Archive Article: 2000/03/17
Peter Delbridge
Peter Delbridge farms 162ha
(400 acres) in the Exmoor
National Park, near South
Molton, Devon. The farm is
mostly permanent grass,
classed as less favoured and
environmentally sensitive,
and all above 300m
(1000ft). It is stocked with
800 ewes, replacement ewe
lambs, 60 spring calving
sucklers and their followers
A BAN on hunting would offer only one possible benefit – your farms misfortunes would stand a better chance of remaining a secret from your neighbours.
Many packs of hounds hunt in our locality and they all have an uncanny knack of turning up when you have a disaster on your hands.
One such event occurred when D and S Staghounds came through the farm while my contractor and I were winching the loader tractor from somewhere it should not have been; the frosted ground was not as hard as I had thought.
Winters long, dark evenings means office work is less neglected than usual. With our office redecoration complete – why does it take Carol Smillie only two days to decorate a room and me nearer two years? – it was timely to receive FWis free internet disc and my Agridata update, on which I have kept all my farm records for the past four years.
The first is proving a mind-boggling piece of technology and it is surprising how much time you can spend on it. The second is invaluable. It is easy to use, even for a simple, ham-fisted farmer. The current version takes care of all my MAFF records, including new stocking density calculations, which it can present in either of the two required formats.
How is any livestock farmer expected to perform these calculations without such a device and collect extensification? Perhaps the treasury hopes they wont; anyway, backs of cigarette packets have been made redundant.
Our sheep are now more than half way through their eight-week concentrate feeding programme which started at 0.25kg and will rise to 0.75kg for housed ewes, and not much over 0.5kg for out-wintered Swaledales.
Swales used to be offered feed blocks, but as these are the most expensive way to buy concentrates, I decided to opt for the more labour intensive daily cake-feeding regime.
We do not scan ewes, preferring to condition score two or three times during pregnancy, and then separating and feeding thin ewes extra rations. A thin ewe whatever she is carrying needs more food.
Cows have been given their copper/selenium bolus and the first of two iodine doses, sprinkled on their silage. Living as we do in an area of high rainfall – 164cm (65in) – any trace elements of value tend to be washed away. *
Cost-cutting means Peter Delbridge has opted for more labour intensive daily cake-feeding rounds for his out-wintered Swaledales.