, who went to the USA in 1873. 

The photo was taken in Lincoln in about 1870 - and Kansas farmer is wondering if it is a military uniform (he thinks he was in an army band - one that could have been referred to as 'the Lifeguards').

Can anyone throw any light on the matter?

Meet Bandit. I wonder if he can drive a tractor, as well.

Thanks to Julia Farmery of Retford in Nottinghamshire for sending us the picture.

See previous Pet Photos of the Day.

Then snow has been welcomed by one bunch of people: big cat spotters.

Harper Adams lecturer Richard Byrne, who's serving as a reservist in Afghanistan, has been sharing his experiences with Field Day readers. Here's his latest installment:

I joined the Royal Navy Reserves with the vague idea of sailing to various exotic ports around the globe.

Five years later I find myself in the middle of the Afghan desert, living in various not-so-glamorous locations.

I was mobilised from my civilian job as a senior lecturer at Harper Adams April last year, and had six months of pre-deployment training in the UK and Germany where I basically morphed from being a sailor into a soldier.

I'm now part of a MSST team (the military love abbreviations) - that's a Military Stabilisation Support Team. I work with a STABAD (Stabilisation Advisor) who is a civilian and live in a FOB (Forward Operating Base) where there is a galley (that's a cookhouse to non-naval types) and usually hot water.

I work out of Musa Qualah, in the north of Helmand, and live in part of an old Russian hotel, which at least is dry.

When I go on patrol, I stay in a PB (Patrol Base) which is usually based around a local compound and I live off ration packs, with hot water from solar showers or puffing billy boilers. This gives a real opportunity to see how the locals live and appreciate how well built and warm their mud-brick compounds are.

Living is pretty basic in the PBs - particularly the toilets, where daily duties involve burning the 'output'. It can be fun as well and I'm lucky to be based with the Ghurkas who produce fantastic curries out of ration packs.

My main role has been to look at the agriculture and opportunities to develop it, particularly as a way of drawing people away from growing opium poppy.

I know I can be soppy git at times, but I love this picture. Some Field Day readers may be offended by the almost obscene cuteness of it, though, so don't scroll down if you're upset by whimsy!

Students at Harper with a flair for engineering can turn their hand to anything mechanical - including this snow tractor.

I've heard of people putting ferrets down their trousers (something I have to say, I never did when I kept them) but never pigeons.

This man was caught doing just that, though.

What if they'd broken free. And pecked.

This isn't normal, a dog and a partridge behaving like this.

Thanks to Lily Mayor of Tarleton in Lancashire for sending it in.

See previous Pet Photos of the Day.

Bet you never thought EastEnders would end up embroiled in the pedigree dogs/Crufts controversy.

I knew Country Life (the butter, that is, not the mag that rants unreasonably about Health and Safety) were onto a winner with those John Lydon adverts.

Its maker, Dairy Crest, says "Great British Butter" campaign helped increase sales by 85 percent.

The battle is hotting up for the Withnail farmhouse.

Three of the principle contenders for the run-down place are thought to be the Radio 2 DJ - and massive fan of the film - Chris Evans (I actually did email him when I heard the place was on the market, but am still waiting for a reply!), the model Kate Moss and a Liverpool based consortium.

If I win the lottery between now and February 16, I'll throw my hat into the ring, too.

As a youth I did, after all, used to weep in butchers' shops.

I obviously spoke too soon, mentioning him yesterday.

I hear today that John Torode has resigned as president of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE).

Yet more evidence that you if you've got a camera, the one thing you should do is work with children and animals. It's two-and-half-year-old Kirsty Lord from Caithness with Starsky. 

See previous Pet Photos of the Day.

I hate people who are permanently "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells".

You know the sort - the little band who are perpetually offended and outraged. They love nothing more than being shocked and indignant and want the whole world to know quite how shocked and indignant.

This morning, though, I am a little shocked and indignant. I am disgusted (even if not of Tunbridge Wells). I've just read the Agromenes column in this week's Country Life.

It's ranting about the HSE's latest farming campaign (Come Home Safe) which has seen 'promise packs' sent out to farmers.

The pack contains a "Promise Knot" of farm baling twine - they idea being that they pin them somewhere prominent to act as a visual reminder of the pledge to 'come home safe'.

Agromenes ridicules this campaign - refers to the "idiocy" of it, dismisses it as "nonsense", dubs it "nannying".

This attitude is at best misguided and, at worst, irresponsible. Agriculture may be inherently more dangerous than most other occupations - but many of the accidents that happen are preventable.

Talk to farmers and they're the first to admit that it's in the seconds when their concentration slips, in those momentary lapses of judgement, when things go wrong and lives are lost. Anything that can be done to remind farmers and their families of the dangers - and keep the safety message uppermost in their mind - should be applauded.

The HSE, like all government departments, can be bureaucratic at times. But ultimately what they're trying to do is save lives.

I think I might write to Country Life. Signing off "Yours Disgusted", of course...

Helen Rosillo, 18, was one of the winners in the Great Yorkshire Cookery Competition 2009.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society-run competition, which aims to find the best junior, amateur and professional chefs, attracted entries from across the region and culminated in a nail-biting cook-off.

The finalists all had to create a signature dish which was nutritious, locally sourced and could be made for under £10.

The cook-offs were held at the Fourth Floor Restaurant at Harvey Nichols in Leeds and, for the juniors, at Bettys Cookery School in Harrogate.

Helen made "A Sweet Trio of Yorkshire" - comprising a curd tart, a chocolate cuppa and a fruit hamper. 

Other winners included Daniel Pawson of Harrogate (seared venison with a warm oyster mushroom and crispy bacon salad and cranberry syrup) and, in the Professional Chef category, Tim Bilton of The Butchers Arms, Hepworth, for his pan roast loin of venison served with little venison cottage pie, roast winter vegetables and pontefract cake jus). 

I'm not one to name drop, as you know.

But seeing as everyone's talking about MaterChef again - here's my take on John Torode after that time I had lunch with him.

I had lunch with him, you know. John Torode.

Today's pet photo is a much-needed reminder of summer.

Never work with children or animals they say, but that adage obviously doesn't apply to photographs. Amanda Manley took this shot of daughter Isabella with Shenka the collie during the wheat harvest in Cornwall last September.

I don't envy the bloke who's driving this today, I know that.

And still the snow keeps falling. You can find the latest weather news on the BBC website.

We've just been up to 16th floor of the office block where Farmers Weekly is based in Sutton in Surrey. The picture above shows the local train station. The one below has a faintly Lowryesque quality to it, wouldn't you say.

A friend of mine near Epsom in Surrey reckons they've got 13 inches of snow.

Sadly, Mark Evans - the lad from a farming family in North Wales - didn't win the final of Eurovision - Your Country Needs You on BBC1 last night.

Having chatted to his mum, though, I get the impression he's incredibly focused on his singing and dancing career - so wouldn't be surprised if he's a name we hear a lot more of in the future.