February 2012 Archives

Oh, the grand old Duke of Dinmore,
He had ten thousand sheep;
He marched them up to the top of the hay bale hill,
And he marched them down again



Thanks to Rob Tanaluk who captured this snap near Dinmore Manor, Herefordshire while he was out and about delivering animal feeds for Maelor Feeds.

The sheep seem remarkably calm - I've got vertigo just looking at it.

Apparently this is Britain's tiniest calf, weighing in at a very delicate 33lbs. Apparently she's even smaller than one of the farm dogs.

The full story is (where else) on the Daily Mail website.

Police gave their assistance to a court escape with a difference last week - after a bird of prey became trapped inside a legal building.

The sparrowhawk had flown inside Blackburn Magistrates Court in pursuit of a pigeon but became disorientated and could not get back out.

Lancashire Constabulary's wildlife officer Mark Thomas was called to assist a raptor rescue team from Cuerden Birds of Prey and the hawk was captured and released back into the wild.

Mark said: "It is not often that the police will help with an escape from court, but on this occasion the bird was causing quite a bit of disruption and was also becoming distressed.

"With assistance from the Cuerden experts, we were quickly able to catch it and set it free. The pigeon also escaped from becoming the other bird's meal, as it flew back out of its own accord."

Hundreds of sheep are going to be squeezing through letterboxes and thudding onto doormats in British households next week.

No, it's not some sort of elaborate 'adopt-a-sheep' scheme - it's a new set of stamps released by the Royal Mail.

Illustrations of six British sheep breeds are gracing a new series of stamps which go on sale on Friday (24 February). In the collection are the Welsh Mountain Badger Face, Dalesbred, Jacob, Suffolk, Soay and the Leicester Longwool. Here's a glimpse:



The stamps will be issued at the Royal Mail's 'Post & Go' terminals. I hadn't heard of this before but apparently it's a self service machine at some Post Office branches which allows customers to weigh their letters and packets, and print postage labels without having to visit the counter. A bit like self-service tills at supermarkets.

You can also buy a collectible set online.

Fear not pig and cow enthusiasts - the sheep stamps are just one series in the 'British Farm Animals' collection. Another series based on traditional breeds of pigs will be issued on 24 April, and cows will follow after that.

In the meantime, here are the rest of the designs in the sheep series...

As job titles go, 'Potato Ambassador' is pretty cool. Looks a bit fancier on the CV than 'farmer' anyway.

The job description was dreamt up by the Potato Council, who are searching for a crack team of growers across England and Wales to help promote potatoes to British consumers.

After a rigorous selection process and some media training, the new crop of Potato Ambassadors will be invited to attend roadshows and events, be interviewed by national and local newspapers, consumer magazines, websites and might even get a spot on TV. In short, all you have to do is be prepared to talk about potatoes.

Also, they don't mention it in the job description, but I'm sure you'd have to be at least as smiley as past Ambassador, Andrea Adams:
  
 


The closing date is fast approaching so if you've got a passion for potatoes contact Maria Ball at the Potato Council on 024 7647 8773 or e-mail maria.ball@potato.ahdb.org.uk

I often think eggs are the unsung heroes of the kitchen.

They might not look as exotic as a tiger prawn, have the irrestistable smell of freshly baked bread, nor the instant gratification of a chocolate bar, but for sheer versatility they deserve a cookery knighthood.

They bind cakes, batters and burgers (remember that when youre making pancakes tonight). They're scrambled and fried for everyday breakfasts or poached for posh weekend brunches. Dip a soldier into a boiled egg and you're instantly transported back to your childhood. Or do it like a bodybuilder and gulp them down raw to get muscles like Arnie.

Ok, maybe scrap that last one, but without eggs you'd never eat another omelette, soufflé or meringue again - a scenario too horrible to imagine.

For that reason, it's good to see an event which really give eggs a chance to shine.

From today, 200, 2 ½ foot high fibreglass eggs are going to be placed in high profile locations throughout London. It's dubbed The Big Egg Hunt and each one has been specially designed by a series of famous and industry-leading architects, product designers, fashion houses, jewellery designers and fine artists.

They might not be edible, but at least you can't miss them. Here are some of the designs hanging out in front of Tower Bridge: 

The event is sponsored by Faberge and there are some huge prizes on offer for the lucky person who gets selected after finding them all. Go to www.thebigegghunt.co.uk for more info on how to take part. 

Without eggs there are no pancakes, so it's only fitting that The City Livery Company of Poulters is putting on some Pancake Day celebrations in central London today.



Eight years ago, the Worshipful Company of Poulters initiated an annual Shrove Tuesday race, bringing together teams from all the livery companies who are in some way involved with the making and consuming of pancakes. So, the Poulters bring the eggs, the Fruiterers bring the lemons, the Cutlers bring the plastic forks, and so on and so forth.

All the competitors in the Inter-Livery Pancake Race dress in their full, ostentatious regalia, fancy dress and comedy hats, and race each other up and down the Guildhall yard - with a couple of enforced pancake flips along the way.

If you're in walking distance of Guildhall Yard in central London at noon today it'll be well worth a watch. Here's some footage of the 2010 event to see what it's all about:

Kelly Osbourne has been unveiled as the latest celebrity fronting the Make Mine Milk campaign.

From today, the daughter of music industry legends Ozzy and Sharon can be seen on buses across Britain sporting the iconic milk tash.

Am loving this - it's a clip from a new film, Tune for the Blood, directed by Anne Cottringer which features Herefordshire Young Farmers. Read the full story here.

There's a story about an otter on the Daily Mail website at the moment, with the headline "Dear God, bring me a fish!

But the picture is so cute, it just leaves me thinking "Dear God, bring me an otter!"

