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Action needed to address crippling cost of rural crime
NEW figures showing the rampant rise of rural crime must prompt an urgent call to action for our new Government.
Shocking statistics demonstrating the scale of organised crime and of those who prey on farming businesses and terrorise families cannot be overstated.
Anyone who has been a victim (and I’ll bet that few Farmers Guardian readers haven’t been) will know only too well the frustration, anxiety and sheer inconvenience these sorts of crimes cause. Not to mention the cost to one’s business and the inevitable rise in security spend and insurance premiums.
Yes, awareness among rural communities is rising, with community Whatsapp groups and Farm Watch initiatives playing a key role in keeping communities informed and safe, but the problems do not seem to be going away.
In its rural crime strategy, launched in April, ahead of the General Election, Labour pledged to ‘take down crime gangs’ and protect rural communities from theft, vandalism, fly-tipping and rising drug problems.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party set out its plan which included cross-government co-ordination to ensure all departments are working in unison alongside the National Crime Agency, plus extra policing and patrols in rural areas and tougher measures to clamp down on criminals.
The plan also included tending the Equip-
ment Theft (Prevention) Act to cover GPS theft from farm vehicles and expediting the introduction of the Livestock Worrying Bill – an area FG has campaigned tirelessly on as part of its Take the Lead campaign.
The party recognised the toll rural crime places on the farming industry which is the first step, but now it needs to act.
While cross-government co-ordination will leverage the combined efforts of various agencies, bringing a cost-effective solution to targeted action on rural crime, drafting in additional officers will cost money. This is alongside the above inflation pay increases being promised to police officers and other public sector workers and against the backdrop of what Chancellor Rachel Reeves labelled a ‘hidden’ Tory overspend of £21.9 billion this year.
So how will Labour pay for its plans and deal with the legacy of a Government which saw police budgets slashed and the reduction of more than 20,000 officers?
Dining out on the incumbents will only take so far. Rural commu-
Dining out on the failings of the previous incumbents will only take Sir Keir’s Government so far. Rural communities want to see action to reduce countryside crime now. of more than 20,000 officers?
AN increase in rural crime has left farmers in the UK footing a bill worth more than £50 million as criminals become more organised when targeting farm businesses.
But the impact goes further than purely financial, with incidents impacting farmers’ mental well-being.
NFU Mutual has released its annual rural crime report, which found farmers across Britain had been victims of incidents which cost businesses £52.8m in 2023 – a rise of £2.2m from last year’s statistics, and a 4.3% yearon-year increase.
Published on Thursday (August 1), the farm insurer said claims had ‘rocketed’ to an estimated £4.2m, with
incidents including farm animals butchered in fields, dog attacks and the theft of machinery and livestock.
The report also revealed that 86% of agents surveyed said rural crime was negatively impacting farmers’ mental well-being, and 77% suggested they knew farmers who had been repeat victims.
The worst-affected region in England was the Midlands, with costs of £11.7m, whereas crimes in the South West had increased the most by 41.9% from 2022.
In Scotland, there was a 34.9% increase in rural crime incidents from 2022, costing an estimated £1.8m, while in Wales crimes had risen by 6.7% to an estimated £2.4m. There was a decrease in Northern Ireland, where crimes went down 21.3% to an estimated £2m.
The 10 worst-a ected counties by cost in 2023
There was an 82.1% increase in rural crime incidents in Essex, with a cost of £2.721m – the most of any county in England.
Targets
Jim McLaren, NFU Mutual chair and Perthshire farmer, said the report had shown how thieves were becoming organised in targeting farm businesses, including the use of drones to identify potential targets.
He said that, as a farmer, the theft of important farm machinery or the inconvenience and stress of sorting replacements were not the worst things about being a victim of rural crime.
He said: “It is the horrible feeling that criminals have brazenly staked out and targeted farmyards and fields, often only a few feet away from the family home. Then, working alone
Harvest continues apace
THE sunny and dry weather this week will have been welcome for those out in the field as harvest continues across the UK.
Temperatures reached in excess of 30degC in some areas of South East England.
However, there was a Met Office warning for thunderstorms from Thursday onwards, with risks of flooding in some areas where ‘thundery outbreaks merge’.
The Met Office warned this could herald a shift to more unsettled weather into the weekend, with a westerly weather regime likely to bring outbreaks of rain at times, albeit with some drier interludes.
It came as farmers were urged to
makes it all too easy for our problems to weigh us down and negatively impact our mental well-being.”
He urged people to talk to their neighbours and work with farm watch groups and local police.
Superintendent Andrew Huddleston, head of the National Rural Crime Unit, said crime groups were willing to travel the length and breadth of
Rural crime round-up
FATAL SHOOTING OF FARMER IN LANCASHIRE
■ AN investigation has been launched into the death of a farmer following a reported firearms discharge incident in Lancashire. Ormskirk and Rural West Lancashire Police confirmed Thomas Olverson, 75, died at 4.55pm on Thursday (July 25) after being found with gunshot injuries along Pinfold Lane in the Scarisbrick area.
Despite the best efforts of the emergency services who attended Marsh Hey Farm, Mr Olverson was pronounced dead at the scene. Police
take care to avoid the risks of skin cancer this summer.
Laura Lumsden, RSABI’s health hut nurse, said farmers were at high risk of developing skin cancer due to working long hours in the outdoors with increased exposure to UV rays.
Advice
Ms Lumsden provided advice and some of the signs farmers should check to stay safe in the summer heat.
“Increased exposure from UV rays also has the potential to cause sunburn and long-term skin damage,” she said.
It is important to know the signs of skin cancers and melanomas, because early detection leads to a quicker diagnosis and treatment,
the UK, as well as internationally, to make a ‘shopping list’ of items to steal from farms.
Thomas Hodges, a fourth-generation mixed sheep farmer at Buttermilk Hall Farm in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, said it had been ‘a nightmare’ to get the business back on a normal footing after having 187 sheep stolen from the farm in September 2023.
confirmed a 29-year-old man had been arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and he remained in custody.
Lancashire Police have distributed an appeal for further information following the incident.
Anyone with further information has been asked to contact police on 101, quoting log 1030 of July 25.
SHEEP ‘DISEMBOWELLED’ AT FARM IN OXFORDSHIRE
■ A SHEEP has been ‘disembowelled’ with work tools in the village of Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.
and a better prognosis. The first sign of a melanoma is commonly a new mole, or a change to the appearance of a mole, freckle or patch of skin.
Ms Lumsden said farmers could
He said: “We are now checking the flock more often, and we have put chains and locks on our field gates since the theft, but we cannot secure every field because we have public footpaths running through the land.”
Staffordshire mixed beef farmer Peter Pratt, who farms on Harts Farm in Rugeley, Staffordshire, with about 324 hectares of land, said he had been
Thames Valley Police’s Rural Crime Taskforce confirmed an investigation had been launched and said the sheep was killed on Wednesday July 24 in Shrivenham between 12pm and 1pm.
Working near the farm on the day, witnesses told police they had left tools at the site before going for a lunch break, and on their return, a sheep had been found disembowelled.
Anyone with further information regarding the incident has been asked to call Thames Valley Police on 101, quoting crime reference number 43240355278.
Farmers have been urged to take care to avoid the risks of skin cancer when working long hours outdoors during harvest.
reduce their risk of sunburn by wearing a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and applying at least factor 30 sun cream, which needed to be reapplied regularly throughout the day.
the victim of £20,000 worth of GPS domes and screens stolen from his farm over the space of two years.
“When they came back a year later, they must have known we had replaced the kit and knew what they were after,” he said.
“It makes you wonder about everybody who comes onto the farm, and you start to suspect people even though they are completely innocent.”
‘Disturbing’
Berwickshire farm contractor Kenny Wood, of R. Wood and Sons, based in Coldstream, which provides a full range of silage-making and cultivation services, said thieves had peeled wall sheeting from the businesses’ storage building to steal GPS units worth £17,000 in June 2023.
He said: “It is very disturbing to have had people in our locked buildings stealing equipment on at least two occasions. Thieves see GPS units as easy targets. Criminals are obviously watching farms and contractors to establish what equipment they have got, and how to get in and steal it.”
With economic growth in focus for the Labour Government, Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner emphasised farming’s importance at the National Sheep Association Sheep Event. Rachael Brown reports.
Farming a key part of economic growth
● Concerns over future of ag support
DEFRA Secretary Steve Reed has made it clear to the Prime Minister that Defra needs to play a part as the new Labour Government looks to focus on economic growth.
And Sir Keir Starmer is receptive to that argument, according to Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner, who was keen to reassure farmers at the National Sheep Association (NSA) Sheep Event at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern ahead of the Autumn spending review.
Mr Zeichner said there would always be ‘speculation’, but ‘strong arguments’ had been put to the Prime Minister for the agricultural budget.
Earlier this week, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, paved the way for future spending cuts to address a blackhole in public finances. She said she was asking all departments to find savings which raised concerns in the industry about the vulnerability of the agricultural pot.
Mr Zeichner said the Government did not want to make ‘rash promises’ it ‘could not keep’, adding the priority now was to understand why there was an underspend and how the money was spent.
But while NSA chief executive Phil Stocker understood the need to adopt a ‘sensible’ approach to budget promises, the industry was still in a ‘hiatus’.
“There cannot be many industries in this country that have the [same] level of policy, strategy and debate that goes on. It is almost never-end-
New Defra Minister roles announced
DEFRA has announced the responsibilities of its new ministerial top team, who will work alongside the Defra Secretary Steve Reed and Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner.
Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner told farmers at the NSA event that ‘strong arguments’ had been put to the Prime Minister for the agricultural budget.
THE commissioners of the UK wider farm assurance review are ‘really committed’ to making sure the report is delivered by the end of the year.
That was the message from Mark Suthern, one of the four commissioners for the Farm Assurance review, adding it was their ‘absolute laser focus’. With four weeks to go until the deadline for all evidence, Mr Suthern was in attendance at the National Sheep
ing,” he said, adding there was a lack of vision for the direction of the industry.
Mr Zeichner agreed, saying the industry was ‘halfway through a transition, from somewhere, but not clear to where’.
But while the Government had a ‘key role’ in providing leadership and writing a regulatory framework, Mr Zeichner said it needed industry input.
Collaboration
“The Government does not farm sheep; you do. We do not maintain landscapes; you do. We can only achieve the outcomes that the country wants us to achieve [by] working collaboratively with you,” he said.
Sufficient support for upland sheep
farmers was raised multiple times, with Mr Stocker highlighting upland systems were at the point of ‘breakdown’.
Mr Zeichner acknowledged there was ‘real complexity’ around upland support, adding ‘undergrazing can be just as damaging as overgrazing’, and there was a need to ‘further tweak’ the Sustainable Farming Incentive system, with more attention needed around social implications.
Illegal meat coming over the border and increased disease threat was also a pressing issue, with one audience member saying if ‘we cannot afford to spend money now, we certainly cannot afford a disease outbreak’.
Mr Zeichner said it was at the ‘forefront’ of his mind.
FARM ASSURANCE REVIEW TO BE DELIVERED BY THE END OF THE YEAR
Association Sheep Event, speaking to farmers and the wider industry about what they wanted from the future of farm assurance.
Mr Suthern said that, particularly within the sheep sector, people were mindful these were ‘very hardworking family farms’ who were looking for some consistency on baseline standards and recognition of the extra workload brought on by assurance.
He said there was ‘real engagement’ across the sector with the review, with some keen to demonstrate how proud they were of their farm assurance, and others less so, adding it was ‘a very polarised community’ at the moment.
Best practice
Mr Suthern said it was important the review looked at best practice of farm assurance in devolved
It includes MP for Kingston upon Hull and Haltemprice Emma Hardy as Minister for Water and Flooding, Mary Creagh as Minister for Nature, and Baroness Hayman of Ullock as Lords Minister.
Mr Reed will have overall responsibility, but will be specifically responsible for budget, international relations, senior appointments and economic growth.
Mr Zeichner’s brief will focus predominantly on farming, including Environmental Land Management schemes, food security, animal welfare including bovine TB, and rural communities, as well as trade, science and innovation within the sector.
