Farmer Focus: Farm inspection adds unwanted stress

My brother’s eight-hour world sheep shearing record attempt was a huge success.

The previous record, held by Leon Samuels and set in New Zealand, was 605. Rowly consistently shore 161 a run (which is two hours) totalling 644 Romney ewes in eight hours.

We would really like to thank all the sponsors and also a really big thanks to all the people behind the scene who without all of their help and support this definitely would not have been possible.

See also: Read more from our Livestock Farmer Focus writers

So, now back to farming and cleaning up the mess after. We will start by getting all sheep back to their owners.

Next up will be to go through all our ewes and draught out any culls and full mouths and get them ready to get them off the farm. 

Also, we need a long overdue pick through our fat lambs and start getting a few more results from the forage trial we are conducting.

The record has consumed so much time for me and Pip. We are now looking forward to concentrating on the farm and preparing for winter by getting more silage done and our new farmyard up and running.   

Surprise inspection

A week before the record and a couple days before everyone arrived Pip had a phone call while on the way to drop Dusty to childcare for the day.

It was from a Rural Payments Agency inspector who was in our yard to spend two days walking all our land. 

This was the last thing she needed at such a busy time. I was actually away at a competition so Pip dealt with it – luckily she is pretty good at her paperwork.

We have also purchased some new stags for going over our hinds this autumn and I must say it’s way more exciting than picking out rams.

There are so many more attributes to look at and take into consideration, especially in the early stages of going forward.

I’m really pleased with the stags I have selected and look forward to getting them back on the farm.

Matt and Pip Smith run 400 deer, 1,085 breeding Romneys and Romney-cross Lleyn ewes across 121ha. Matt is also a shearing contractor and trains sheepdogs.