July 2009 Archives

Thanks to Trevor Wilson for getting in touch to tell me about the Mere Brow Giant Pumpkin competition.

It's run by a group of farmers and growers who nurture these giants for a hobby - they can range from 100lb to nearly 1000lb in weight.

This year the competition will be held at Gravel Farm, Banks, near Preston on Saturday October 17 at 2pm. It'll raise money for the North West Air Ambulance. More details here. 

Forget golden moles. Golden moles are so yesterday.

Today's animal of choice is the skunk. Apparently, they're roaming wild in this country.

A couple of bits of agriculture news in the mainstream press today - Shaunetta, the cliff-top-stranded sheep has been shot dead by a marksman. There's a good picture of where the poor animal was in The Mirror.

And on a cheerier note, llamas are being used as lamb bodyguards in Sussex.

It's not just big cats that are like buses. Golden moles are, too.

I'd never heard the name until a few days ago when I was sent a picture of one, then yesterday I was wandering round the Natural History Museum and encountered the brute pictured above. It's from South Africa.

I'm guessing, judging by its size (it was way bigger than a guinea pig), that's it a totally different species to the critter I was sent a photo of. I'm assuming that's just a normal mole, but with a particularly fair complexion.

You couldn't make this up - a group of cheesmakers have attempted the first space flight by a piece of cheddar. 

The wacky stunt was the brainchild of West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers, who we've written about on Field Day before in connection with another equally off-the-wall idea: setting up a webcam so people could watch a cheese mature. And if, like me, you think that sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry - well, hundreds of thousands of people visited the website.

Big cats. They're obviously like buses. It was all quite for a while, then we had a little flurry of sightings.

And now this - what's being billed as one of the most conclusive clips of video footage ever taken of one.

These are the objects that, if money were no object, we'd have gone home from the Game Fair with...

A big cat has been spotted in Cornwall and there's a photo of it in The Sun. Mmmm, not sure about this one....

There has been a spate of reported spottings recently.

We've heard a lot about crop circles (which some people insist on calling art) this summer, but never this before - sand art.

The artist is called Andres Amador are there are more pictures in the Telegraph. Check out his website here.

If you live on the Isle of Sheppey, don't expect to see any of his work appearing on a beach near you any time soon - he lives in San Francisco.

Thanks to Elaine Welford for sending me this picture. It shows Chris Howell and a rare golden mole. Elaine wonders if anyone esle has ever encountered such a creature. I certainly haven't.

After young Blue, here's another extraordinarily cute dog from the Game Fair, the last day of which was yesterday. The event was obviously all too much and a little lie down was called for... 

My colleague Emily (who I reckon could be the next Julia Bradbury) has made a short video from the CLA Game Fair. Watch it here.

See more from the Game Fair here.

Picture just in of Julia Bradbury at the Game Fair. She obviously heard something she approved of (sadly, it wasn't something I said).

And do you remember this guy, too? He used to present One Man and His Dog.

Me with a small stuffed cat. Only at the Game Fair could this happen...

Lots and lots of dogs at the Game Fair. And some extraordinarily cute ones. This one's my favourite, though. He's called Blue and he's three months old. All together now: Aaaaaarrrrrhhhh.

More coverage of the Game Fair here.

Well, I've had a fantastic first two days at the CLA Game Fair 2009. Here are 10 of my impressions of it:

1 It feels a bit like the now-dead Royal Show used to. It's so busy you keep bumping into people. Bumping into them as in seeing people you know; but also bumping into as in literally. It can be that busy.

 2 There is a huge mix of people who go. Anyone who says it's exclusively toffs is wrong. Yes, there might be a quite a few toffs there - but for every toff, there's a tattoo!

3 It was a pretty good first two days as regards the weather. There were a couple of sudden, big storms on Friday, but they passed quite quickly (I saw one standholder lose a big umbrella). Saturday was suntan weather.

More alleged evidence of big cats on the loose in Britain.

First, it's the Durham Puma. The story has made it into The Telegraph and this is how The Northern Echo covered it - they've also got a short video clip (sadly not of the beast itself!)

In Ayrshire, meanwhile, there's been a suspected puma attack on a horse (that's a puma attacked a horse, not an attack by a puma riding a horse). There is also a cracking picture of a puma in The Sun.

And the Ashwell big cat has supposedly been spotted near Royston in Herts.

I'm feeling very jealous. When I risked life and limb on an overnight big cat hunt, although seeing some very suspicious goings-on, I didn't come face-to-face with the beast.

To be or not to be?

That is obviously the question when it comes to revealing your identity if you're a farming and entering the world of online dating.