Water
Ms Hardy will oversee water, floods and emergencies, clean air and noise, environmental regulation including pesticides, plus overall climate change and net zero policies. She will also be the lead for the Environment Agency and Consumer Council for Water.
Ms Creagh will take charge of planning and developing a land use framework, tree planting and forestry, green finance, and protected landscapes such as national parks. She will be the lead for both Natural England and the Forestry Commission.
Baroness Hayman will be responsible for borders, biosecurity and plant health, Northern Ireland and the Windsor framework, and will be the lead of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
nations to get a better understanding of what was out there.
With some concerns raised about the review’s survey, Mr Suthern said the systems in place and the secretariat were ‘robust’.
“The goal is to get results from the call of written evidence, being at trade shows and county shows, and oneon-one interviews,” he said, adding the survey was ‘one part’ of creating a much ‘richer tapestry’ of evidence.
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● Ulster Farmers’ Union demands a rethink
By Jane Thynne
A DECISION by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to move solely to digital communication methods will lead to ‘mental stress’ for farmers and create problems for farm businesses, according to the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).
The union, alongside the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA), has condemned the move, which they said was announced without consultation and have now asked for an immediate rethink by the department.
UFU deputy president John McLenaghan also questioned the suitability and timing of the move, which comes amid the country’s ‘generational’ farming transition.
“The UFU believes DAERA’s decision to do away with paper communications completely presents a huge challenge for our older members who may not have the necessary resources such as sound internet connection, or are not confident in their digital literacy skills, to be able to comply with this drastic change,” Mr McLenaghan said.
“It could create mental stress for the farmer and problems for the farm business if this method of communication with the department no longer exists.”
The news followed an increased move to digitisation across the farming industry. Last year Defra introduced its Digital and Data Transform-
The move to paperless could add stress and problems for farm businesses, said John McLenaghan.
Move to paperless communication will increase farmer stress
ation Strategy to ‘reflect our collective ambition for people to interact with us with greater confidence and ease and to offer better ‘access to seamless, better, more integrated services’. However, as in Northern Ireland, concerns have been raised in England and Scotland over an over-reliance on technology owing to the decided lack of rural connectivity. According to a recent NFU survey, 92% of respondents believed broadband was essential for their business, but only 58% thought current connectivity was suitable for their farm operation.
Kerry Booth, chief executive of
Government pledges to support NI veterinary medicine supply
A PLEDGE to secure the long-term availability of veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland has been secured following a campaign led by Conservative MP and vet Dr Neil Hudson.
Current rules agreed under the Windsor Framework state veterinary medicines allowed to enter Northern Ireland in the interests of animal health and welfare, food safety and public health remain outside required post-Brexit checks.
However, vets have said without Government support, this ‘grace period’, due to end in December 2025, would put more than half of veterinary medicines needed in Northern Ireland at risk.
Dr Hudson secured the promise from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Fleur Anderson during Oral Questions in Parliament.
Ms Anderson said: “The Government will continue to progress the work on this issue as quickly as pos-
sible and I can confirm that the Veterinary Medicines Working Group will continue. We recognise its importance and we will continue to work at pace on the long-term solution, because that continuity of supply and knowing that well in advance of December next year is very important.”
Concern
Speaking afterwards, Dr Hudson said: “Let me be clear – this is not a niche concern of veterinary professionals such as myself.
“Without a proper supply of veterinary medicines, human public health could be impacted significantly, the agri-food industry would suffer which could in turn impact the availability of food, and of course the health and welfare of animals in Northern Ireland would also come under strain.
“Northern Ireland must retain its integral place at the heart of our nation and its internal market,” he added.
Rural Services Network, said: “Poor mobile and broadband connectivity continues to impede the productivity and safety of our rural farmers and businesses. Digital connectivity is not just a convenience; it is a necessity for economic vitality, social inclusion and safety in rural communities.”
Scotland
In Scotland, a proposed move to Digital Grain Passports has also been met with resistance as farmers cited concerns regarding an over-reliance on technology and data sharing.
NFU Scotland vice-president Andrew Connon said: “There is no doubt technology is the way ahead for our industry, but technology needs to be proven to have a genuine benefit for our growers.”
Rory Gormley, ACA secretary, said
the association had ‘deep concerns’ about the plans in Northern Ireland. “This decision will affect approximately 6,000 farm businesses who currently use agents to assist them. Farmers use agents for this work simply because some have no experience dealing with emails, online applications and digital forms. The fact DAERA has taken this decision without any consultation with any of the stakeholders is regrettable and the decision should be firmly put on hold until a full impact assessment has been carried out and stakeholders properly consulted.”
However, a spokesperson for the department said the announcement was not ‘sudden’ and the area-based schemes had been moving gradually towards a fully digital service since 2016 when it conducted a public consultation.
ENVIRONMENT PLAN MUST INCLUDE FARMERS
FARMERS must be at the centre of a new environmental action plan designed to protect the largest freshwater lake in the UK and Ireland.
Members of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) alongside environmental groups and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) officials met recently to discuss the Lough Neagh Action Plan –a 37-point strategy to address the lake’s challenges following the bluegreen algal crisis last summer.
Farmers have often been at the centre of conversations about the beauty spot and the impact of run-off from slurry.
Change
Introducing the plan document, DAERA Minister Andrew Muir said he recognised agriculture and agri-
food were key parts of the economy, but science showed that ‘things must change’.
“Reducing pollution into our waterways must be our focus and I want to work alongside people in agriculture, Northern Ireland Water and septic tank owners to achieve that.
UFU said it needed to be recognised that farmers also live and work in the countryside and the health of the local landscape is ‘paramount not only to their business but to their own well-being’.
Sean McAuley, a spokesperson for Farmers For Action, said removing the annual slurry ban which runs from mid-October to February would ‘go a long way’ to ensuring farmers not only helped protect the environment but would help with farmer finances.
Beef up your business with low management contract finishing
Martin is not a traditional cattle man. His main business has always been arable contracting, but when he and his son Daniel took over a neighbouring former dairy farm, he saw an opportunity to maximise the sheds they now owned. By partnering with Gamechanger, the UK-wide beef production programme, he could lean on its knowledge and expertise to nish cattle without additional resource and with a guaranteed monthly income.
“I needed something simple to operate alongside our main contracting business,” says Martin Hays, who tenant farms the 450acre former dairy near Chester eld, growing cereals and grass, most of which is used as feed for the cattle.
“ e back up and support that Gamechanger provides has made it possible for us to create an additional standalone income stream from nishing 180 cattle a year, with very low set up costs.”
Gamechanger is the market-leading fully integrated beef supply chain programme created by Sainsbury’s and ABP that works with farmers to produce consistent high-quality beef with a lower carbon footprint for Sainsbury’s Taste the Di erence range. One of the key advantages is the guaranteed end market in Sainsbury’s which allows for long-term stability and forward pricing for primary producers:
“Finishing for Gamechanger works really well for me as we are paid a monthly management fee so we can cover costs as we go and we are rewarded if the cattle nish well
and in under 21 months, which we’ve always met. Stores can be notoriously up and down, but with Gamechanger, I know what I’m getting from start to nish, which takes the gamble and volatility out of it.”
He adds that it’s not just the management fee which makes business sense.
“We are guaranteed a regular income but also even batches and healthy calves which makes for easy management. By the time they reach us, the rearers have done the hard work giving them a strong start, they’re vaccinated and in good health.
“I needed something that wouldn’t get in the way of the other business when it is really busy, and we’ve been able to set up systems so it’s low maintenance checks, bedding and feeding day to day, but it’s also enhanced the farm: we have a known outlet for our barley, we’re being paid, e ectively, to grow grass, and I get muck for the elds, which SFI rewards as organic matter.”
e weaned calves arrive on farm at 3-4 months old and approximately 100kg, and Martin nishes them at 500-600kg. All calves are electronically tagged and weighed monthly with a crush and EID reader bought by Martin through grant funding.
At the heart of the Gamechanger strategy is growth and collectively meeting the rising demand for premium beef with clear traceability and a lower carbon footprint.
“Gamechanger o ers stability and a steady income to primary producers which is attractive when there is plenty of other
challenge and uncertainty in UK agriculture,” says ABP Business Development Manager, Liberty Turner.
“We’ve built on years of research to breed with the right genetics and created exible, easy maintenance growing models that t alongside existing farming businesses. I’d urge forward-thinking farmers to look at the options for joining this progressive network of farmers and beef production across the UK.”
Gamechanger is currently recruiting beef nishers, in particular, to meet demand, but there are opportunities to get involved at all stages from dairy to nish.
How does it work?
• No capital outlay
• Stand-alone enterprise
• Guaranteed income regardless of market fluctuations
• Flexible finance and contract models
• Industry-leading genetics
• High health animals in even batches
• Regular technical support
• EID provision and free farm software
How can I join the programme?
To be a Gamechanger finisher, farmers need to be Farm Assured and have good quality grazing and forage management. Find out more and contact us to apply at www. gamechangerintegratedbeef.com
● 460 warnings of non-compliance
By Jane Thynne
FARMERS received more than 460 warnings of non-compliance during farm inspections last year, according to a new report from Defra looking at progress of its environmental outcomes.
The latest Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) annual progress report showed 4,862 Environment Agency farm inspections took place in England during 2023-2024, resulting in 469 warnings and notices issued to farms for failing to address non-compliance with water quality regulations. In the same period, there were six prosecutions relating to polluting agricultural activities.
Increased funding
The report said in order for Defra to meet its clean water targets it had increased funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming advice service to £15 million per year and expanded its coverage across England, as well as making £74m available to farmers via the second round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant and further invest-
Defra Secretary Steve Reed said the Government planned to ‘turn the tide’ to ‘save nature’.
New report highlights pollution warnings
ment in the Farm Equipment and Technology Fund to support the acquisition of slurry handling equipment in 2023.
Defra Secretary Steve Reed said the Government planned to ‘turn the tide’ to ‘save nature’.
With over 40 years’ experience, we achieve planning consents through designing high quality solar projects that respect your land and deliver biodiversity enhancement.
“Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Our animal species face extinction. Our precious landscapes are in decline. Our rivers, lakes and seas are awash with sewage and pollution. Air pollution continues to plague our towns and cities,” he said.
History
He added ‘nature underpins’ the economy, food health and society, but ‘we stand at a moment in history when nature needs us to defend it’.
Richard Yarwood, a dairy farmer based in Congleton, Cheshire, said farmers were working hard to protect the environment.
“The standard of environmental protection has increased significantly. Whether that is reduced use of pesticides or better slurry management.
“But it is an ongoing process and if farmers are getting less from their customers to meet the cost of production, then it is a big ask and it will only demoralise people when they are criticised and drive them out of the industry rather than engaging them and giving them the encouragement to improve.”
The updated EIP was introduced by former Defra Secretary Therese Coffey as part of the then Government’s commitment to ‘leave the environment in a better state than we found it’.
Farmers not confident in Defra
TENANT farmers have voiced their dissatisfaction as the latest Defra figures revealed 0% were very confident current schemes and regulations will lead to a successful future in farming.
The results taken from the latest Farmer Opinion Tracker for England for April 2024 also showed 52% of tenants were not at all confident in Defra’s ability to deliver scheme and regulatory change.
Only 3% said they were very confident their relationship with the department and its bodies – the En-
vironment Agency and the Rural Payments Agency – would develop positively in the future. And only 5% said they fully understood Defra’s vision for the future of farming.
Elsewhere, only 10% of owner farmers said they fully understood Defra’s vision for farming, while 55% said payments for environmental outcomes was very important to their business.
Devised in 2019 to monitor farmer confidence, the tracker provides a snapshot of views and opinions towards Defra’s vision for farming taken at a point in time.
NFU survey on lamb production
THE NFU has called for farmers’ views on lamb production and husbandry management methods to inform discussions with the new Government on tail docking and castration.
The union said there was poten-
tial for regulatory changes to be taken forward and it wanted a ‘comprehensive understanding of practices within the sector and the necessary information and data to highlight the detrimental impact of introducing restrictions’.
