Farmer Focus: Hopeful for lowered Schmallenberg risk
Joe Mault © Richard Stanton By the time you read this, I’ll likely be weary, irritable, and finding my patience waning amid a sea of sheep. Yes, it’s that time again: lambing season.
We adhere to the traditional Easter schedule for lambing, not just because there’s usually a bit more grass around then, but also because family help is more readily available.
Despite my inevitable grumbling, lambing holds a special place in my heart each year.
See also: How to restart rotational grazing after a wet winter
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While my work at the college usually limits my time on the farm, lambing season grants me a few precious weeks to fully immerse myself.
This year promises to be busier than last, with a 20% increase in scanning percentages across the flock, which is particularly notable among the Welsh ewes.
The ewes are in splendid condition after an abundance of grass early on in winter, but with some a bit too well-fed nearing lambing, leading to a couple of prolapses.
Interestingly, the rams weren’t as active in the first cycle, indicating a potentially busier latter half of the lambing season.
Hopefully, this will help in lowering the risk of Schmallenberg virus – our tupping time would have been late November, a good few months away from the height of midge season in August/September – although we are still hearing of cases locally in late March.
Met Office reports indicate above-average rainfall this winter. Fields are wet. Even the quad makes a mess, making us grateful we got arable crops in during the autumn.
It seems the plough won’t be breaking ground anytime soon for spring planting – at least not for us. I have seen down in the Vale of Clwyd and Dee Valley that some have started with ploughing, but this is on free-draining ground.
With the onset of lambing and ploughing around the corner, dare I say spring is arriving, slowly?
Spring indicates starting afresh. With the new appointment of a Welsh first minister, together with a new cabinet secretary for rural affairs, what better excuse to re-evaluate the new Sustainable Farming Scheme?
Politically, it’s the perfect opportunity for a review, as they can just blame the last gang for its failings. I wonder if it will be a case of “better the devil you know”.