Farming Talk July 26th 2012

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Farming Talk: A break in the rain gave time to bale grass

 

The rain just kept falling but now we can hope for more sunshine. We have cut 20 acres of grass, which spent two weeks lying in the swath and being washed.

 

 

In his element – meet Murphy

In his element – meet Murphy

 

 

The rain just kept falling but now we can hope for more sunshine. We have cut 20 acres of grass, which spent two weeks lying in the swath and being washed.

We were able to get Kevin Meddins to bale it into large square bales and Tom Hollinshead then wrapped 91 bales into plastic before the next storm.

The cows and calves are now enjoying the regrowth on that field. Our new Stabiliser stock bull, Murphy, is in his element. I hope that he will be as reliable at serving the cows as Jake was. The breed certainly suits us, good eating quality, low feed inputs, easy calving and quiet to handle.

We loaded Jake off to Bridgnorth Mart on Tuesday last week and received a fair price for him. He had slipped a disc in his back while serving a cow and we could not be sure that it would not happen again. He probably would not have been fertile this season after injuring himself anyway, but it was a shame for him to go this way.

We have sold the first spring lambs and hope that the market price remains stable. Spring lamb is also ready for sale in the farm shop and on the market stall. Our new Harper Adams student, John, started at the beginning of the month. He is getting on well and learning how things work in the farm shop and on the farm.

We have put some great offers on the sausages so as to try to increase sales and introduced a new beef sausage, the ‘South African Boerewors’, which is spiced with coriander, cloves, pepper and chilli. This sold out at Attingham Park Food Festival and we hope that we’ll be able to persuade our local trade to purchase it.

Kim and our six-week-old son Oscar are doing well. It has been a life-changing event, which I have undeniably found the most amazing and emotional experience. Lambing and calving are wonderfully magical, but this is on another stratosphere.

Our agronomist advised us that our oilseed rape is ready to be desiccated, sprayed off ready for harvest. Only a few days ago a foot of water was flowing through 30 acres of it. We hope that we’re able to travel on all of the ground after these wet times.

We have a new, second hand combine which is heavier than the previous combine. We’ll need to be careful to avoid some areas of the fields.

Maybe we should look for some dual-wheels before we start harvest?

David Morgan, Strefford Hall Farm and Farm Shop, Craven Arms

Shropshire Star, Farming Talk Column 27th April 2012

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Farming Talk: Tired out from catching calves for de-budding

Friday 27th April 2012, 8:00AM BST.

Cattle out to graze on grass
Cattle out to graze on grass

The seasons move on and this year’s April showers are so cold. These frosts have slowed the early growth which the crops were showing. The grass was starting to grow in front of some of our sheep, but now they are making a real mark in it.

We have one ewe left to lamb and one cow to calf. Lambing has gone well on the whole, though we will need to invest in a vaccination programme for next season. Calving went well, the Stabiliser bull is proving his worth on the ease of calving front. We did have one problem, a breach presentation out of a half-bred Stabiliser heifer, but we can’t really blame the bull for that. She was the only heifer that we saw calving.

We have turned the cows and calves out this week, but we’ve purchased some new fodder feeders to fill with straw, so that they always have plenty to eat. I think we may be feeding concentrates to the cows for most of this summer, unless the weather changes.

We have been selling tegs (last season’s lambs) this month and receiving a good price – indeed a better price than the ones which we are selling through our farm shop. The buoyant export market is making home produced and marketed lamb difficult to sell.

British shoppers have been used to meat being a relatively cheap part of their shopping baskets due to government policies of support. We are now nearing a world market, though some support is offered in different areas of the world. British shoppers need to get used to paying the true value for their food, which is going to be difficult.

At the end of World War Two our government struggled to feed the population and incentives were introduced so that farmers would produce much-needed food. This also resulted in the true price rarely being achieved, a situation which we are only now coming out of for some produce.

I am nearly as tired as my wife Kim is this evening. She is nearly 37 weeks pregnant, but I have been de-budding calves today, so that we could turn them out. Most years we have maybe one third of our calves which have horns growing, this year there was about three quarters which needed to be de-budded.

I therefore feel very battered after catching 48 calves, some of which were born six weeks ago. Kim is still working though she’s finishing at the end of next week. We’ve still got lots to get ready for our new arrival, and I have been told to stop comparing her to livestock.

David Morgan, Strefford Hall Farm and Farm Shop, Craven Arms

Read more:http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/04/27/farming-talk-tired-out-from-catching-calves-for-de-budding/#ixzz1uPoE3pbw

Shropshire Star 13th March 2012

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Farming Talk: First calf born and lambing is under way

Tuesday 13th March 2012, 8:00AM GMT.

Natural – inquisitive lambs in the springtime
Natural – inquisitive lambs in the springtime

This week sees the start of the lambing at Strefford. This year’s first calf was born earlier this month, perfectly healthy and we hope that all the cows and ewes have similarly healthy offspring.

As I type, I can hear the beautiful sound of rain lashing against our bedroom window. My wife Kim loves the sound of rain, which reminds her of their childhood in Africa. I love it because our ground is desperate for it.

The arable crops are starting to green up now that the soil has warmed slightly. The oil seed rape is quite thick on the whole. We hope that most of this rain will soak in down through the soil structure, so that it’ s available to the crops and to top up ground water levels.

I have put some fertiliser, including early nitrogen on the grassland, oil seed rape and second wheats. First wheats don’t have a nitrogen dose until this week; there should be a good reservoir of nutrients following the beans.