● Suggestions from Rock Review an easy win
By Rachael Brown
THE Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has warned the sector is ‘losing momentum’ on the implementation of the Rock Review recommendations, including the Tenant Farming Commissioner announced by the previous administration during the Farm to Fork Summit in May.
TFA chief executive George Dunn said that while the Labour Party endorsed the Rock Review report when in opposition, he said now was the time to carry that through into office, adding tenant farmers needed reassurance of the direction ahead under the new Government.
Mr Dunn said: “Given the crossparty support that existed for much of the agenda for change stemming from the Rock Review, this should be an easy win for the current Government so we maintain our hope and expectation that things will be taken forward.”
The Farm Tenancy Forum, which is responsible for the implementation of the Government’s response to the Rock Review, had an interim online meeting on July 22.
This followed the last full in-person meeting of the forum in March. Despite waiting for ‘ministerial steer’, the forum was set to meet again in the middle of September.
Mr Dunn said he was ‘pressing’ for
TFA chief executive George Dunn said he was ‘pressing’ for further meetings with Ministers to ‘get things moving forward’.
Tenanted sector ‘losing momentum’, says TFA
further meetings with Ministers to ‘get things moving forward’.
North Yorkshire tenant farmers Emma and Robert Sturdy have campaigned tirelessly to stop almost half of their arable farm being taken out of food production to accommodate a solar farm development.
Vital
They won their case in October last year, but have now been told an appeal was lodged against the decision.
Ms Sturdy said a Tenant Farming Commissioner was ‘vital for the future of tenant farmers’.
She said: “Pledges made by Government to support farmers must mean supporting all farmers, not just the
Positive tenant-landlord relationships in the spotlight
POSITIVE tenant-landlord relationships and collaboration will provide benefits to both parties.
That was the message from speakers on the Farmers Guardian podcast, with Castle Howard tenant farmer Michael Fargher highlighting the good relationship he had with his landlord.
With three generations on the farm, including his father Donald; son, Ben; and daughter-in-law, Lottie, having a long-term relationship was key. Five generations of the family have farmed on the estate.
He said: “They are our neighbours as well as our landlords; I count them not just as a landlord but as a friend.”
Benefit
Jasper Hasell, estate chief executive, said the estate also benefited from that close relationship, which helped them run other parts of the business alongside the farm.
privileged few. A Tenant Farming Commissioner would be well placed to represent the views of those who rely on the land for a living and tenant farmers like us on issues such as largescale solar development, which may offer a good diversification for freehold farmers but can result in tenant farmers being evicted from their land, and possibly their home, with little by way of compensation.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “Tenant farmers have too often been ignored.
This Government is committed to introducing a new deal for farmers that will boost Britain’s food security, restore nature and support rural economic growth. We will continue to champion the Farm Tenancy Forum as a communication route to the heart of Defra, and the majority of the Rock Review recommendations are already being taken forward.”
The Government is considering the role of a commissioner and will provide an update in due course.
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He added there was not only an economic benefit, but also a benefit to the wider community.
Judicaelle Hammond, director of policy and advice at the CLA, said it was beneficial to see positive relationships, because often tenantlandlord relationships are in the spotlight when things go wrong.
“That is not to say there are not things that do go wrong,” she added.
“We want to see a tenanted sector that thrives and works for both parties.”
Global warming is a consequence of an ‘energy imbalance’
AS farmers we use plants and the sun’s energy to convert CO2 into food. Whether in the form of crops, meat or milk, this is sold off the farm to feed the human population, to provide the body energy and result in the release of the CO2. The only way we can sequester carbon on the farm is by not exporting it, (although nature being what it is, something else will take advantage of the available food and turn some of it back into CO2).
The problem is that people want to use more energy than they need to exist, and therefore we have to use surplus energy from the sun
Social media reactions
ON social media, readers had their say after Wildlife Justice, co-founded by naturalist Chris Packham, confirmed it had written to Dartmoor Commoners’ Council over concerns it had regarding stocking levels on Sites of Special Scientific Interest with claims overgrazing had left areas in an ‘unfavourable condition’.
■ “We have licences for an SSSI and only a small group of ponies
which, in the past, has been in the form of fossil fuels and now includes ‘green’ energy.
Farmers have been accused of being part of the problem of generating greenhouse gases and heralded as being part of the solution.
It seems to me that if we reduce the amount of energy we sell off our farms by reducing output, (the
are allowed to graze there in two three-month parcels.”
HELEN BOULTON
■ “And the council will fold to the demands causing a precedent and then every nature charity will be copying causing more cashstrapped farmers to suffer.”
JAMIE DOWELL
■ “The hills would be completely dead and full of bracken without sheep and
result of planting trees, green schemes, solar farms, etc.), unless the energy demanded by people is reduced, we will need to find that energy from somewhere else, (other countries, transport, fossil fuels?), to balance the demand. I can’t see how that will reduce greenhouse gases.
I have been farming and looking after the environment for a long
other livestock. To think trees are the answer to everything is utter madness!”
OLLIE EVANS
■ “Years ago fells and dales were covered with sheep way more than today. [Chris Packham] is a walking menace and intent on causing problems that don’t need solving by someone like him. Hypocrite on every level.”
SALLY AUGER
time, but this country has been set up for agriculture for hundreds of years and we should not be importing more food than we have to from overseas.
Improving habitats and encouraging wildlife is part of farming, but we are at risk of going too far.
J.
Thorpe, Via email.
If you have a classic picture you would like to share, please email it to marcello.garbagnoli@agriconnect.com
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Groom Bunker, owner (left), and Abraham Ball, farm bailiff (right), from Trinity Hall Farm, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, with the 1929 Christmas fatstock show champion at Leighton Buzzard auction mart. Sent in by Rob and Tony Ball, sons of Mr Ball.
Alex Black Head of News and Business – alex.black@agriconnect.com
We should learn from the past
HAVING just lost my father this last week, it was time to look back on his achievements during his life. It soon became apparent that he came from an era of farmers who went out and made things happen and challenged everything.
This led them, at one time, to be called ‘efficient farmers’. What has happened since then? The farming industry is now a pale comparison that is both neutered and toothless.
Anyone now who challenges or stands up to make things happen is targeted either by Defra inspections or threats of a production contract cancellation.
How can an industry move forward without the ability to challenge and step forward? It is now time that we all look in the mirror and take a page out of the past generation’s book.
Robert Spensley, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
Contact us
■ IF you would like to send us a letter for consideration, email fgeditorial@agriconnect.com
Current trajectory unsustainable for dairy Leader
THE decline in the number of dairy farmers should be raising alarm bells, with a significant increase in people leaving the sector over the past few months
With only a small decline in the year to October, it is clear most of these farmers who have left the sector did so over the winter period.
Although announcements of milk price rises, such as the one from First Milk for September, will be welcomed by farmers, inflationary pressure and high interest rates are squeezing farm margins tight, leaving little room, if any, for investment. Return on investment for many of the projects required for survival can take a generation to realise.
With increased regulation, major changes in agricultural policy and uncertainty for the future, many farmers are left with a difficult decision: do they put in the money needed for investment to carry on or do they plan their exit from the sector?
For others, it is not quite so simple as selling off the herd, with debts meaning there is not always a clear exit path.
Young Farmer Focus
‘Being a farmer is for everyone’
Shadowing: From a young age, I have enjoyed shadowing my dad on the farm and working harvests in the holidays.
However, after a few stints of work experience, I realised that working in land agency was more suitable for my skills. Studies: I went on to study Rural Enterprise and Land Management at Harper Adams University in 2017. On the course, I spent my placement year in beautiful Herefordshire where I got a taste for a slightly different YFC culture and farming environment.
I graduated in 2021 and joined Brown and Co as a graduate land agent where I qualified as a chartered surveyor and fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers. Opportunities: I have been a member of Collingham YFC in Nottinghamshire since 2015. When I returned home from university, I became club secretary
and joined the county competitions team as vice-chair, before progressing to be the chair.
YFC has opened up so many opportunities for me which I will be forever grateful for; from travelling across the world, making friendships for life and confidence building.
I am a huge believer of you get out what you put in and I hope that through my role as chair, I can give back to members and inspire the next generation of Young Farmers to get stuck in.
Highlight: Winning Nottinghamshire’s YFC member of the year was an honour and one of just a few memorable highlights of my YFC career.
My advice to any young person in our dynamic industry would be just say yes. Whether that be travel opportunities, work experience, competitions or YFC roles.
With just 7,130 dairy farmers left here in Great Britain, a drop of 440 dairy producers makes up a substantial 5.8% of the industry. This trajectory cannot continue.
And it is not just those leaving the sector, with major challenges for the next generation who want to farm. This bright talent must also be given the opportunity to show what it is capable of.
Network: Build a network in your YFC, start your career and serve your local area. 99% of the time it is not what you know, but who you know.
Make a name for yourself, too.
It really is a small world and you would be surprised how one bad moment might have knock-on effects in the future.
Always ask questions and speak up. There is no such thing as a silly question.
We are in a huge period of change, so it would be impossible to know everything.
You don’t have to be from a farming background to be a farmer – I am privileged to have farming and YFC in my blood which undoubtedly helps my career but you don’t have to in order to be successful.
Being a ‘farmer’ is for everyone and anyone. It means so much more than just that.
I am very proud to be associated with British farming and would not be who or where I am today without YFC taking me out of my comfort zone.
MORE INFORMATION
If you would like to be featured, email chris.brayford@agriconnect.com
Isabel Chennells
Lincoln, Lincolnshire Isabel Chennells, 25, is chair of Collingham Young Farmers’ Club and she is from Lincoln. She is a land agent at Brown and Co.
Isabel Chennells
● Farmers warned against complacency
By Rachael Brown
RECENT warm weather will increase the risk of bluetongue, with farmers warned the low risk so far does not mean an outbreak will not happen.
That was the message from the UK’s chief veterinary officer Dr Christine Middlemiss at the National Sheep Association event this week.
Speaking to farmers and industry representatives, she said the winds so far had been coming from the north and west, not from the south west, but warned against complacency with warmer temperatures.
Dr Middlemiss said there were now three potential vaccines from different pharmaceutical companies, adding the Dutch had already authorised vaccines under ‘emergency measures’, meaning they had not had the ‘full efficacy tests done’.
She said: “They have given in baseline information. They have vaccinated about 95% of the adult flock. They did not mandate that – it was voluntary. But given the disease level and clinical cases, they had farmers who were wanting to avoid any more
Bluetongue risk rises in warmer weather
We have triggers for scaling up and down movement controls based on our control strategy
DR CHRISTINE MIDDLEMISS
disease or mortality. There are now over 1,000 clinical cases. We are not seeing the mortality level that they had last year, but we are still getting quite a number of deaths with it.”
Dr Middlemiss said they would continue to undertake surveillance and monitor the disease situation in the UK.
Dr Christine Middlemiss said the Dutch had already authorised vaccines under ‘emergency measures’.
“Depending on when and if the disease is found, we have triggers for scaling up and down movement controls based on our control strategy,” she said.
She confirmed there would be a round table held today with industry representatives to talk through whether an emergency vaccine was a
good idea or if it should be left for the moment.
She said: “It is about balancing what we think might happen with the disease, where we are at the moment, what outcomes we get and the level of confidence in the vaccine. So I am really interested in people’s views.”
Farmer fined after failing to manage pig slurry pollution
IN Northern Ireland, a farmer has been ordered to pay more than £2,000 after failing to manage and store pollution from pig slurry.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said Brian McCartney, a farmer from Bellaghy, had pleaded guilty to environmental breaches at Magherafelt Magistrates’ Court on July 24, relating to the storage of livestock manure and failing to prevent run-off pollution.
Inspectors from Northern Ireland’s Environment Agency had responded to a report of pollution from a residential
Environment
housing area in March 2022, where pigs had been roaming ‘freely’ around the yard and garden of the property with slurry ‘ponding’ without any storage or collection facilities.
Mr McCartney had failed to implement an enforcement order to ensure permanent slurry collection facilities were installed on farm in October 2022.
Mr McCartney was fined a total of £2,000 plus a £15 Offenders Levy under The Nutrient Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019.
