Farmer Focus Livestock: Mathew Cole is hoping for kind weather

With the pony drift on Dartmoor done and the healthy breeding herd returned to the moor, the farmers will now be repairing their quad bikes and hopefully any money made from pony sales will cover these costs. Unfortunately, this year I doubt it.

Autumn is well and truly with us and let us hope the weather stays dry for as long as possible. If we suffer a wet time now we will have to start housing cattle and it will make for a long winter. With straw and concentrate prices as they are we could do with a kind lead up to Christmas. I always dread the routine drudge of winter.

Sales of lambs are going well with prices staying strong. Our mule ewe lambs saw a strong trade at Tavistock and were well up on last year. We are now well into our fat lambs, which are also holding well. I will try and feed as much of our lamb and beef into Dartmoor Farmers – a farmer-led group of 40 farms on Dartmoor selling beef and lamb direct, which has built strong local links and is sourcing more lamb and beef all the time.

I was lucky enough last year to win the Whiteface Dartmoor Sheep breeders flock competition for the large flock and, along with the winners of the small and intermediate size flocks, will be judging this year’s competition. We have 14 flocks to visit over three days and it is not only a great honour, it is a great experience. The three judges spend their time visiting farmers and their flock’s, chatting about Whiteface Dartmoor sheep and whatever else they see on their travels. We will enjoy this social occasion with numerous cups of tea and pub lunches.