Report from Catherine Lloyd, Director of Land based Studies Looking back over 2019/2020 it has been unlike any other due to the ongoing global pandemic and its impact on us all. The college closed to students in March 2020 and moved to an online learning mode of delivery for the remainder of the academic year. Staff worked hard to adapt to this new mode of delivery and the students were able to successfully complete their qualifications. We were able to keep the students up to date with what was happening at Shuttleworth by uploading photos and videos as we moved through the spring and summer. Although there were no students onsite work had to continue to look after the animals on the zoological centre, the horses at Mount Pleasant and the cattle at Kingshill. The staff teams did a fantastic job keeping everything going throughout. Despite the pandemic it has been a good summer on the farm and this year’s harvest yielded well. We were particularly pleased with the wheat as we had grown a new variety which performed well. The Red Poll herd continues to grow. This year we had 23 Red Poll calves and currently the herd stands at 63 with 26 calves expected this year. The images show one of our calves, Shuttleworth Kitkat, just born, at 5 weeks old and at 6 months old. Our livestock lecturer and level 6 students are working on a project carbon foot printing the herd with the aim to establish a carbon neutral plan.
Shuttleworth Kitkat just born
Kingshill farm is participating in the mid-tier countryside stewardship scheme. So far we have planted 1,785m of hedging, established buffer strips, planted areas of nectar flower mix and legume and herb rich swards and put in a number of beetle banks. Flower rich margins have been established alongside of all new hedges planted and this year flowered well. The impact of the work so far is a reported increase in wildlife on the farm for example grey partridges, pheasants, lap wings, corn buntings and skylarks. This is due to the increase in habitat and food, as there are more insects, bugs etc. living in the flower rich margins for them to feed on and also ground cover for nesting. In addition to the Shuttleworth Kitkat at 5 weeks
stewardship work we have looked at practices on the 5