Agency fines farmer for damaging badger sett
A FARMER in Cornwall has been instructed to pay fines and court costs reaching more than £300,000 after dumping waste in an old quarry which damaged a badger sett.
The Environment Agency said William Salmon, of Trevemper Farm in Newquay, had pleaded guilty to environmental breaches at Truro
Crown Court on Friday (July 26) after depositing construction waste on land he owned in Trerice, which disturbed a wildlife haven for badgers in May 2020. Mr Salmon was ordered to pay approximately £250,000 to HMRC for landfill tax costs he should have paid for the waste, alongside further fines totalling £93,700.95.
Business
Edited by Alex Black – 07880
By Jane Thynne
A TIGHT supply of stock remains the driving factor behind the market as prices hold across the sheep sector.
The latest figures from AHDB showed the GB deadweight price for new season lamb ‘pulled out of its seasonal fall’ to average 647p/kg. This was 1.6p above the previous week and up 55p on the same week last year.
According to Izzy Shohet, red meat analyst at AHDB, stability has come back into the market following the ‘peaks and troughs’ of the past few months which saw the SQQ price fall by nearly £2.50/kg from the peak of 893p/kg at the week ending May 25.
Ms Shohet said the spike had been fuelled by a shortage of lambs coming forward, as AHDB estimates put the kill, as of the year to date, 9.4% behind the same time in 2023.
Breeder season
Livestock Auctioneers’ Association development officer Zanna Dennis said prices across the board remained high and were expected to remain so as the season progressed.
“We are on the cusp of breeder sale season and I think for the few that have already taken place, prices are pretty dear. The fat trade, particularly, for the hogget and cull ewes earlier in the year was so good, I think a lot will have been killed earlier, which means there will be less about, keeping prices high.”
Ms Dennis added while it was important farmers achieved good results following the challenging lambing period, prices needed to remain realistic for buyers who also ‘need to make the numbers add up’.
Ted Ogden, farmstock sales manager and auctioneer at CCM Auctions,
Strong lamb sales driven by shortage
Skipton, West Yorkshire, said the auction had sold 6,000 store lambs in the first two sales of the month, averaging £101.95 per lamb.
“The prime lamb trade has been busy, with regular weights averaging 317/kg at Skipton and that has fed through to store lambs and early breeding sheep trade. There is good demand for flock-aged, breeding sheep for early tupping. We have got peak season coming up and lowland shearing yows are also looking good.”
Kate Davies, partner at McCartneys
Livestock Office, Knighton, Powys, said July had seen a month of ‘very high prices’.
“Cull ewes are very good for us at the moment – the leaner type of ewes are equally as dear as the meatier ones and are doing a very good trade.”
A recent sale at Knighton (July 25) showed sales were strong on the heavier lambs over 45kg and the lighter lambs under 37kg. Lambs sold to 3.15p/kg and £160/head. The whole lamb section from 30-53kg averaged 2.99p/kg and £131/head throughout.
Down on the Farm
Fertilising aftermaths to boost grass supply
The importance of aftermath grass will vary on farms, with a whole range of factors affecting how much grazed grass will be required after the last silage cut is taken. There are two con-siderations to address when fertilising these aftermaths. Ensuring that the phosphate (P) and potash (K) requirements of the previous silage crops have been met and supplying enough nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) to grow enough aftermath grass to meet livestock demand.
Unless soil P & K fertility is maintained at current levels on silage fields then it is likely that next year’s silage yields will suffer. On most farms, the N rate remains constant for silage crops from year-to-year, but with deteriorating soil P & K fertility you end up with less grass for every kg
The price for older ewes was also strong, with a number of the best-meated cull sheep selling between £130 and £190/head.
“The breeding ewe sales will be coming in September and again we are optimistic there will be a good trade. Stock has been much dearer than last year, but we will wait and see. We do not want to be over confident but I think there will be a good trade.
“It is all supply and demand – trade is good at the moment and we just hope that holds,” added Ms Davies.
with Philip Cosgrave Agronomist, Yara UK Ltd.
of N applied. Calculate what the offtakes and inputs are to see if P & K needs topping up. Use a suitable quality true uniform compound fertiliser, such as YaraMila NK Sulphur, YaraMila Silage Booster or YaraMila ExtraGrass.
The N requirement of aftermaths will depend on grass demand. Where there is high de-mand, then apply up to 35 kg/ha of N per application in August and September. If P & K are not needed, then use YaraBela Nutri Booster at 140 kg/ha and if they are needed use one of the YaraMila compounds mentioned in the previous paragraph at a N rate of up to 35 kg/ha. It’s important to apply this fertiliser on as soon as possible, to get grass off to a good start.
July saw very high prices for lamb, with the trend expected to continue due to a shortage of supply.
Sharp decline in dairy farmers
● Tight farm margins in milk production
By Alex Black
THERE has been a sharp decline of 440 dairy producers in the year to April 2024, with the majority of producers leaving the industry over the winter months.
According to AHDB’s latest survey of major milk buyers, it was estimated there were 7,130 dairy producers in Great Britain as of April 2024.
Freya Shuttleworth, AHDB senior analyst, said although milk prices were higher they had dropped off ‘substantially’ from the 2022 peaks.
“This, alongside robust cull cow prices, continued inflationary pressure on key inputs and increased interest rates driving up the cost of borrowing, might have incentivised producers to shut up shop as farm margins tighten,” she said, adding increased regulatory pressure could also have been a driver.
NFU dairy chair Paul Tomkins said the industry could not continue on the trajectory it was on.
He said: “Those high input costs are now embedded into the business. The inflationary pressure is still there.”
He added potential environmental regulations were weighing ‘heavily on farmers’ minds’.
While he said it was important farmers ensured they farmed alongside the environment, he also said there was a lot of investment needed, which margins were not going to cover.
Change
He added that with return on investment going to take at least a generation in many cases, some were deciding it was better to plan their journey out of the sector instead.
“I can see the change at the moment; I can see farms that are leaving even though they are lucky enough to own or rent well-invested dairy farms,” he said.
Despite falling producer numbers,
milk production in the 2023/24 milk season was only back 0.2% year on year. Grass growth was in line or above the five-year average for most of the season in 2023, allowing good yield per cow for those on grazing.
Pressure
However, wet weather interrupted forage production and many cattle were housed earlier than usual with spring turnout delayed, putting pressure on forage and bedding stocks. Ms Shuttleworth added: “Average milk production per farm has seen good growth and, according to BCMS data, the GB dairy herd has been flat year on year. This suggests that there has been further movement towards larger farm sizes over the last 12 months.”
Major processors announce September milk price rises
MULLER has announced a 1.25ppl increase for September, adding the market was looking stable and highlighting the pressures farmers were facing. This will take its price from September 1 to 40.25ppl, which includes its 1ppl Muller Advantage premium which is paid quarterly in arrears.
First Milk has also announced a September increase, with a 1ppl rise taking its manufacturing standard litre to 42ppl, including the member premium.
Weather impact
Mike Smith, vice-chair and farmer director at First Milk, said many members were continuing to deal with the
impact of the weather on grazing and winter forage production, with a price rise ‘welcome news’.
Arla has confirmed its August price will increase for both conventional and organic milk by 0.74ppl.
This means the UK manufacturing price for conventional milk will increase to 42.44ppl and organic milk to 53.31ppl.
Arla Foods amba board director and Arla farmer Arthur Fearnall said: “Global milk supplies continue to be stable while retail sales continue to grow, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Commodity markets are stabilising, having been driven higher by a higher fat price. Overall, the outlook is stable.”
PICTURE: TIM SCRIVENER
According to AHDB’s latest survey of major milk buyers, it was estimated there were 7,130 dairy producers in Great Britain as of April 2024.
Nearly half of berry growers not profitable
BERRY growers are increasingly concerned over the future of the industry, with 40% of growers at risk of going out of business by 2026.
The new sugar beet contract options reflect the need for flexibility and choice in the industry, according to Keith Packer.
NFU Sugar and British Sugar agree beet deal
● Contrast to protracted negotiations last year
By Alex Black
NFU Sugar and British Sugar have agreed a deal for the 2025/26 sugar beet contract.
The ‘timely’ agreement was in contrast to last year when negotiations concluded in December after a breakdown in talks which saw NFU Sugar escalate the issue to Defra.
At the time, both parties agreed last year’s situation had ‘not served the industry well’.
Grower options are a one-year fixed price contract at £33/tonne, for up to 70% of the contract; a one-year contract with a guaranteed base price of £30.70/t plus an improved market- linked bonus and a futures-
linked contract, for up to 50% of the contract.
Growers can split their tonnage between any of these contract options.
An enhanced yield protection option is available for a reduced contract price of £31.60/t for the fixed price option or £29.30/t for the market-linked bonus and futures options. A cash advance, late delivery allowance and frost insurance are also offered.
Performance rules
The contract includes relaxed performance rules for one year only, ensuring growers retain their Contract Tonnage Entitlement (CTE) in 2026 if they deliver at least 70% of their contracted tonnage in 2025/26.
Michael Sly, NFU Sugar board chair, said he was pleased they had come to a ‘timely agreement’.
“The offer represents a fair deal in
HAMPTON STEEL
the context of the global sugar market. Importantly, it provides growers with a range of choices,” he said.
“The yield protection acknowledges the continuing threat of virus yellows disease and likelihood that the industry will not be granted emergency use of Cruiser SB in 2025.
“The relaxation of the performance rules recognises that some growers may wish to grow less this year but grow as normal in future years.”
Keith Packer, managing director of British Sugar, said: “We have learned how important flexibility and choice is to our growers and made sure these are at the heart of this year’s offer.
“While the core price reflects the current downturn in sugar markets, we have built in mechanisms which mean growers will share in any potential upside. This means if sugar markets do well, we all do well.”
With retailers’ shelves currently full of in-season berries, and suggestions the recent warm spell following wet weather earlier in the year could boost strawberry supplies, British Berry Growers (BBG) has raised concerns that the industry may be in jeopardy.
Almost half (47%) of British berry growers surveyed said they no longer made a profit, with 53% stating their financial situation was bad, or extremely bad.
Four in 10 could go out of business by the end of 2026, BBG warned, which could see a massive reduction in fresh British berries.
Fair return
Nick Marston, chair of BBG, said supermarkets were starting to listen to the fact growers needed a fair return.
“However, relationships with supermarkets have been hurt by the lack of support in recent years – 39% of our growers say their relationship with retailers has never been this bad,” he said.
Mr Marston added the survey needed to be a ‘wake-up’ call, with support needed from Government to ensure an ‘uninterrupted supply of pickers’.
“Increasing the length of the Seasonal Worker scheme visa from six to nine months would ensure we get the people we need to pick our fruit throughout our extended growing season,” he said.
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Balancing short-term and strategic priorities is vital for farming businesses. James Brown, of Rural Insight Land and Development, offers some advice on making those big decisions.
Long-term planning increasingly important
● For farms to thrive, constant change is vital
By Alex Black
STEERING a course towards longterm objectives can be tough at a time of agricultural transition and squeezed margins when the pres-
sure is on to make immediate changes which benefit the bottom line.
That was the message from Rural Insight Land and Development director James Brown, who said land managers should aim to view big decisions ‘through the prism’ of a 10- or 20-year perspective.
He said: “The Basic Payment Scheme is disappearing and new
Ember Energy UK WIDE
schemes are on offer, but across many enterprises yields have been lower and costs have been higher.
“There are so many factors in play and, in this fast-changing world where quick decisions are often needed, there can be a temptation to react in a piecemeal, knee-jerk way. But it is important to keep the longer view in mind.”
Holistic approach
WANTED
TURBINES FOR REPOWERING
The arrival of the Sustainable Farming Incentive has, according to Mr Brown, encouraged more of a holistic approach by encouraging the introduction of grass and livestock into systems and extending rotations.
“You have to make the most of the immediate opportunities in terms of support schemes and open-market revenues, but juggle this with the broader, longer term ones such as diversification, renewables and development,” he said.
It was important to set out five-, 10- and possibly 25-year objectives.
For landed estates, it might even extend to 50 years as enterprises such as timber can be ‘extremely longterm’ with intergenerational changes requiring more tax planning.
