John Geldard
5 June 1998
John Geldard
John Geldard and family farm
175ha (430 acres) near
Kendal in the Lake District.
Stock now comprises of 100
suckler cows with progeny
finished alongside 200+
bought in stores, 1000 ewes
– 160 pedigree Charollais
plus Llyens – and ewe lamb
replacements, with a 25,000
bird poultry enterprise.
SHEEP have been sheared and dipped, and lambs wormed. The Charollais lambs look to be doing well this spring and we had some very pleasing results when the MLC came to scan them in the middle of May.
A ram that we bought as a lamb in 1996, Flourice Statesman, was used extensively after considerable success in the show ring last year when he took several championships. He has done extremely well improving scan weight, muscle depth and reducing fat depth, and on top of that they are good lambs.
We have recently purchased a red-and-white sheep dog puppy already looking keen to work, and we all know the value of a good dog.
When reading Farmers Weekly, May 22, I was appalled to see Tesco is up to its old tricks again, trying to rubbish the auction mart system. It would be so much easier if Tesco would only speak the truth and say that what it really wants is full control of the market.
It would probabaly be a good idea if farmers used the same tactics as Tesco and restricted direct sales to it. I feel that farmers must realise how important the auction mart system really is. Dont be fogged off by people like David Sawday saying livestock auctions are not needed.
If anyone unsure about the value of auction marts they should just look at the price of lamb over the last two months – which was much better than Mr Tesco or even the MLC predicted. Make no mistake, the only place to set the price is in the open auction mart.
I am pleased to report the new silage building is now complete. It has been a major project along with the routine farm work and would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment from our excellent team of workers.
We have been spraying docks and nettles. When we moved to Foulshaw 10 years ago there were acres and acres covered with nettles but we are now mananging to bring under control. *
John Geldard is pleased with the performance of lambs sired by his Charollais tup which was a big show-ring success last year.