New research from mysinglefriend.com reveals that more and more women want to date a farmer.

More news and photos just in of the giant astronaut maize maze.

Consisting of well over 1 million stalks of maize, and with over 10km of pathways, the maze is now approaching two metres in height.

After my foray into the world of landscape painting, today's topic is cat art.

I said yesterday you don't see a Chinese man being carried aloft through the lanes of rural Yorkshire very often.

Well here's something you see equally as infrequently: a tractor towing a dinosaur.

I love this maize maze. And you can't get much more topical than an astronaut.

The figure, measuring more than 300m long, has been created out of about 1m maize plants by farmer Tom Pearcy near York.

"Marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned flight to the moon is my personal tribute to the endeavour and bravery of those lunar pioneers," he told the press.

Yesterday, we heard of the bride who went to church on a Case IH Magnum 310 - today it's contractor and farmer Paul George from Tresillian in Cornwall whose best man ensured the groom arrived in style in a new Deutz-Fahr Agrotron tractor loaned to him by local dealer Paul Jeffery.

He's seen here outside Truro Methodist Church in Cornwall where he married Tracey Moran.  Thanks to Steve Michell for sending us the photo.

Here's something you don't see very often. A Chinese man being carried aloft through the lanes of rural Yorkshire.

As you know, I'm interested in weird rural festivals.

Tar barrel racing is a great one, but it's Galmpton Gooseberry Pie Fair in Devon that's in the news today.

It's come to light that there were complaints about the noise at this year's event in Devon. Organisers have been told to turn the sound down in future years after members of the public complained to the Environmental Health department about sound levels from live music.

The fair, which raises money for local charities, is thought to have been first held in 1873, and the centrepiece is a giant gooseberry pie which is carried through the village, travelling in procession to the village's Manor Inn.

Forget the noise. That's a diversion. The big question here is: How on earth did this tradition originate?

More rural romance.

Angela Turney recently got married on the Rousham Estate in Oxfordshire and decided to arrive on a Case IH Magnum 310.

Who says romance is dead?

David Lord from St Osyth in Essex proposed to Liz Brooks over the weekend by cultivating it into oilseed rape stubble and then organising a flight over the farm.

Thanks to Liz's sister, Vicki, for letting us know about this romantic bit of groundwork (it's a good job they got the rape combined in time, Liz reckons!)

Wedding planning is already underway...

I know this one is a bit Nayloresque (he's a man who's made a career out of publishing photos of dogs in wigs), but here's one more picture of Willow the amazing reading dog which I feel compelled to share with you. Oh come on, it is Friday afternoon...

Bella Hall, one of Farmers Weekly's newest but best columnists, runs a maize maze near Southwold. This is an aerial photo of it. Cool, isn't it...

I'm loving these photos on The Telegraph's website - swimming and sunbathing pigs.

Reminded me of the swimming with tigers pictures...

The TV show, The Farmer Wants a Wife, is to get a new presenter - Louise Redknapp.

The ex-singer, who's married to footballer-turned-pundit Jamie Redknapp, has been recruited to front the show which first aired in 2001.

If Louise is interested in agriculture, maybe I should try to contact her. I tried to contact Liz Hurley, after we reported her comments about the countryside.

I asked Liz if she wanted to be a judge in the Britain's Sexiest Farmer competition which we're going to be running here at Farmers Weekly. She said No, sadly, but I'm trying not to take it personally.

Good to see Emmerdale are embracing the local food ethic.

I haven't seen the show lately - so I'm still keen to see what this new farming family turn out to be like. Knowing soap operas, they'll be hideously dysfunctional.

Farmers can win cash by creating wheat bale sculptures or art installations in a competition run by Weetabix and the NFU.

There will be ten regional £2,000 prizes on offer in each of the 10 television regions in England, Scotland and Wales, and the overall winner will receive an additional £3,000.

They want farmers to use their artistic flair to celebrate the harvest. In the last such competition, tractors, combine harvesters, castles and even Stonehenge sculptures were created.

This 12-year-old English terrier can read.

The Royal Welsh Show kicks off on Monday. I can't go this year, but have had a great time there in previous years.

This short video clip on S4/C is worth a watch - showing how the huge climbing poles that feature in the Forestry Commission area make the journey to the showground.

Non-Welsh speakers shouldn't be put off - a lot of it's in English and it's interesting just to watch...

New research shows cats sometimes use a "soliciting purr"... 

The dirty little devils!

Going to the Game Fair? Looking for some romance?

Well those nice ladies at Muddy Matches are holding some events which could spread some luuuurrrvee...