“Often, farmers have a sense of what their vision is, but find it hard to articulate, so it can help to write it down to crystallise it,” he added.
Planning for the future is not always easy, but it is necessary.
newables scheme, how tying up land for 30 years might affect the wider agricultural business,” he said. It was important to remember your own personal aspirations and preferences, along with those of your family, he added.
It can be a good time to evaluate and instigate systemic change as new generations come into the business, as they may bring new priorities and aspirations.
On larger farms and estates, there might be multiple decision-makers, which can bring additional expertise and focus.
“When it is just mum, dad and one or two members of next generation children sitting around the kitchen table it can feel quite tough and lonely making decisions, so work with your professional team – whether that is your consultant, land agent, solicitor or accountant – to navigate a path that makes sense for both the next year and the medium- and longterm,” added Mr Brown.
He said decision-making has become more ‘multi-levelled and nuanced’ and issues should not be looked at in isolation.
For the most successful businesses, change is a constant, he added, and while some decisions were hard to make, that did not mean they should not be made.
During this process, it was vital to ask ‘challenging’ questions, including what the Capital Gains and Inheritance Tax implications may be, how easily land converted to another use could be reverted, or how changes impact on agricultural operations.
“Ask, if you are considering entering a biodiversity net gain or re-
“The best decisions are ones that are right for the short-term and the long-term, but in an uncertain and volatile world, sometimes taking the right course of action in the short-term while keeping your options open longer term is the wise course to steer.
“Change is required and, if you are prepared to embrace it, your business will flourish,” Mr Brown said.
China investigates three European pork processors
l Danish Crown among those probed
By Alex Black
CHINA has confirmed it will examine three large European pig processors in its investigation into alleged ‘dumping’ of pig products on the Chinese markets.
Danish Crown, Vion Food Group in the Netherlands and Litera Meat in Spain have been selected for a detailed investigation.
China’s Commerce Ministry said authorities in the country will conduct anti-dumping investigations using samples from these companies.
Response
It comes after China announced its investigation in June, which was seen as a response to the imposition of duties on Chinese electric vehicles by the European Union.
The investigation could result in
new tariffs being imposed. The EU is a major exporter of pig products to China, in particular for offal.
This could, therefore, have a major impact on the EU pork trade and pig prices with a limited market for these cuts in Europe.
China was also looking to investigate the impact on local pork producers, selecting 24 domestic companies to provide a response to a questionnaire.
The investigation was expected to be completed by June 17, 2025, but could be extended by another six months.
In Europe, African swine fever has been confirmed in domestic pigs on two more farms in Hesse, Germany, according to the German Association of Pig Farmers (ISN). The virus was initially detected in this area of Germany in wild boar in June.
The location is near Frankfurt and not far from the French and Belgian borders. One case was detected in a smallholding, with another found on a farm with 1,100 animals.
US production gains drive exports
HIGHER production of US pork has led to higher exports, with steady to firm demand in the domestic and export market supporting prices.
US export figures have increased by 6.1% in the year to date (January to May), while imports of pigmeat to the US have grown 7.5% year-onyear (January to May).
According to AHDB, the US inventory
of all hogs and pigs stood at 74.5 million head on June 1, 2024, an increase of 1% from June last year.
Growth in the number of fattening pigs which were up 2% to 68.5m head, outweighed the 3% decline in the breeding herd.
US pork production is forecast to reach 12.8m tonnes in 2024, a 3.1% increase on 2023.
Vion
for
ISN said: “One dead animal was reported in the smaller herd. In the larger farm, the owner noticed several conspicuous animals.
“The district veterinary office im-
Soumya Behera, AHDB senior analyst, said: “Since the end of January, US pig prices have been trading above 2023 levels.
“Average liveweight equivalent prices in May recorded an increase of 19.5% year-on-year, but have steadied in recent weeks.
“The wholesale market has also seen a firm trend upwards in 2024
mediately took samples, which were confirmed as positive by the state laboratory that evening. Both pig herds must be killed for reasons of disease control.”
compared to year ago levels. Higher prices for bellies, loins and ribs have been reported to support the value of the whole carcase through June.”
Despite this, US pork remains competitive on the global market due in part to lower feed costs and reduced shipping rates in comparison to the EU and UK.
Danish Crown,
Food Group in the Netherlands and Litera Meat in Spain have been selected
a detailed investigation by China.
C ollege Clearance
Clearing is an opportunity for prospective students who have not got into their chosen universities to still get a place once they have their results. It can be used by any student who has not got a confirmed place after results day.
For a student to be eligible for clearing:
■ They would not have met the conditions of a university offer they have applied to.
■ They did not receive any offers (or none they wish to accept).
■ They may have applied after the UCAS deadline, although not all courses recruit during clearing and a student’s preferred option may not be available.
■ They are not waiting for the results of any qualifications.
If you apply through clearing there is an opportunity to choose a different course.
Edited by Emily Ashworth
Securing your future
■ They have changed their mind about the course or university they want to attend and wish to decline their current offer and put themselves into the clearing process.
Opportunities
How can you make the most of clearing?
If you apply through clearing there is an opportunity to choose a different course.
On results day, if a student has not received the grades they needed or expected, there is choice and a wide variety of courses which will be
available to them, despite not meeting their targets.
Many colleges and universities offer support for students going through clearing and have staff available to discuss prospective courses.
Most universities would advise students to consider all their options before applying, and to write a clearing shortlist if they think they might want to change course or university.
Making choices
A UCAS survey last year showed that 92% of students starting courses they discovered through clearing said they
UCAS
THE UCAS website has all the information and advice you need to find out about the clearing process.
were confident they had made the right choice.
Three-quarters said their experience of the clearing process was either great or good.
If clearing is not the option for prospective students, there will always be next year; 85% of students who apply the second time around get in.
College Clearance
Farmers Guardian’s Jobs in Agriculture portal aims to highlight all the diverse jobs in the sector. Ambassador Sophie Bell tells us why she wanted to further her education.
Sophie Bell has certainly put her education to use at home on the farm. The 25-year-old is a Harper Adams University graduate and she is a partner in the farm at home in Cavan, Ireland.
She is also currently studying for a masters degree at University College Dublin.
She says: “I thoroughly enjoyed [university], as it was a wonderful experience and led to so many opportunities.
“I wanted to expand my knowledge and skills, so I pursued higher education while continuing my farming endeavours.
“I recognised that a formal education would enhance my practical skills, but also provide me with a broader perspective on sustainable farming practices and agricultural innovations.
“My dedication to learning ext-
Student relishes time in higher education
ends beyond the classroom, as I actively participate in workshops, conferences and industry events to stay up to date with the latest trends and developments.
“Balancing the demands of farming and academia is no easy feat, but I embrace the challenge.”
Sophie has a passion for showcasing the industry on social media, and has more than 65,000 followers on Instagram.
Her aim is to promote that no matter your background, you can
find a career in farming. Having come from a tiny farm ‘with barely any practical experience’, she is determined to carve out her own path.
She says: “It can be a barrier, but I hope my story can inspire and show others that it is not the be all and end all by not coming from a large farm, which seems to be a significant stigma.”
MORE INFORMATION jobs.farmersguardian.com
Balancing the demands of farming and academia is no easy feat
SOPHIE BELL
Sophie Bell is currently studying for a masters degree at University College Dublin.
OFC scholarship to help boost diversity of people in farming
With a need to boost labour in the industry, many are working towards encouraging people from all walks of life into the sector, especially from diverse backgrounds.
The Oxford Farming Conference Breaking Barriers scholarship began five years ago, and gives people under the age of 30 who identify as black or people of colour (BPOC) and are interested in agriculture a unique opportunity to get a foot on the ladder.
The idea is to help encourage and support diversity and inclusion in agriculture, and to encourage people of colour into the sector which will, says vet and former Nuffield scholar Dr Navaratnam Partheeban, who helped to establish Breaking Barriers, help to create ‘racial equity and inclusion in the agricultural sector’.
In partnership with McDonald’s UK and Ireland, the scholarship strives to learn about other histories and cultures and communicate and engage with black or people of colour. The hope is that it will also
encourage farm businesses to look into their own business and work towards positive change.
The agricultural sector is one of the least diverse in the UK with around 0.8-1.2% of people in the field being BPOC.
Farming does not attract a substantial portion of the British population but, says Dr Partheeban, this scholarship gives the participants the chance to ‘safely experience the dynamic and diverse food and agricultural sector.’
Individuals do not have to come from a working or studying background, all they need is interest in getting into the food, farming and agriculture sector.
Many benefits
The plan of the scholarship is to provide individuals with education about the barriers to black or people of colour in agriculture, engagement with people working in the agricultural sector from BPOC backgrounds and make improvements to understanding leadership and social change, a chance to build a network of likeminded in-
Agriculture is stronger when we have a rich mix of diversity of people and this programme is all about bringing people in
DR NAVARATNAM PARTHEEBAN
dividuals working for equity and diversity in agriculture.
As well as agriculture careers, this scholarship promotes equality and allows positive representation in the agricultural sector.
Dr Partheeban says: “[The scholarship will] hopefully inspire them to
grow and flourish within our industry. Agriculture is stronger when we have a rich mix of diversity of people and this programme is all about bringing people in. It has been incredible meeting so many individuals through the programme and the positive support from McDonalds UK and Ireland has helped it grow from year to year.”
Scholars will have access to the full OFC Scholars programme, plus the following:
■ A Breaking Barriers meet-up in September/October 2024 in London, to introduce one another and design the Breaking Barriers scholarship experience to each person.
■ A two-day Breaking Barriers field trip to meet inspirational individuals in the sector and visit enterprises working in the agricultural sector.
■ Virtual monthly check-ins to share ideas and experiences as a group.
■ Materials including books to help support your future journey.
MORE INFORMATION
Applications close on August 12. For more information, visit: ofc.org.uk/ scholarship-programme
Dr Navaratnam Partheeban (third from the left) with former scholars.
David Singleton, lecturer in agriculture at Myerscough College, believes there are opportunities available to everyone.
Finding a place in the industry
Farmers are required to be the master of so many different industries. They are business professionals dealing with financial operations, negotiating with Government bodies, completing paperwork and complying with legislation. At the same time they are plumbers, builders, joiners and mechanics, as well as livestock specialists or growers, all while developing new skills as the business goes through constant change.
This means that agriculture can offer careers in all areas working to as high a level as a person wishes to achieve.
Agriculture is a lifelong learning industry that never stands still, providing opportunities at all levels to offer careers to anyone who has an interest and, it is never boring, as it constantly evolves and changes.
The world is your oyster; you can decide on whatever specialism you wish, and not being tied to a family farm can also be an advantage as it means you have an opportunity to move around, expand knowledge and increase employability prospects.
There are massive opportunities outside the more traditional jobs –former students have gone on to
Top five tips for clearance
1 Be prepared
Research the courses in clearing and write down any questions you may have about them, so you can ask the admissions team.
2
Consider a similar course
The exact course you hope to study may not be available through clearing, so consider similar degree titles, which may contain similar course content. Look at the modules you will study and graduate employment outcomes.
3
Have your details ready Things will move quickly throughout clearing, so make sure you have your results,
work in journalism, run livestock enterprises, become buyers for genetics companies, machinery specialists, become farm advisers and feed merchants.
Some have gone on to develop entrepreneurial enterprises, such as opening farm shops or running milk vending machines to help improve farm income and adding value to farm produce. The options are endless.
Skills shortage
There is a huge skills shortage in agriculture meaning that you will get a full-time job in the industry when qualified if you wish, but be prepared to work hard to be the best you can be, and do not attend college thinking it is a soft option, because it is not.
The friends and connections you make will stand you in good stead for the future and you get out of college what you put in. Remember, it is not an extension of Young Farmers and you will be expected to work, but the rewards can be amazing.
I am a lifelong advocate of learning; it is what keeps this business exciting – things move fast once you enter the agricultural industry and you will be learning for the rest of your life.
UCAS ID number, clearing number (if you have one), email and telephone number to hand. This will speed up the process of securing the offer you want.
4 Learn from others
Reassure yourself by seeking out experiences from other people who have been through clearing, before undertaking it yourself.
