FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Mike Allwood
Mike Allwood is owner-
occupier of 82ha (200-
acres) near Nantwich,
Cheshire. The 175-cow dairy
herd block calves during
May and June. Besides
converting to organic
production, he is also
planning to produce
unpasteurised cheese
I HAD just emerged from a luxurious bath last Saturday night and was finishing my wardrobe, in preparation for a night out, when the telephone rang. It was my neighbour who said there were cows on her front lawn and could I check to see whether they were mine as they didnt belong to our other neighbour, Henry.
I reassured her that they were unlikely to belong to us as I had not heard any of the tell tale blaring sounds of cows escaping. Sure enough, when I looked outside, I could see a few animals standing in the backyard quietly chewing their cud.
Nevertheless, I thought I would check the gate which leads from the cow yard to the main road: It was wide open. Part of the herd had obviously escaped, of which three were grazing on the lawn in front of our shop. The remainder were still where they should be. How they managed to remain oblivious to the departure of half their number remains a mystery.
I mobilised all available labour – in various states of undress – and hurtled down the main road with a torch. By the time we reached the scene, cows had removed themselves to a small paddock belonging to Henry and were obviously regretting their mistake at leaving a nice warm shed for a waterlogged field. As a consequence, they were going round and round, building up speed for their next journey into the unknown.
Luckily neighbours and passers-by had by this time gathered on the scene and we were able to contain cows temporarily while we formulated plans for their return to base. A police car with flashing light arrived and informed us that we could not possibly take animals down a main road at night and they would have to stay where they were until morning.
I must have been fairly persuasive about the folly of this course of action as in no time the police were stopping traffic for us as the girls were ushered, now rather shamefaced, back up the road home.
We managed, eventually, to go out for our curry. *
Andrew Groom
Andrew Groom has managed
Purlieus Farm near Swindon,
Wilts, on contract since
1991. The 138ha (342-acre)
farm, owned by P&A
Crocker, is stocked with
200 dairy cows with
replacements reared on a
separate 26ha (65-acre)
farm. His interests include
whole-crop cereals and
cross-breedin
as we have started stretching the calving pattern, they are trickling out and production is being held up by a few early fresh calvers.
Production is still up by 1.5 litres on last year at about 17.7 litres a cow. Quota production is on target and we should finish about 1% over, dependent on fat adjustment in March.
Mid-month saw the end of first cut Italian ryegrass silage which was being mixed 50:50 with main first cut to make up 75% of total diet. Yields were unaffected but quality jumped up from 4.07% fat to 4.34%, reflecting the higher dry matter of the silage portion which increased from 28% to 34% DM. The rest of the mix includes maize silage, soya and maize distillers.
Good weather at the month-end and longer days have set me wondering about fertiliser application. Air temperatures will be up, but a few days testing will reassure me that soggy soil temperatures match them. With a dry week forecast, I hope to finish the last bit of muck spreading on maize ground that I felt so confident of doing last month.
Visiting one of the maize fields, where access is off a main road, I found the gate completely blocked by a large pile of soil rubbish and bricks. Rooting through the pile I found some paperwork containing the builders name, address and phone number.
Ringing to check it was bona fide, I discovered he was happy to boast he had just done some work in the area. I contemplated lots of take away food deliveries and a warm steaming trailer full of muck to show my appreciation. Instead I opted to pass the information to the Environment Agency and await the result with baited breath and an empty trailer. *
Giles Henry
Giles Henry rents 105ha (260 acres) on a 10-year lease and 114ha (280 acres) of heather moorland near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders which is in organic conversion. Cropping is mainly grass with 14ha (36 acres) of spring barley. The farm is stocked with 450 breeding ewes, 85 hoggs and 50 Luing cows with followers and finishers
Our sale heifers were brought in at the weekend and we spent two half days washing and grooming them ready for the Luing Annual Sale on Feb 16. As I have mentioned before, I am usually a bit apprehensive before this sale about the quality and size of our heifers.
But my fears were unfounded because when I got them to Castle Douglas, they were on par with the other entries. In fact, there was a tremendous show of cattle, borne out by the high prices, with many buyers returning home short of requirements.
Our first pair of bulling heifers into the ring made 950gns each – the joint top price in this section – and our seven bulling heifers sold averaged 714gns.
I was totally stunned by this trade, but it was a satisfying and emotional occasion. There were buyers from all over Scotland and the north of England, as well as from both the north and south of Ireland.
The interest in Luing cattle over the two days was phenomenal, with dyed-in-the-wool owners of other breeds looking to change to Luings. The easy-care nature of the breed, with its ability to winter cheaply and produce a good-sized calf, is certainly finding converts.
The Luing is our native answer to the composite suckler cow and I believe the breed can make great strides over the next few years in answering the call to produce beef from a low cost base.
As a relative newcomer to world of selling pedigree stock it was satisfying for me to see my labour starting to bear fruit. *
Bill and Jonathan Metcalf
Bill and Jonathan Metcalf
rent 89ha (220 acres) of
grassland, plus moorland
grazing, near Barnard Castle,
and own a further unit 12
miles away, both are
situated in the Less Favoured
Area of Teesdale. The farms
are stocked with 120
sucklers, including 20
pedigree Blonde dAquitaines,
and 1200 ewes with
200 replacements
HAVING mentioned retention periods recently and how the Ministry should have less need to visit farms with all their records of our cattle and their whereabouts, we received a call to arrange an inspection of our suckler cows.
This came a couple of days before we had cows through the crush to take blood samples for brucellosis and TB testing. A couple of days later they had to go through the crush yet again to check for TB reactors.
At least we have peace of mind knowing all our eartags are correct, having been checked and then double-checked.
While having one batch of cows with young calves through the crush, we took the opportunity to have some pregnancy tested. However, the light was not too good and when the second animal entered the crush, the vet said something was not quite right with the pregnancy diagnosis. This was an opinion with which we imagine the bull in question thoroughly agreed.
We took some store bulls to market, making a detour en route to avoid the hills to Greta Bridge which have been rather like a bobsleigh run recently due to bad weather.
Several cars and a horsebox have come to grief on this road, which is not a priority for the county council to salt, despite school buses using it each morning. However, when there is mud on the road from farming activities they seem suddenly able to appear to clean it.
The store trade has eased since we originally intended to market bulls but were, unfortunately, snowed in. We brought the two largest back home and may finish them instead.
We have scanned our moor sheep and shearlings and are expecting 75 sets of twins.
About 150 older sheep have been pulled out for extra feed and over the next few days we will sort out another batch, including the earliest lambing twins, for additional nourishment. *
Our Farmer Focus contributors wrote their articles before the foot-and- mouth outbreak. But Giles Henry speaks for many with the following comments. "It is a nightmare scenario. Before foot-and-mouth was announced I was feeling quite upbeat, but it casts a cloud over everything. The whole situation is so worrying and nobody seems to have any answers."