Last summer Will did some virtual farm tours with schools. Beautifully organised by Jo Hatton of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming). Will has just done another day of tours. Schools/colleges from Yorkshire, Brighton and South Africa. Loads of great questions from the sixth formers, fun and thought provoking for all.
When walking our livestock fields here is an interesting thing to look out for. ‘Dung beetles’. They help to keep our land cleaner as they break down sheep and cow dung which in turn helps reduce greenhouse emissions. So next time you walk our fields have a look at the cow pats and if they look like this our little black eco warriors are at work.
Changing weather patterns have been a feature for centuries but the last few years have been alarmingly difficult to manage from a farming perspective especially as the core business is struggling to pay its way.
With Brexit and changes in how agriculture is supported there is not a farmer in the country who is not having to look extremely hard at making their core business more resilient and in some cases the government is even proposing a way out completely.
Living in a small rural community like we do this has effects on us all. It is only 50yrs ago a significant percentage of the village population was directly connected to the farms within them. Over those years we have seen dramatic changes in the farms around us. In fact over 50% of the planning applications we receive in our parish revolve around change of use or diversification on our farms.
Pre 2018 over 62% of farms in the UK had diversified in some form or other and traditionally this involved adding value to a farming enterprise or offering accommodation. Being in the proximity of large populations has seen the commercial letting of farm buildings that has become the most common use in our immediate area. Why farmers diversify is a huge subject and one I will struggle to tackle in one article but what I am sure you will all agree it involves change and change is not necessarily popular with everyone.
With large landowners it is common for them to have an estate plan for which they can back up planning applications justifying the direction they are driving their businesses. Like a village design statement or Parish Plan this gives some direction to the community of the aspirations and changes that might happen in the future. This is not always easy on a smaller farm level.
We are seeing more pressure put on our rural areas with more development both in the form of housing and farm diversification. We as a community have seen our fair share of this pressure and rightly or wrongly any new application is now viewed with suspicion. This is understandable but perhaps if the understanding behind the changes were better communicated this might help.
Personally with farming on the cusp of its 4th Revolution and the emphasis on working with nature and looking after our soil I feel hugely invigorated about our farming future. As I have discussed in previous articles these changes could be vastly different especially if we are serious about climate change and keeping food prices at current levels. Whilst the industry weans itself off government support expect more diversification and at Manor Farm with these aspirations, we will have no choice but to diversify further to survive too.
For most of you who own dogs one of life’s little pleasures at present is the excuse to go for a dog walk and this pleasure hasn’t been wasted on a growing number during the pandemic. The boon in dog sales over the past year has seen more of us take on the responsibility of owning man’s best friend.
Rural areas have seen a huge increase in dog walkers and fundamentally this is to be welcomed but sadly it hasn’t all been plain walking. New statistics from rural insurers show that in 2020, the UK cost of dog attacks on livestock reached an estimated £1.3m – an overall increase of over 10%.
In our locality the incidents are fortunately few and far between. This could be due to the lack of livestock or the fact we have very responsible owners. In a recent survey of dog owners commissioned by NFU Mutual it was revealed that 64% are letting their pets roam free in the countryside, despite half of these owners admitting their dog doesn’t always come back when called.
Attacks are one thing but the damage caused from chasing of sheep at this time of year can have catastrophic consequences on the number of lambs born alive. Also evident in the report was that rather alarmingly, only 40% of the dog owners surveyed accepted that their pet could cause the injury or death of a farm animal only 33% saying they would report an attack taking place to police or a local farmer.
Historically the onus has been on countryside users to follow the countryside code but statistics show this is having little effect and there is now a movement to change the law meaning prosecutions and fines will be given to offenders. This is sad but so is the unbearable suffering of the animal, the anxiety caused to farmers and their families and lest we forget to the dog owners themselves on losing their dog.
As a livestock farmer I have always resisted plastering the countryside in signs hoping it is more welcoming and in fact most of the signs seen locally are more likely politely requesting you to keep off a grass margin. This brings me to gently remind everybody that as spring arrives, please do not forget our hedge line livestock as they too at this crucial time of year, do not respond well to a bit of dog worrying.