5 Do not feel disheartened about your results
Many students who go through clearing go on to have an amazing experience and perform really well in their degrees and careers.
Source: David Singleton
David Singleton
Farm Profile
Edited by Angela Calvert – 07768 796 492 – angela.calvert@agriconnect.com
For more features, go to
Growing fruit, mainly blackcurrants and apples, is a key element of the Husband family’s farming enterprise. Ewan Pate finds out more.
Blackcurrant harvest in full swing on Dundee farm
Most evenings from mid-July to early August, a lorry leaves East Adamston Farm near Dundee heading for Somerset. On busy evenings, there are two lorries to load before 6pm.
They are all carrying half-tonne bins of freshly picked blackcurrants and heading for Thatcher’s juicing plant at Sandford, where they will begin the process of being made into Ribena, one of Britain’s most enduring vitamin C-rich soft drinks.
The Husband family, who have been at East Adamston since 1940, have grown soft fruit for many years. They originally grew raspberries, but Andrew Husband – the fourth generation of the family to run the farm – his wife Julie and their son Fraser have developed the business so they now concentrate on blackcurrants and an exciting new apple growing venture.
Farm facts
■ 75 hectares (185 acres) of blackcurrants for Ribena production
■ 8ha (20 acres) of blackcurrant cuttings
■ 4ha (10 acres) of apples for cider production
The farm lies in a good arable farming area just to the north west of Dundee, and consists of mostly free-draining, south-facing land –which is ideal in many ways for blackcurrants. They now have 75 hectares (185 acres) of fruiting plantations and 8ha (20 acres) planted with cuttings. They are one of only four growers in Scotland contracted to Lucozade Ribena Suntory.
There are a further 35 contracted growers in the West Midlands and
■ 110,000 litres of Lost Orchards cider processed on-farm
■ 120,000 broiler chickens
■ 182ha cereals
■ Land let out for Christmas trees and grazing
south of England, but having around 20% of the total in Scotland helps spread the risk of poor crops elsewhere.
Andrew says: “The climate is definitely changing and it is causing some problems. Blackcurrants need a winter chill period of 2,000 hours below 7degC.
“It is becoming more of a worry in the south, but here we are fortunately still comfortably within the limit.”
Of all the growers, Andrew is the nearest to the blackcurrant breeding
centre, which is based only four miles away at the James Hutton Institute’s (JHI) Mylnefield campus. The various owners of the Ribena brand have funded a breeding programme over decades, with each variety bred to meet specific requirements.
“We work a lot with JHI on various fruit-related projects, and we also rent them a field for their potato variety plots. We grow five blackcurrant varieties: Ben Gairn, Ben Starav, Ben Dorain, Ben Lawers and Ben Kilbreck. They are all named after Scottish Munros, which are mountains over 3,000 feet,” says Andrew.
Plantations
Plantations normally last at least 10 years, with new plantations established every year. One of the main risks, which shortens the life of plantations, is big bud reversion caused by a virus carried by the blackcurrant
Left to right: Fraser and Andrew Husband.
Dundee Farm Profile
gall mite. A more routine disease, and one that has to be countered every year by spraying in the run-up to harvest, is botrytis grey mould.
Harvesting is a one-pass operation and is completely mechanised. The self-propelled harvester requires only one driver, with either one or two pickers looking after an inspection table.
Fraser is in charge of field logistics and the important business of adjusting the machine to suit the conditions on the day. Brix tests are routinely taken to establish sweetness and the order of harvest. Nothing is left to chance, and a second harvester is available if needed.
A well-laid-out plantation with good row lengths helps boost output. Andrew believes one of his fields, which is 700 metres long, contains the longest blackcurrant rows in Britain.
The only other soft fruit grown at East Adamston is the remaining plantation of blueberries. The Husbands were among the pioneers of blueberry production in Scotland, but like many other growers, they are now finding it uneconomical to pick the crop commercially. Imports, mostly from South America, now dominate the market at prices which are hard to compete with.
“Now we only do some pick-yourown, with the rest going to a food bank run by the charity Transition Dundee. Volunteers come out to do the picking and we are very happy to donate the fruit,” says Andrew.
Unusually for Scotland, there is,
however, a top fruit enterprise on-farm. It is based around a 4ha (10acre) apple orchard, which was planted in stages from 2012.
Cider
It has developed into far more than a fruit-growing enterprise, however.
The Husbands have established a cider-making business, producing 100,000 litres of the drink per year.
Another three growers in Angus and Perthshire have now established
orchards to help meet demand.
Various ciders are produced under the Lost Orchards brand. The name refers to the many orchards which, until a hundred years ago, flourished in the nearby Carse of Gowrie, but have now nearly all been grubbed up with traces of their existence lost.
planted using the Swedish variety Katy, which is very juicy for eating or for culinary use, but also ideal for producing a fresh modern cider.
The new orchards are not growing heritage varieties or even traditional cider varieties. Instead, they have been
Julie says: “We have been delighted at the way demand has grown in a few short years. You can now find Lost
Harvesting the blackcurrants is a one-pass operation and is completely mechanised.
Blackcurrants grown at East Adamston Farm are made into Ribena.
Farm Profile Dundee
Orchard cider in pubs and restaurants from Shetland down to Cornwall. Most of our sales are made to wholesalers, but we also have an online ordering facility on our website. We use a fulfilment depot in Perth to dispatch the orders.
“We made a good start by winning a gold medal in 2019 for a modern cider. We also make a ‘Scottish Dark Berries’ cider with blackcurrants and blackberries, and a ‘Scottish Red
Berries and Lime’ using locally grown raspberries and strawberries.”
The range is completed with a low-alcohol cider which, unlike the others, does not attract excise duty.
Apple harvest
The apple harvest takes place from late September into October, and at the moment is carried out by hand. A tree shaking machine may shortly be on the shopping list. The harvested
apples are taken round to a processing plant, which is set up in its own modern building.
The line consists of a 6t capacity moving floor hopper, which feeds into a washing plant, and then a continuous flow press with a capacity of 3t per hour. The juice is then piped directly to one of six stainless steel fermentation tanks.
Once the cider has been suitably matured, it is piped into the intermediate bulk container tanks ready for transporting to a contract bottler. The finished product comes back to the same building, which is also a bonded warehouse, ready for distribution.
Some people might be tempted to describe this new venture as a farm diversification, but Andrew disagrees.
He says: “It is not really a diversification. It is just another business enterprise to add onto what we are already doing.”
Strategy
His strategy regarding fruit has been to select crops which can be mechanised and have a low seasonal labour requirement. The workforce at East Adamston for most of the year consists of Andrew, Julie and Fraser, plus one full-time tractor operator.
It is a remarkably small and efficient team considering they also have a 120,000-place broiler chicken unit on-farm and grow 182ha (450 acres) of cereals.
The chickens are on contract to the
We made a good start by winning a gold medal in 2019 for a modern cider. We also make a ‘Scottish Dark Berries’ cider with blackcurrants and blackberries
JULIE HUSBAND
2 Sisters processing plant, which is 10 miles away at Coupar Angus. The cereal acreage can include some winter wheat, but it is mostly spring barley.
“Now that we are growing Laureate, we can grow a big yield per hectare while still making malting quality. It is producing just as good a gross margin as wheat, with less outlay,” says Andrew.
But before the combine is out, there is the small matter of completing the blackcurrant harvest. The midsummer days at East Adamston are so long and busy that grain harvest must seem like a bit of light relief.
Julie and Andrew Husband in the cider processing plant.
Lost Orchards cider is named after the orchards that flourished in Carse of Gowrie hundreds of years ago.
Arable
Edited by Jane Thynne – 07882 219 917 – jane.thynne@agriconnect.com
For more arable content, go to farmersguardian.com/arable-news-hub
Most arable farmers keep cropped land out of SFI
● Only 10% opt to swap to scheme
By Jane Thynne
ALMOST two-thirds of arable farmers in England opted not to enter cropped land into the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), preferring to retain it for food production, according to data.
The findings have been released following the AHDB Planting and Variety Survey 2024, and reveal that 65% of the 838 respondents did not reduce their cropped arable area for harvest this year.
Of those who had taken land out for SFI, half of them substituted equal to or less than 10% of their cropped land. While just more than a quarter (27%) took 11-20% of cropped area out and
just under a quarter (23%) took 21% or more of cropped area out.
The levy board says overall the figure aligns closely with recent Defra statistics, covering all farming sectors, where analysis shows the majority of farms (53%) have not taken land out of production for SFI.
According to AHDB analyst Lee Darragh, the benefits of SFI may vary due to the individuality of farm businesses, for example, the payments for herbal leys and legume fallows that the scheme offers have appealed to some as an alternative to a break crop. Plus, there are non-financial benefits of improving soil health too, which may benefit rotations mid to longer term.
Agronomist Greg Taylor says: “Some farmers are just anti taking land out of production and believe they should provide food and then
Weather effect
there are those who just do not consider SFI to be a viable financial option.”
Mr Taylor says following a raft of added options which were released earlier in the year as growers were dealing with a wet winter and spring, he is surprised the uptake has been low. But he believes continuing weather events will encourage more farmers to seek-out relevant options.
“The weather will be a massive catalyst,” he says.
“Farmers have to build resilience into their systems and the money is there. We have had three wet autumns and two incredibly dry years, that is five years of extreme weather and we do not know what harvest or autumn will bring.”
Mr Taylor says much will also
Agronomist Greg Taylor believes that severe weather may lead to increased SFI uptake in the future.
depend on the grain market, which following highs in 2022 and 2023 has seen the ‘bubble burst’.
“One of the main problems has been the way in which SFI has been introduced – which seems to be a little haphazard – has not helped and farmers’ interaction with the scheme has mirrored that,” he adds.
REDUCED CROPPING AREA FOR SFI
SOURCE:
Harvest 2024: Winter barley first out in RL trial figures
EARLY harvest results from five fungicide-treated AHDB Recommended List (RL) winter barley trial sites reveal the current average treated yield of control varieties (9.76 tonnes per hectare) is 0.14t/ha above the five-year average (9.62t/ha).
The data covers 24 sites – 16 treated and eight untreated – in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire. Of the areas, Yorkshire had the lowest yield owing to ‘lodging caused by heavy rain’ in the third week of July.
While the results reflect the challenging season, the RL winter barley trials were less affected as they ‘went in during good conditions and estab-
lished well’ before the weather broke in autumn 2023.
Sean Burns, senior crop production system scientist at AHDB, says the five trial sites were planted between September 23 and October 5, avoiding the heavy downpours of mid-October.
He says: “It has been a difficult year.
“From October 15 until the middle of May there were at least two days a week with significant rainfall. Considering how wet it has been, the average yield [both treated and untreated] is only just behind the five-year average for winter barley.
“I would say, although this is only a snapshot, the winter barley has held up quite well this season.”
In terms of yield, the six-row hybrid varieties are yielding at or just below their five-year average, Bazooka (103%), SY Kingston (106%), Belfry (102%) and SY Canyon (106%), with the exception of SY Kingsbarn (104%) yielding 3% below.
‘Cautiously hopeful’
Mr Burns adds he would expect the six-row hybrids to out-perform other varieties, but this year the six-row hybrids and the two- and six-row conventionals are all performing similarly.
“I am cautiously hopeful for winter barley on the whole. But I think it may be a different story with oilseed rape yields and winter wheat. I have seen
some trials where the wheat has sadly been living under water for quite some time and it does not like it. Cold, wet soils do not do a lot for root activity.”
The mild and wet weather meant diseases were strongly established, with brown rust and rhynchosporium both common in fungicide-untreated trials ‘bubbling up’ throughout June. The continued winds and rain in the approach to harvest resulted in ‘lodging and brackling of weaker strawed varieties in some trials’.
“The conditions have undoubtedly contributed to the prevalence of brown rust,” Mr Burns says.
“It has been significant in both the untreated and treated crops.”
● Albert Bartlett partners with Fera Science
POTATO supply business Albert Bartlett has formed a partnership with Fera Science in a bid to control aphid numbers and combat viral infection levels in seed potato crops across Scotland.
