Welcome to our March newsletter 

News from the Shepherd 

Last week I (Lindsay) received an email from the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) with details of my payment* for the 2020 wool clip. The BWMB is, as it sounds, a Marketing Board for Wool. If you have over 4 sheep, you are obliged to send your sheep’s fleeces to them, and they grade and auction the wool on the farmer’s behalf. Not all sheep fleeces are the same quality, texture or colour so they are graded and then put with other wool that is similar. My Oxford Down wool is classed as Fine and would be used to make clothing and, as listed in the BWMB sheep book, Japanese futons! A lot of the British sheep’s wool goes into carpets which then get used on cruise ships, but because of the Pandemic and the halt of cruise holidays, these carpets didn’t need to be replaced which resulted in the price farmers received for their wool plummeting.

*For 147kg of beautiful fleece I was paid £7.78! Approximately 20p per fleece which costs £5 each to have removed from the sheep.

Last year I decided it wasn’t worth sending off the wool and started looking at ways in which it could be used. I have had some spun into Yarn (which many of you have seen/purchased at our pop-up shop) but this is incredibly expensive to have done and ties up a lot of money.

I needed to find a use without having to do any additional processing and after several people bought a fleece for garden use, I thought I would try some myself on our raised beds over winter. I laid the fleece out over all the bare soil, and it has kept the weeds away and the soil warm and moist meaning they are ready for planting earlier than if I had left the soil exposed to elements. I have also seen people using fleece as mulch for newly planted hedges and trees and it even being successfully used in hanging baskets! There are so many good reasons to use wool in the garden, it is hated by slugs and snails and is completely biodegradable.

The wool is also excellent for crafts, and I have some lovely lamb’s wool which I have bagged up and will have for sale as well as wool for the garden at the pop-up shop on Saturday 2nd April.

Lambing finished very soon after our last newsletter and they are all now out full time and are thriving! The grass is growing and so are they. They will spend the next few months with their mums going round all the different fields on the farm. We rotationally graze the sheep (and cattle) which means they always have the best grass and it helps control any parasite burdens, by giving the previously grazed areas a long rest (60 days +) before they come back round to the same area, thereby significantly reducing the need for anthelmintics (wormers). To do this they are in large paddocks which are divided with electric fencing and get moved every 2 or 3 days on to fresh grass. 

Cattle

After a great forecast we turned the cattle out on the 20th March. A good 10 days earlier than normal. We don’t have enough grass yet so we have the cows behind an electric fence where they graze a little bit but mainly eat hay. This is still a bit of work (especially as I’ve had a couple of mass escapes) but it saves a lot of diesel and straw. Once we get into April or run out of hay, we’ll begin grazing properly moving the cows each day onto fresh pasture.A benefit of the cows being out early, which I’d never considered, is that the mass emergence of dung beetles that come out in March have plenty of “material” to work on. Each dung pat I eagerly inspected today contained beetles and given that they are the bottom of the food chain, they are hoovered up by many birds and bats.   

Oxford Down Mutton & Hogget available to order now

We have our very popular mutton boxes available to order on the online shop for collection on Saturday 2nd April. We will also have a small selection of individual cuts available on the chill counter at the pop-up shop.

Plus for the first time we will have Hogget boxes. Hogget is a sheep that is slightly older than a lamb but not as old as a mutton animal, so between 1 & 2 years. Still cook like lamb, just a bit larger joints.

Full details are on the website (click button below) very limited availability. 

Hedgelaying and coppicing 

At the end of winter as we go into spring, is the opportunity to try and get as many conservation jobs as possible done on the farm. Timing is restricted by the start of bird nesting season, which in legal terms starts on the 1st of March. 

Laying a hedge involves cutting nearly all the way through the stems and folding the plant over to 20 or 30 degrees. A large amount of the plant’s side growth is removed first so it’s just the main stem which is laid. It looks incredibly destructive but it rejuvenates an old hedge that has become gappy at the base (and therefore of minimal benefit to wildlife) as many species need hedges with a wide dense base.