We are coppicing some of the trees which line the brook. Tony Davies has been making a nice pile of timber ready for splitting.

We are also tidying an old hedgerow which has spread and become very untidy over the 50 or so years since it was last looked at. In places the hedge was over six metres wide, so it will gain us some useful ground. We are careful to rotate wildlife areas around the farm, growing hedgerows up for a few years then coppicing or laying them. This creates a diverse wildlife habitat.

I have just completed an emergency first aid course supplied by our machinery ring, Sastak. My last first aid course was back in 1994 at Walford; the memory needs jogging from time to time and this certainly did that. Perhaps I should not wait so long between reminders.

Kim and bump are doing well, 30 weeks and getting tired more easily. She is head of the art department at Moor Park School, so she has been running around getting art portfolios ready for year eights this term. Only a couple of weeks until Easter break, then a few weeks’ rest.

Mother’s Marmalades are officially some of the best in the world. At the annual Dalemain Marmalade Festival, we entered Strefford marmalade and were very pleased with the results. Our Medium Cut Seville Orange Marmalade was awarded a silver award. Seville Orange & Ginger

Marmalade and Three Fruit Marmalade each received a bronze award. Mother had her picture taken with marmalade connoisseur Paddington Bear, who she hadn’t met before.

David Morgan, Strefford Hall Farm, Craven Arms.

Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/farming/2012/03/13/farming-talk-first-calf-born-and-lambing-is-under-way/#ixzz1pEP4uecu

Shropshire Star Column January 2012

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Farming Talk: Hoping that our busy days continue

Wednesday 25th January 2012, 8:00AM GMT.

David Morgan at his stall
David Morgan at his stall

Well, we’ve moved from the hectic festive season with oven-ready geese, turkey, sausages, lamb and beef joints on the market, to the calm after the storm that is January and the New Year.

I was pleased with our Christmas sales; we’re all hoping that this can continue through 2012.

We are attending our regular markets in Church Stretton, Ludlow and farmers’ markets in Craven Arms, Knighton and Bishop’s Castle.

We have successfully begun production from our Solar power projects, before the December 12 deadline and have produced over 850kWatts of power so far.

It seems more individuals and farm businesses will be looking into electricity production on their properties, whether it is from solar, wind or from hydro.

I have been talking to a farmer from Diddlebury who is quite keen on hydro-electric power production.

I’ll be working some figures out on the feasibility of an installation at Strefford Hall.

Phil Preece scanned our ewes on January 3 and we were pleased with the results considering how dry our ground had been since last May.

Only a handful of barrens, of which three were ewe lambs, giving us a lambing percentage of about 170 per cent.

Lambing time should be less labour-intensive, having fewer triplets.

Kim, my wife, will be banned from the lambing shed this year because of the pregnancy and I will be showering and changing at the farmhouse before coming home.

At last we have finished using the bean haulm (straw) to litter the cattle.

The wheat straw does not create as much dust and the cows prefer it.

The wheat straw looks so much nicer, too.

We will be interviewing Harper Adams gap year students tomorrow, trying to find one who will learn from us at the same time as bringing new ideas into the business.

Gap year students can help with looking at your own business, developing new ideas and keeping up to date with current thinking.

David Morgan, Strefford Hall Farm, Craven Arms.

Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/business/the-farmer/farmer-blogs/2012/01/25/farming-talk-hoping-that-our-busy-days-continue/#ixzz1kymbCDri

Shropshire Star Column December 2011

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Life is full of deadlines; however I don’t think anyone saw the Government announcement that feed in tariffs for solar PV installations would be reduced on the 12th December this year, rather than the 1st of April next year.

We were among many farmers who had already spent thousands on a small-scale electricity production project. Luckily we had just received notification of our planning permission the day prior to the government announcement; it has not been easy,

We have a D.S.O. agreement to put 53kWatts of power through the transformer, but when we had only 20 days remaining to the deadline, the metre company decided that we needed a new metre which would have delayed us beyond the deadline. As a result we have had to reduce our project to 39kWatts. What an injustice; we followed government guidelines, and then at the stroke of a pen they leave us with huge costs if we don’t meet the new time-scale. We may get the metre changed and install the remaining 14kWatts after the deadline, but that will depend on new quotes being very favourable.

Our beef has been hanging since the end of November, ageing on the bone ready for the Christmas trade. In addition to the farmers markets we have started attending Ludlow’s Friday market with our butchery trailer, we have had a good response and I can see a real future for our pitch here.

Our Geese are booked to be slaughtered this week. We take them to William Brisbourne at Nesscliffe. He has hundreds of free range poultry of his own which he rears for the Christmas trade. They will be killed and hung there for 10-14days, before being dressed ready for our collection. We then match them to our customers’ orders.

Meg, Dad’s new sheepdog pup is starting to listen to basic commands. She looks very enthusiastic, but we’re all wondering when her legs will stop growing.

Later this month we scan our ewes, Phil Preece usually visits to do this between Christmas and New Year. I was married to Kim earlier this year and we already have a little one on the way; the 20 week scan is booked for 27th December, so I must remember to make sure Phil scans another day!

Market Trailer

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We have now started using our new market trailer.  We had it made by Motiv Trailers, aka Tim Hughes from Trailers and components of Stoneacre near Craven Arms.  We had Les Price to put some signs on for us, and once I’ve sorted some nice photographs out, he’ll put some lovely pictures of the cattle and sheep on the side.