Forty-five growers have signed up to the Albert Bartlett-funded monitoring process for the 2024 seed potato growing season, each returning up to ten sampling traps for analysis throughout.
Aphid types will be identified, counted and reported weekly by Fera, along with the virus transmission risk.
A new aphid monitoring scheme is set to help safeguard the health status of potato seed supplied to growers across the UK in 2025.
Combating aphid-borne viruses in UK seed potatoes
Will Jackson, of Albert Bartlett, says: “Understanding the aphid species present is fundamental to determining the risk of virus transmission, allowing seed growers to target the use of the limited number of insecticides available.”
Growers can access their aphid results, and those of others taking part in the scheme, via weekly updates on
New UK-based research centre set to develop sustainable protein alternatives
CROP science organisation NIAB has been announced as a partner in a new USD$30 million (£23m) Sustainable Protein Centre established by the Bezos Earth Fund and based at Imperial College London.
The centre will be one of multiple Earth Fund Centres working together with other institutions and industry partners in a USD$100m (£77m) commitment to developing sustainable protein alternatives and expanding consumer choice, as part of an overall USD$1 billion (£0.8bn) commitment to food transformation.
The Bezos Sustainable Protein Centre will focus on three main areas of alternative protein production: cultured meat, precision fermentation and plant-based protein.
Impactful research
NIAB project lead Dr Phil Howell says: “NIAB is well placed to deliver impactful research for the plant protein sector.
“We have a presence all along the crop development pipeline, beginning with crop transformation, genetics, pathology and pre-breeding research, following right through to understanding agronomy and farming systems.
“We already have experience in faba bean and are now branching out into alternative legumes such as chickpea, lentil, soya bean and lupin.”
Dr Andrew Steer, president and chief executive of the Earth Fund,
the scheme’s website. Fera also provides text and email alerts, which growers can choose to sign up to.
Safeguard
Mr Jackson adds: “Investing in the aphid monitoring scheme in 2024 will help safeguard the health status of the potato seed supplied to ware growers across the UK in 2025.”
Call for CIPC residue data
STORE managers in the potato sector are being called on to submit chlorpropham (CIPC) residue data from potatoes held in stores previously treated with CIPC to satisfy the data submission requirements of the Health and Safety Executive’s Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD).
This is needed after the CRD set a temporary Maximum Residue Level (tMRL) for CIPC of 0.35mg/kg, effective from April 10, 2024. The MRL will be used to monitor residues for CIPC which is no longer approved for use in the UK but residues remain in store.
Cross-industry body the CIPC Residues Monitoring Group says it is vital that growers and the industry submit residue data so that potato stores that were previously treated with CIPC can continue to be used safely, but report they are lacking samples from the fresh sector. Without this, the tMRL may be lowered, which could mean many previously treated stores might not be usable in the future.
The potential of plants as an alternative protein source is one of three key areas of focus for a new UK-based Sustainable Protein Centre.
says: “This work will help ensure that our future includes more protein options, and that they taste great, are nutritious and come at a low cost.”
The Earth Fund was created by a
commitment of USD$10bn (£7.7bn) from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2020 to be disbursed as grants to address climate and nature within the current decade.
■ Any growers or store managers willing to supply CIPC residue data from crops held in stores with a CIPC history are asked to email adrian@potatostorageinsight.com
■ Details of the CRMG and how to submit samples can be found at gb-potatoes.co.uk/cipc-residuesmonitoring-group/
PICTURE: GARY NAYLOR
PICTURE:
Pre- and post-emergence applications of digestate proved to be a winning formula for one Welsh grower seeking to deter cabbage stem flea beetle from attacking his oilseed rape. Farmers Guardian reports.
Digestate deters flea beetle to protect OSR crop in Wales
Facing intense cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) pressure on his oilseed rape (OSR) last season, South Wales farmer Richard Anthony, of R and L Anthony, experimented with applying digestate to his emerged OSR crop. It is a move to which he attributes his OSR’s survival.
The experiment was followed by R.M. Jones agronomist, Hannah Mitchell, who also works with Agrii, for her BASIS project.
The study was nominated for the BASIS Paul Singleton Project of the Year Award.
Relationship
Ms Mitchell began by investigating previous studies at the Royal Agriculture University (RAU) which found a relationship between digestate applications, improved plant counts, reduced CSFB shot holing and larval damage.
“We tried to vary the treatments, with some going on pre-emergence and some post-emergence at different times.
“It was a farm trial, so there was no control. Instead, we were analysing the effectiveness of the digestate after it was applied.”
The fields drilled in the second week of August and treated with
pre- and post-emergence digestate survived the CSFB damage.
Those planted in early September with only pre-emergence digestate struggled to get past the very high CSFB pressure, and some were written off following subsequent turnip sawfly damage.
“Post-emergence treatments of digestate worked better than pre-emergence treatments for deterring flea beetle,” says Ms Mitchell.
“You could see the flea beetle jumping off the leaf once the digestate had been applied.
“I do not know whether it was the smell, or the feeling of it on their bodies.
“Whatever it was had them jumping around the field and the flea beetle were not happy being exposed to it,” adds Ms Mitchell.
It was first time the farm’s OSR had been exposed to such heavy CSFB pressure.
“You could not film it; you had to see it to believe it,” says Mr Anthony. As we put the digestate on, you could see the flea beetle leave the crop.”
He believes the approach is far better than any insecticide because the digestate deters the CSFB from the field without killing any beneficials. He does not know how long the deterrent effect lasted, but did not see any further damage after the application.
Despite the pest pressure last season, Mr Anthony plans to grow his usual area of 194 hectares of OSR this year.
He only grows hybrids, using low seed rates and sowing them with a mixture of three companion crops: buckwheat, spring beans and vetch.
“One of the big problems with
Using digestate on OSR post-emergence is an option growers with access to it should consider to help boost crop establishment, believes agronomist Hannah Mitchell.
using low seed rates is you create an open canopy that pigeons like to land in.
“The big benefit of having the beans and buckwheat is you create a canopy they cannot land in,” he adds.
Fertiliser
Nitrogen fixation from the companion crops also contributes significantly to fertiliser savings.
Mr Anthony grows his OSR without applying any mineral nitrogen fertiliser.
Autumn digestate applications amount to 8cu.m/hectare, followed by 25cu.m/ha in spring, at the beginning of flowering.
Ms Mitchell believes using digestate on OSR post-emergence is an option those farmers with access to it should consider.
She is also keen to explore similar alternatives such as slurry, which is easy to find in areas such as South Wales with its many dairy farms.
“If you already have a by-product and need somewhere for it to go, it could help you establish OSR.
“I think there is definitely a place for it,” she concludes.
Hannah Mitchell
Richard Anthony
● Post-emergence application better
Arable
High up, looking across to the Yorkshire Wolds, the views from Sawdon Heights Farm are stunning, but conditions can be testing for the farm’s oilseed rape (OSR) crop.
“You cannot farm a view,” reflects Andrew Dickinson with a wry smile. Nonetheless, with the help of his son Chris, who is an agronomist with Agrovista, he has developed an approach to growing OSR on the farm that sees him budgeting for a yield of up to four tonnes per hectare if all goes to plan.
The Dickinson family have farmed at Sawdon Heights, eight miles inland from Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast, since 1943, with Mr Dickinson and his wife Sue taking over in 1995.
Diversified
An 81-hectare arable enterprise sits alongside 1,500 head of bed and breakfast pigs. The Dickinsons have also diversified with holiday cottages and a touring caravan site.
Soil type is free-draining medium loam over limestone, hosting a rotation which includes winter wheat, spring barley, winter barley and OSR.
OSR has traditionally been grown in a one-in-four rotation on the farm, but the aim is to push that out to one in five with the addition of an extra crop of spring barley.
The longer break will benefit the OSR in terms of reducing pests – particularly cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) – disease and weed pressure.
Having an extra cereal in the rotation also helps with utilising muck from the pig enterprise.
Just over 15ha of OSR were drilled last autumn, of which close to 10ha
Getting oilseed rape up and away as quickly as possible is the aim of one Yorkshire grower for whom challenging conditions are the norm. Farmers Guardian reports.
Planning for a flying start in North Yorks
are hybrid DK Extremus and, pleasingly, all 15ha will make it to harvest.
With limited break crop options on the farm, Mr Dickinson is keen to retain OSR in the rotation, despite the CSFB threat, and believes setting up the crop well from the onset is the key to success.
Over time, he and Chris have developed a system which, while never guaranteeing a high-yielding crop of OSR, nonetheless gives it every opportunity possible to deliver a profitable yield.
His approach is based around early drilling, so DK Extremus is a good fit here; understanding when CSFB is likely to arrive on the farm; and with the arrival of a new 3-metre Claydon Hybrid direct drill – made possible by a grant under Defra’s Farming Equipment and Technology Fund – the ability to place fertiliser with the seed.
He says the aim is to drill early and reduce soil disturbance when establishing the OSR.
He says: “We used to aim to drill on August 20, but we have found that the last 10 days of August seem to be the worst for flea beetle here.
Last autumn we placed 106kg/ha diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser with the seed using the new drill and I think it is the best thing we have done.
“The rape came through in seven days; it really got away well.
“We managed to get it drilled just before the bad window for the flea beetle, which came more towards the end of August into the beginning of September.”
It has been another challenging year for OSR, but Sawdon Heights’
OSR looks to have plenty of potential. Weather permitting, it will be cut in the second week of August and, as always, the combine will have the final word.
Sawdon Heights’ agronomy for OSR establishment
■ Claydon Drill used to place 106kg/ha DAP fertiliser near the seed – placement means less fertiliser is needed
■ Diflufenican (DFF) herbicide not applied to previous winter barley because of its long halflife and potential to harm the following OSR crop
■ Use of sulphonylureas avoided where possible in previous cereal
■ No pre-emergence or early season residual herbicides are applied to OSR to reduce the risk of slowing early establishment
■ No growth regulation in the autumn to avoid stress
■ Biostimulant (Terra-sorb) applied at cotyledon-2-leaf stage for a ‘jump-start’
Setting up the crop well from the onset is the key to oilseed rape success, believes North Yorkshire grower Andrew Dickinson.
Andrew Dickinson
With SFI eating into the UK production area and the never-ending challenges of modern crop production, choosing wheat varieties that offer performance, reliability and versatility remains a priority. Farmers Guardian reports.
Why there is a growing need for versatile wheat varieties
The growing of high performance wheat varieties combining high productivity and versatility is becoming increasingly important as uptake of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) increases.
That is according to Andersons Centre senior analyst James Webster, who points out that SFI has a cost of delivery.
“Where farmers allocate land to the scheme, what remains must be increasingly productive to offset any loss of income, placing the emphasis on growing varieties with characteristics which are in line with that objective,” he says.
“The need to maximise outputs and optimise production costs will highlight the importance of growing varieties which are both highly productive and very efficient in terms of utilising inputs.”
Emphasis
While the overall value of input costs has fallen, the need to keep overall production costs in check remains, putting the emphasis on selecting varieties with good nitrogen efficiency and strong inherent disease resistance, adds Mr Webster.
“Fundamentally, first wheat will always be the best, most productive option and deliver the highest margins, but this season’s exceptionally wet weather has severely impacted many farm businesses’ cropping plans.”
In the case of wheat, the focus will
Where land is allocated to SFI, what remains must be increasingly productive to offset any loss of income, placing the emphasis on selection of varieties that yield well and utilise inputs efficiently, says Andersons’ James Webster.
typically be on growing varieties which have the potential to produce high yields, but can also be managed to generate a milling premium, if the potential is there to achieve a quality sample, Mr Webster believes.
“KWS Extase, for example, which
NORTH WEST EXPERIENCE
JOHN Pape, seeds manager for Quantil Seed Services, says KWS Extase has become a major variety for the company’s customers in the North West in recent years.
Farmers in the region like the variety for its ease of management and cleanliness, says Mr Pape.
“Although there are some large arable areas within the region, across most of the North West cereals tend to be a break from grass and vegetables rather than a cash crop.
“Because of that, growers are generally not interested in chasing the latest, highest-yielding varieties.
“Instead, they focus primarily
combines the potential to generate a milling premium with high yields, provides multiple marketing options.