Way cuter than a cat. Sorry Tim.

Read the full story here.

With the spread of Schmallenberg weighing heavy on many sheep farmers' minds, this is a very welcome good news story.

Brothers Samuel aged seven (left), and George aged 6 love helping out during lambing, and here they are cuddling one of three sets of healthy quads born on their grandparents' farm in the space of just 10 days:


(Photo credit: Mary Neale)

Samuel and George are both Harry Potter mad, and so when the first set were born (pictured above) they decided to name them after Harry and his friends. The four lambs - two male and two female - were immediately called Harry, Ron, Hermione and Molly.
 
Dad John is in charge of lambing the 575 sheep at James Eustice Farms near Wadebridge in Cornwall and Mum Wendy got in touch with Field Day to tell us about their bumper brood. 
 
"Each year we have the sheep scanned and this year we had the surprise that a Suffolk sheep which went with the Border Leicester ram was expecting quads!" she explained.

"However we have been in for a bit more of a surprise as within 10 days we had three sets of healthy quads. The first set was supposed to be a treble so when the fourth one appeared it was a bit of a surprise! But to now have three healthy sets of quads in such a short time we are now beginning to wonder what will happen next." 

Wendy says the boys have taken a keen interest in helping the ewe with her lambs, constantly making sure that Dad has given her enough silage and water.
 
They also have their own pet lambs to feed with the bottle and spend a lot of time in the sheep shed at weekends and after school when possible. 

"Samuel can already easily tell you how you need to lamb a sheep, and this year George is very keen to compete in the Young Handlers competition at the Royal Cornwall Show year, and already has his white coat ready," said Mum.
 
"We hope that they will be the new generation of farmers to come, and if their care and interest in the quads this year is anything to go on then I think everything will be in safe hands."

How appropriate - a lamb born this morning, Valentine's Day, with a heart-shaped marking.

Thanks to Jeremy Oatey for sending it to Field Day - the ewe is part of his 650-head flock which has started lambing in the last few days at the farm at Antony in Cornwall.

Here's a gift that even the most hardened Valentines cynic would be happy to receive from their beloved - a bouquet made of 100% sirloin steak.

It was dreamt up by Quality Standard butcher Antony Bowness from Tewkesbury as an alternative to the usual soppy cards.

Full story and pictures on the English Mum blog.

These ladies have good taste when it comes to reading material.

Pictured with their copies of FW are (left to right) Francesca Martin, Annika Welman, Jess Martin and Jess Cabbell Manners. And they feature in a charity calendar in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

They've now way surpassed their original £3,000 target and are now aiming to raise £8,000. Find out how to get a copy here.

And if you like this calendar, you might also like this one...

Cow Parade - one of the world's largest public art exhibitions - is heading to Belfast.

The event, which could feature as many as 200 fibreglass cows, will kick off in the Northern Ireland city in May.

It's happened at scores of venues around the world, allowing artists to transform the fibreglass sculptures into beautiful and varied works of art and, ultimately, raising millions for charity by auctioning them at the end of the event.

Question: What happens when a tractor is driven into a bank wall?

Answer: This.

Young farming talent will go head-to-head in a TV show later this month designed to find the 'BBC Young Farmer of the Year'.

The programme, which will air on Sunday February 26 at 8pm on BBC 3, is part of the 'Young Talent' series, showcasing ambitious youngsters in various professions - from bakers to tailors.

The big cat debate seems to be intensifying.

We ran some pictures of a supposed 'kill' yesterday here on Field Day - and I see today that The Sun's website is running video footage that it claims is 'proof' of the existence of a leopard-like beast.

The big cat debate is one that I'm interested in, so Field Day readers often contact me to share their views.

Farmers Weekly received an email over the weekend from a lady who lives near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Yesterday, she discovered the carcass of a deer in the field next to her house and took this photo. She reckons the short trail of blood shows it was attacked and brought down very quickly.

She said she saw a couple of really big foxes come and eat some of the carcass last night, but she doubts if they killed it. Then when she went back out this morning, she found lots of fox pawprints but also some much bigger ones - see the photo below.

Country people love getting out with their cameras - as the 2011 Farmers Weekly Photography Competition demonstrates.

And if you've got some great spud-related shots, then you might be interested in the World Potato Congress photo competition.

OK, it won't mean taking the types of picture that'll end up on front pages around the world, but anything that helps promote potatoes and the farmers who grow them has got to be good news...

Sarah Spofforth McOuat's striking textured paintings really capture the spirit of her animal subjects.

Many of the residents of her mixed beef and sheep farm in Dunblane have modelled for her and produced some stunning portraits.

Hamish, who lives in the neighbouring farm, is "the Kate Moss of the Highland cow world," according to 33-year-old Sarah. "He always looks good even on a bad hair day."

Just to let you know - the countryside's favourite agony uncle, Farmer Frank, now has his own page on Farmers Weekly's website.

And for those of you on Twitter, you can follow him at @farmerfrankfw

If you're not familiar with him, here's an example of one of his responses. 

Q: I have started finding evidence of sexual congress on my allotment every Sunday morning. How should I respond this?

A: You could start by remembering to always pick vegetables on a Saturday.

Proof that you can never come to Farmers Weekly too young:

Thanks to FWispace user 'Trolivant' for their sense of humour and Photoshop skills. At least we hope it's Photoshop...

I love this picture by East Anglian photographer Justin Partyka:

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It's one of many stand-out images in a new photo exhibition at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Reading.

Collected together, Justin's pictures are intended to highlight how "traditional farming methods and knowledge still form a vital part of everyday life" and "explore the lives of those whose identity stems from a close relationship with the landscape."

Here's another from the collection:

All