Giles Henry
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
WE ARE now well through March, but signs of weather drying up sufficiently to allow us to get on with field work seem pretty distant. A few dry days are followed by a deluge of rain or even snow.
I would have liked to have spread slurry on silage ground and farm yard manure on fields that will be grazed by cows and calves this summer. Hopefully, things will change shortly and my frustration will give way to manic activity.
Cows and heifers are due to start calving in early April and appear to have wintered well. They have just been treated with a pour-on insecticide to prevent lice.
Ewes will probably spend another week in winter sacrifice fields on their silage diet, before being moved into the fields that will hold them for summer. Early spring bite is sufficient to grow lambs and boost milk production, prior to the start of lambing on May 1.
But I may sell yearling steer calves, so grazing does not come under too much pressure in the summer. The alternative is to rent grass for them away from home. In the long run, it may make sense to sell them now as the store market is buoyant.
Our hens are up to more than 70% in lay at 23 weeks, so are on target to be over 90% by the end of 24 weeks. It is rather nice to have something to sell so quickly after the initial set up. We are working pretty hard to keep floor eggs to a minimum and I have employed someone for a few weeks to stir birds up and get them into nest boxes. This should hopefully pay dividends in the long run.
Egg weights are increasing in line with management figures and bird weight. The shed is working well, though we have netted off the corners to prevent smothering. *
Cows have wintered well on Giles Henrys farm, but yearlings may have to go to conserve grazing.