Most hedges these days are managed with a flail trimmer which is a fantastic tool. It could easily trim a mile of hedge in a day and without this mechanical assistance many or most of the country’s hedges would surely have been grubbed out long ago. Ideally a hedge would be laid, left for a few years to establish then flailed every second or third year, before being allowed to grow tall for 5ish years before being laid again, giving the hedge a 30-40 year cycle. The problem is the cost in laying, it’s so labour intensive. On a good day I may manage 20m, I’m sure a professional may be a good bit quicker but it’s still going to be a lifetime’s work to get around the whole farm. Perhaps with a shake up of the farm subsidy system demanding more public benefits there may be funding to assist with such beneficial work.

Pop-up shop - Saturday 2nd April 10am - noon

Big thanks to everyone who braved the cold wind and supported our March pop-up farm shop.

I was particularly touched by the couple who came and explained that they support the shop specifically because they like the way we farm. Of everything I do in my farming life this is my number one objective - to make people realise that the way we spend our money directly influences the way the country is farmed. If you want small, high welfare, sustainable farms, seek them out and support them. Thank you, it makes the pain of the blackthorn spikes while hedge laying worth it!

It was also great to see so many walkers and cyclists.

Let's do it all again on Saturday 2nd April 10am – noon.

This month OFF the farm

I managed to get off the farm again last month, this time with the Pasture for Life organisation, for a tour of Kimerton Estate in Worcestershire. The estate is going back to the old-fashioned way of farming by integrating livestock into an arable farming system. The principal being that a profitable crop like wheat or barley is grown for a few years with the land then going back to a herb rich pasture which is grazed by cattle. This builds fertility and improves the soil structure for 4 years before the land goes back to crop production. This simple and ancient way of farming is something we have strayed from since the advent of synthetic fertiliser post war. Mixed farming has dwindled, with farms now normally producing livestock OR crops. A benefit of synthetic fertiliser becoming prohibitively expensive (trebling in the last year) is that we may see livestock used by arable farmers to provide fertility rather than the unsustainable synthetic option – which is one of the biggest sources of Co2 equivalents in farming. The estate was also establishing new wood pasture around the SSSI of Bredon Hill. Mixing trees into permanent pasture to create a parkland type habitat. This type of habitat is becoming increasingly unusual but one that can become home to many rare species. Interestingly the farm kept its herd outside all winter which releases the farm from the shackles of the huge fixed costs of sheds and machinery. The herd ate round bale hay which was placed in the fields in the autumn and un-rolled daily for them. Many conventional farmers would consider this impossible or cruel but managed well it is neither of these. The cattle were happy and have a smaller impact on the environment than their cousins housed in barns. It wouldn’t work on all farms - soil type, numbers and cattle breed all play a major role but it’s good to be open minded and see people doing things in a completely different way to your own.       

Birds and Butterflies

March is a big swap around for our birds, the winter visiting Fieldfare and Redwing have left and gone east. The stunning Water Rail is still in the brook, I like to think he’ll stay on the farm and breed but my expert friend pessimistically predicts he’s a visitor and will also fly east. The first of the Warblers is here, the arrival broadcast by the unmistakable song of the Chiffchaff. Black Cap will add itself to the chorus in the days to come.  

As I write this on the 23rd of March we’ve still not got any Swallows about – any day now they should return from South Africa to set up home amongst our buildings. I have plenty of jobs to do to make the farm buildings more Swallow friendly with the aim of increasing nests from 4 to at least 6.

We’ve also started the farm butterfly list and have so far seen Brimstone, Peacock, small tortoiseshell and red admiral. These all can over winter as adults so it always feels a bit like cheating when you spot one of those but yesterday we had a Holly Blue visit the garden as we were sat in the sun at lunchtime, this is the first butterfly that would have hatched this year.

Thanks for reading!

Best wishes 

Chris & Lindsay Rumming