Farmer Focus: Stay positive as we head into tough times

Show season has come and gone in Orkney and it was a great success. Stock entries were good considering all the shows bar one had been cancelled for the past two years.

It was great to see new exhibitors and so many young folk working with stock.

First job after the shows was weaning lambs and dosing calves and putting them and their mothers out on silage aftermaths.

About the author

Steven Sandison

Livestock Farmer Focus writer Steven Sandison farms 90 Simmental and Salers-cross suckler cows on the Orkney Islands in partnership with his wife, Lorraine, on 134ha (330 acres). They have a 150-ewe flock of Shetland cross Cheviot ewes. Maximising grass is a priority.

Read more articles by Steven Sandison

This year has certainly been one we want to put behind us as far as sheep are concerned. With 244 lambs, our weaning percentage was 153% – a long way short of the 191% scanning rate.

Why sheep?

Thankfully, we didn’t lose a lot to one thing, but when you add up the empty ewes and a couple that didn’t make it through the winter, as well as the challenges that lambing brings, it leaves you asking “Why sheep?”.

But when things settle down and I see fields that no longer contain ragwort, and the lambs are thriving, we start to make plans to buy more gimmers!

So, next year, we plan to vaccinate the ewes for lameness and clostridial diseases and feed the ewes a bit longer before lambing.

See also: How Cheshire suckler farm adapted to survive drought

These past few weeks have been a quieter time on the farm and a great chance to catch up with jobs that have been needing doing for a while.

Important jobs

Creosoting doors, cleaning gutters, fencing, hanging gates… I’ve even managed to get a water trough in a field that has been missing one for 11 years.

I get great satisfaction from these jobs, as they make the daily routine so much easier during the busier times of the year.

With the cost increases we have seen in the past year and the Scottish government’s launch of its consultation on future agricultural policy, I know there are some farmers who are very concerned about the future.

Although we didn’t have our own business during the BSE crisis, I remember it well, and the dark days of foot-and-mouth. Yes, there are challenges in our industry now, but I still think we have an awful lot to be thankful for.