One of the breeds of that features in the wonderfully titled book Beautiful Pigs is the Kune Kune - and it's a breed that's back in the news because a litter has been born on a smallholding in Devon.

I never knew that until today, either: that the breed name is actually pronounced 'cooney cooney'.

I love Stilton - but it's got a bit of an old fashioned reputation. People associate it with elderly men, Port and cigars.

In a bid to give it a fresh image, the cheesemakers are launching a new marketing campaign featuring a young, rock 'n' roll, tattoo-mad food stylist and chef.

The Stilton Cheese Makers' Association has signed Gizzi Erskine, one of the stars of Channel 4's Cook Yourself Thin, to help raise its profile among a younger customer and show its many uses.

Good to see Radio Five Live at the Royal Show last week.

It's a shame the media aren't more interested in farming as a matter of course, rather than just turning up at events like this to pick over the bones, but that's another story.

Nicky Campbell interviewed a number of people at the show, including NFU director of policy Martin Howarth. I rather like this picture. I'd always assumed radio was an incredibly glamorous profession - but it looks as if, much like farming, it involves dodging the rain and uncomfortable seating.

He's nearly 3ft long, scoffs £60-worth of food a week and could be bouncing his way to a place in the history books.

Benny the rabbit is set to be a record breaker...

Pig enthusiasts will love a new book called Beautiful Pigs.

It's not normal behaviour - deliberately putting yourself in front of a lot of very angry bulls in a confined space.

But the bull running festival has been happening again in Spain. I think it's bizarre and cruel, but it seems it be a massively popular event.

There's a great picture in today's Independent, plus some ITN footage of the event here and also some on The Metro's website. Be warned: you might some of the video footage a little distressing.

I've been called a lot of things in my time, but never a "plinter" before.

That's what am I now, though. I received an email this morning which began: "Dear Plinther..." I've applied, you see, for a place on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London.

The project is the brainchild of sculptor Antony Gormley who wants to create an "astonishing living monument" and he's asking members of the public to occupy the empty fourth plinth, a space normally reserved for statues of kings and generals, for a short time.

My plan, if I get my 15 minutes of fame (actually, if your application's successful you get an hour) is to do something to try to raise the profile of British farming.

Gormley, whose most famous work is the beautiful Angel of the North, reckons the selected punters will become "an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity."

Translated from arty speak into English, that basically means that every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days, a different person is making the plinth their own.

The selected people can use their time on the plinth as they see fit (presumably within reason). Hence my plan to bang the drum for British farming and food.

I've been entered into the draw. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Here's a little prediction.

Will McGregor, a farmer's son from Norfolk, is going to be a star in the world of filmmaking one day.

The 21-year-old student is currently working on a short film called Bovine, which centres on a struggling farmer and his fight with TB, inspired by his experiences growing up on a farm.

We like dramatic tales of rescues on the high seas - particularly when they involve, eer, budgerigars.

Not many farmers can claim to have had dealings with Hollywood - but Campbell Tweed can.

Campbell, from County Antrim in Northern Ireland, had a knock on the door recently from a spotter from Universal Studios who told him the farm near Larne might be ideal as a location for part of a new film, Your Highness.

There aren't many famous farmers - but Oliver Walston is probably the nearest our industry has got to one.

He's a journalist and TV presenter and has tackled a host of issue over the years, including the pub argument-inducing topic of subsidies.

As it says in his new book, Thirty-Five Harvests: 1974-2008, he has "goaded, infuriated and embarrassed his fellow farmers by thinking the unthinkable and saying the unsayable".

This book, priced £20 and only available online at this website, is a series of annual reports recounting what happened at Thriplow Farms in Cambridgeshire.

It's aimed at farmers (who'll find it fascinating) rather than the general reader (who'll find it puts them in a coma by page 13).

And here, as an aside, is an interesting fact about Oliver. His mother was Lady Catherine Walston, a lover of Graham Greene - and a woman who made such a deep impression on Greene than she inspired much of his writing, including the novel The End of the Affair.

A lot of farmers will already know the science behind this - but this short National Geographic Channel clip is still worth a look, if only for the incredible muscled cattle. Be warned: there are some pictures of semen collection that you might not want to watch over lunch!

Who says agricultural topics don't prove popular on Youtube... it's had over 4.5m hits. And remember the extreme shepherding vid, that's now had well over 8m views.

You wouldn't think there was a lot of artistic mileage in sheep, would you.

But the woolly, nice-tasting, keen-to-die critters will be the theme of the Caerleon Arts Festival in Wales which runs from July 17-19.

