Awful May weather puts pasture under pressure
Awful May weather puts pasture under pressure
Lambs are growing well despite a shortage of grass that
means ewes must be moved frequently.
Robert Davies reports
UNUSUALLY cold and wet weather has checked pasture growth this season, a position made worse by shutting off just over 20ha (50acres) for silage.
"The first block should be cut within the next week and the aftermath will bring a very welcome reduction in grazing pressure," says Ceiriog Jones.
"We did get a short, dry spell that let us spread around 600t of farmyard manure and apply nitrogen to both grazing and conservation land. But the weather in May was mostly pretty awful and recovery of hard-grazed fields was painfully slow."
Although finding enough grass has been a problem, ewes have been milking well. When lambs of the Beulah ewes put to sire reference scheme tups were weighed at eight weeks they averaged 22kg, about the same as the 1999 crop.
All the ewes in the flock appeared to be in reasonably good condition when they were handled for crutching and delayed anthelmintic dosing, and most lambs are healthy. The only post-parturient losses since late snow caused problems have been half a dozen lambs out of ewe lambs, all of which succumbed to drunken lamb syndrome.
"We had the same problem a few years ago, when the vet said it was the result of a bug picked up during housing. Since then we have always been very careful about treating the navels of new-born lambs, but this did not work in a few cases this year."
The purchase of nine bulling Limousin cross heifers did nothing to ease the grazing problem, but Mr Jones considered the fit, well-grown cattle a good buy at £350 a head. They will replace older cows that are due to be sold with their calves at foot.
Calving is going smoothly and the first 30 born included three sets of healthy twins. However, a cow has rejected one of her two calves and has to be penned to allow it to suckle.
Two finished bulls were sold in May for £480 a head, leaving 10 heifers to sell. Half of these will be sold finished and half as stores.
With no improvement in the £6-8 cull ewe market price likely, about 100 head will be sold soon.
Despite the current high stocking rate and poor grass growing conditions, most of Cilgoeds pastures were rated highly when they were surveyed by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research as part of the Meat and Livestock Commissions three farm technology transfer project.
One silage field was shown to have too much Yorkshire fog and needed reseeding, but the overall verdict given during a visit by farmers in the local project support group was that pasture composition was good for a hill farm with thin soils.
With some trepidation Ceiriog Jones has delivered his books to his accountant. Anticipating that they will reveal another fall in income, he feels guilty about having taken his family on holiday.
"It is inevitable that poor prices and rising costs will mean that farming over the last financial year involved digging further into our reserves, so perhaps we should not have made things worse by spending on a holiday."
But Mair Jones is adamant that her husband needed a battery-recharging break after working 70 hours or more a week for the past year, especially as help from friends and excellent neighbours meant that cash did not have to be spent on replacement labour.
One of the first financial decisions to be made on his return was whether to invest £250 in the proposed Welsh livestock co-operative. His original enthusiasm for the idea was diminished when a feasibility study urged no immediate involvement in downstream processing.
"I have yet to make up my mind, but I know that many farmers in my area, who have several good local livestock markets and deadweight centres, have decided not to join the Welsh Meat Company."
The other current talking point when farmers meet is growing pressure from banks. Mr Jones has been horrified to hear of cash-strapped farmers being urged to increase production by spending more money on soil testing and pasture reseeding. *
Calving is going well, says Ceiriog Jones. So far, three sets of healthy twins have been born.
FARMFACTS
• An 81ha (200 acre) farm in north Wales owned and run by Ceiriog Jones and his wife Mair who are also tenants on a further 18ha (44 acres). There is 10ha (25 acres) on an 11-month let.
• Most land is steep, classified as severely disadvantaged. It carries 600 Builth Wells-type Beulah ewes, 250 ewe lambs and 60 spring and summer calving suckler cows.
• Older ewes not breeding replacements are put to Bluefaced Leicester tups to produce Welsh Mules for sale as ewe lambs or yearlings. Bull calves, once finished on farm, now planned to be sold on green CIDs.
• Mr Jones was a Welsh Sheep Strategy scholarship winner in 1998. The farm is one of three in Wales selected for an MLC co-ordinated technology transfer project.