The central session of this year's event will be the creation of a field of wood sheep sculptures by a group of British carvers.

Organisers are also planning a range of sheep-related artistic events in the lead-up to Festival which, now in its seventh year, attracts leading artists.

Just like the old days today. Was back in the vets at 7.30.

Nothing untoward - just Nutmeg and Parsley's annual health check and booster. Cost me £92, mind.

The vet was very diplomatic. He said Parsley was "definitely sizeable". I say "fat".

The Cerne Abbas giant has featured on Field Day quite a few times before, so fans of this type of outdoor art might like this slideshow of pictures on the Telegraph's website.

The last ever Royal Show started today.

It's the end of an era because for decades this event has been a key date in the farming calendar.

They were talking about it on Radio 4's Today programme earlier. Let's hope Denis Chamberlain, the PR man for RASE who run it, is right and it does stop raining. I spoke to someone at the showground an hour ago and they told me it was absolutely chucking it down!

Forget the notion of wildlife being cute. Animals are, right this moment, embarking on a drink and drugs rampage. First it was drunk squirrels, now it's stoned wallabies.

Probably not for the squeamish, this one, but there's a fascinating story and video on the Guardian's Word of Mouth blog about eating snails. And not just any old snails - we're talking the giant African land snail...

We've talked about the dangers of cows before. Well one farmer is now facing a massive fine as a result of one...

Another weekend, another crop circle. This time a giant hummingbird in Wiltshire.

It beggars belief that some people still genuinely believe they're created by UFO visits. Do the same people think that all little green men are avid Mike Skinner fans and created this design in his honour?

I'd barely recovered from seeing a man in a Borat-style mankini at the Young Farmers jamboree in Blackpool last year.

And now my colleague Aly, who was at Glastonbury with the Young Farmers, has shown me this picture from the music festival.

It's put me off my dinner.

How about this for a novel design in a field (and no, this isn't crop circle vandalism, this is all done with permission!)

The picture came to me from a software company called Farmade. They'd been contacted by a PR outfit called Beatwax (who'd previously been involved in the giant Homer Simpson).

They wanted to create a pattern to promote Sony's new headphones, using an image related to the band, The Streets.

Using their clever GateKeeper kit, Farmade soon had an image of The Streets lead singer, Mike Skinner, wearing the headphones marked out in a field, which a John Deere dealer, Ashworth Farm Machinery, cut out using a lawnmower.

It was done at Castle Cary in Somerset so people arriving for Glastonbury music festival could see the image in the grass.

There's a short video clip of it on YouTube (be warned if you watch it, some of the language is a bit fruity).

We like "missing pets found" stories on Field Day. And this one's a cracker: a cat which turned up on, of all places, BBC's Question Time. You can see him briefly wandering across the bottom right hand corner of the set on this clip, about 9 seconds in...

To be honest, I find Question Time rather boring so if the cat had any sense he wouldn't have hung around.

I'm loving these pictures. There are two more below..

Look out for phallic-shaped cucumbers.

Yes, more misshapen fruit and veg will be sold in shops from today, thanks to changes to EU rules.

EU-wide marketing standards had ensured only the finest-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves - but the repealed rules affect, among other products, artichokes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, onions, peas, carrots, plums, and celery.

So long as it is clean, free from pests or diseases, is not rotten, and is labelled with the country of origin, retailers will be able to market produce as they see fit.

Specific market rules do, however, stay in place for products including apples, lettuces, pears, strawberries and tomatoes.

The move has been welcomed by many. Conservative MEP Neil Parish said: "To stop stores selling perfectly decent food during a food crisis is morally unjustifiable. Consumers care about the taste and quality of food, not how it looks."

A bit of pet news.

According to Stanley Coren, who's written lots of books about dogs, the most intelligent three breeds of dogs are Border Collies, Poodles and German Shepherds. Apparently Afghan Hounds are the most stupid.

And just so I'm not accused of a pooch bias by Field Day's cat-loving readers, here's a blog that moggy owners might like to check out.

Squirrels - you just never know what they're going to do next.

When they're not living the life of riley with their builder friends or getting bevvied, they're popping out of people's cleavages.

I like cake. I particularly like it for breakfast. And I've just had some delicious cherry and almond cake which was sent into the office from those nice people at Calbourne Classics. Their award-winning selection is made on a farm at Shalfleet on the Isle of Wight - and the tins are just exquisite.

If anyone else would like to send me any cake, feel free.

If you're a farmer and you're planning to have an affair, it obviously pays to conceal your identity...

No doubt a lot of these men are buying flowers, too.