“The UK is good at producing wheat with 12-13% protein and growing a versatile variety such as KWS Extase, allows farmers to keep their options open.
on those which are tried and tested, produce consistent, reliable yields, and do so without resorting to high levels of nitrogen or chemical inputs.
“There are not too many milling opportunities locally, and generally to achieve milling specification you must target that market from the outset.
“Most farmers in this region grow KWS Extase for feed and use it for their own stock or to sell to a feed mill.”
He adds the variety is high yielding and has a high specific weight, but from a management standpoint has a low input requirement when it comes to keeping the crop clean.
“That is important to farmers in
“Its very good disease resistance may enable savings in crop protection products, which in turn, will reduce application costs, labour and fuel, so the case for growing it remains strong.”
not demand high inputs,” he says.
this area, most of whom want a solid feed variety which does
James Webster
John Pape
Edited by Angela Calvert – 07768 796 492
Ram lamb, from David and Paula Reid, Mouswald, which sold for 10,000gns to Jed and Benni Sharp, Tenbury Wells.
10,000gns top for Suffolks at Shrewsbury
l Shearling trade to 5,000gns high
THE Suffolk Sheep Society’s national sale at Shrewsbury topped at 10,000gns four times with an 87.5% clearance rate.
Taking both the male and female championship were Jed and Benni Sharp, of the Sharps flock, Tenbury Wells.
Their male champion which went on to take the overall supreme title was a ram lamb by Sportsmans Striker out of a Hawshill dam. It went on to sell for the joint top price of 10,000gns to Ali Jackson for the Topgun flock, Dumfries.
Ram lamb
Another ram lamb at 10,000gns was a triplet son of Dunfell Dynamite out of a Ballynacannon Noah-sired ewe
from Melvin Stuart’s Birness flock, Ellon, which was knocked down to R.G. and R.A. Jones for the Rowleston flock, Haverfordwest.
Also selling for 10,000gns from David and Paula Reid’s Conchar flock, Mouswald, was a son of Claycrop Classic out of a homebred dam which went to Messrs Sharp.
The final ram lamb to sell for 10,000gns from Myfyr Evans’ Rhaeadr flock, Denbigh, was a son of Carony Cha Ching which sold in a three-way split to Dafydd Jones, Llanon, T.A Irwin and Son, Umberleigh, and B. Roth, Redruth.
The reserve male champion, a ram lamb by 30,000gns Rempstone Gambler whose grandam was the 2018 Royal Highland Show champion, from James Innes’ Strathbogie flock, Huntly,
Flying prime sheep trade at Carlisle
AT Carlisle on Monday the entry of almost 1,700 ewes topped at £300 for pure Texels from Messrs Millar, Canobie. Beltex ewes sold to £265 from Messrs Ingram, Logie Durno, Aberdeenshire, who also sold a pen of 17 Texel ewes at £245/head and led the Suffolks at £210/head. Mules sold to £185 for Messrs Borthwick, Drunshangan Hill.
The 2,280 prime lambs sold to £220 and 500p/kg were a pair of Beltex lambs from Messrs Trafford, Bassenthwaite Hall, which sold to
sold for 7,000gns to D. and J. Inman for their Lindum flock, Melton Mowbray.
The female champion from Messrs Sharp was a shearling ewe by Lakeview Logie out of a Salopian dam which topped the shearling trade when selling for
Yorkshire Halal Meat, Ossett, with this run of 22 lambs averaging £191.27.
Heavy lambs sold to £198 for Texels from Messrs Coulter, Ballymena, with Texels to 414p from Adam and Amy Bell, Thethwaite.
Suffolks sold to £182 from Messrs Reid, Calfpark, Dumfries and Bromfield Farms, Wigton.
A larger show of Mules topped at £147 and 327p/kg for Messrs Carruthers, Longtown.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington.
Ram lamb, from Melvin Stuart, Ellon, which sold for 10,000gns to R.G. and R.A. Jones, Haverfordwest.
Ram lamb, from Myfyr Evans, Denbigh, which sold for 10,000gns in a threeway split to Dafydd Jones, Llanon, T.A Irwin and Son, Umberleigh, and B. Roth, Redruth.
Overall champion, a ram lamb, from Jed and Benni Sharp, Tenbury Wells, which sold for 10,000gns to Ali Jackson, Dumfries.
5,000gns to Claire Kenyon for the Redacre flock, Ormskirk.
AVERAGES: Shearling ewes, £1,641; ewe lambs, £787.50; shearling rams, £800; ram lambs £1,573.52. Auctioneers: J. Straker, Chadwick and Sons with Halls.
Leyburn store lambs average £102
AT the show and sale of pens of 20 store lambs at Leyburn, judge John Sunter, West Witton, awarded first prize in the continental class to a pen from Georgina Laws, Hawkswell, which went on to sell for £121.50/head.
The first prize-winning Suffolks came from Damian Stelling and family, Grewelthorpe, and sold for £114/head.
Top price lambs at £131/head were a pair of Texels from Robert and Rachel Spensley, of RMS Livestock, Castle Bolton. The overall sale average was £102.
In the rearing calf section, Alwyn Spence, Thornton Rust, sold a five-
week-old British Blue bull for £600 with Tom Umpleby, Carlsmoor, just behind at £595 for one at six weeks old.
Phillip Robinson, East Rounton, sold eight-week-old Angus bulls to £550, with plenty more from £450 plus.
David Smith, Keighley, sold three- to five-week-old Charolais bull calves to top at £590 twice, with another at £580, while his 28-day-old heifer sold for £440. Mr Spence sold five-week-old British Blue heifers to £500 and £470.
Auctioneers: Leyburn Auction Mart
Sheepdogs to high of 6,000gns at Skipton
● Netherbeck Connie leads day’s trade
THE entry of 17 fully broken field-run working sheepdogs at Skipton’s summer sale topped at 6,000gns.
The sale leader from Colin Birkett, Carnforth, was the February 2022born black and white bitch, Netherbeck Connie by Frank Hickson’s Chase, out of the home-bred Millie, which went to a Scottish buyer.
Next, at 4,800gns, was the twoyear-old black and white bitch, Sal, from Richard Holt, Helmshore. The daughter of Welshman Kevin Evans’ dual European nursery and Royal Welsh champion, Tanhill Glen, which sold to Ben Comer, Somerset.
Tony Birkett, younger brother of Colin, and also from Carnforth, took 4,700gns with his home-bred May 2022-born Bob by Spot, a son of Kevin
Evans’ Red Spot which also went to a Scottish buyer.
Matching the 4,700gns price was Copperthorns Liz, a February 2021born black and white bitch by Ricky Hutchinson’s Jonah the 2021 English national and international brace champion, from Paul Bouch, Kirkoswald, which went to Stephen Fawcett, Drebley.
Red and white
Michael Woods, Ormskirk, made 4,000gns with Cydros Roy, an April 2022-born red and white son of Dreamwork Fred.
The buyer was Scottish Highlands’ hill farmer Raymond Ross, Sutherland.
IT was Charolais bulls which led the calf trade at Bentham, selling to £610 for John and Edward Fox, Quernmore, with Dave Harrison, Wray, at £605 and the Duncans, Bentham, at £590.
Charolais heifers sold to £440 and £410 for Oliver Parkinson, Woodplumpton. British Blues topped at £475 for Andrew Linney, Keasden, and Edward Booth, Wigglesworth, with John Lawson, Cockerham, at £465.
British Blue heifers topped at £500 for a strong weaned calf from Gary Sunter, Mansergh. The Gibbons, St Michaels, sold to £480 and £460.
Aberdeen-Angus calves sold to £475 for John Lawson, Bentham, £470 for Messrs Fox, with John Lawson, Cockerham, at £460 and most at £380-£440. Aberdeen-Angus heifers sold from £300-£375, with a top of £440 for Gary Sunter and £460 for Mr Lawson.
Auctioneers: Richard Turner and Son.
A New Route to Market
Netherbeck Connie, from Colin Birkett, Carnforth, which sold for 6,000gns to a Scottish buyer.
NATIONAL CLASSIFIEDS
For any enquiries contact Dafydd Davies - 07506 083590 dafydd@farmersmarts.co.uk
The periods before and immediately after a General Election have the effect of halting projects, unless they are of outstanding importance.
The topic of bovine electronic identification (EID) and the replacement of the British Cattle Movement Service clearly does not fall into the above category, because it has been trundling along at a snail’s pace for six or seven years.
This is odd, when one casts one’s mind back to the heady days when electronic sheep tagging was thrust upon the industry, together with accompanying regulations that threatened dire consequences if a single tag failed to be read and recorded.
they have their own passports. So why are we still awaiting bovine EID?
I understand that it is because of a lack of agreement about which of two rival technologies we should adopt.
Time to resolve bovine electronic identification
Ireland, and Defra is heading in the same direction.
North of the border in Scotland, high frequency is the favoured option, but perhaps the answer is for tags to be readable by both systems.
So, it is a case of we will tag the low road, and they will tag the high road.
As an auctioneer who has seen both systems demonstrated at onfarm trials, I would just like to see the matter resolved – with my vote very much for the low frequency option.
The problem is that until the choice is made officially, no-one can start putting electronic tags into calves, thus starting the ‘running-in’ period.
It is a bit like planting trees, you always wish you had planted them 20 years sooner. As it is, we are going to have to run for several years with part of the cattle population with EID tags and the rest without, creating a great deal of extra work.
farm sale parking. I tend to divide approaching vehicles into two categories, those with four-wheel drive and those without, which fall into the designation ‘slippery customers’.
Many of the latter suffer from permanent anxiety that they are going to get stuck in the field. I invariably assure them that there is a tractor onhand and, rather like Saving Private Ryan’s elite US Army rangers, we have never left a man behind.
The four-wheel drivers usually have little to fear, but there is always a smile when the drivers of pickups with selectable four-wheel drive arrive on concrete or tarmac with it still engaged, whereupon the vehicle does a hop, skip and a jump, as the driver with forearms resembling Popeye, attempts to steer round a corner.
Perhaps our farm sale caterers should serve spinach.
Why bovine EID did not predate electronic sheep tagging is a mystery to me. Cattle need to be dealt with as individuals rather than bunches and
Alastair Sneddon is senior partner at Bagshaws. Call 01629 812 777, or email Alastair.Sneddon@ bagshaws.com Alastair Sneddon on delays to bovine EID
These are low frequency and ultra high frequency, both have their good and bad points, but the EU has come down in favour of low frequency, which is being introduced in
1374+ HEAD
LAMBS 10am 1 SHEEPDOG, 6 GOATS, 214 BREEDING EWES, 44 DORSETS, 134 COLOURED BREEDING SHEEP 12.30pm 967 SUMMER SHOW OF STORE LAMBS Catalogue online. Tuesday 6 August 10am MONTHLY MACHINERY SALE
All entries to the yard 8am to 2pm on Monday 5th Loadall onsite Thursday 8 August
10.30am PRIME BEEF followed by CULL CATTLE 10.30am REARING CALVES
11.00am WEEKLY DAIRY entries to Eleanor
12.30pm STRIKS entries to the office by Tuesday 6 12noon
Saturday 10 August
9.30am WEEKLY CAST SHEEP & PRIME HOGGS
10.30am FORTNIGHTLY BREEDING & STORE CATTLE SALE entries to the office by Tuesday 6 12noon
Thursday 15 August
10.30am PRIME BEEF followed by CULL CATTLE
10.30am REARING CALVES
11.00am SEMEX UK with JAMESON FEEDS
DAIRY SHOW & SALE entries to Eleanor by Monday 12 Aug SEASONAL SHEEP SHOW AND SALES
Sat 17 Aug - 1st SHOW OF MULE & CONT SHEARLINGS
Sat 2 Sept - 2nd MULE & CONT SHEARLINGS
Sat 7 Sept - 1st MULE & CONT GIMMER LAMBS
Tue 10 Sept TWILIGHT TUP SALE
Sat 14th Sept - HORNED & HILL GOING inc HERDWICKS
Sat 28 Sept – 2nd MULE & CONT GIMMER LAMBS Sat 12 Oct- OCTOBER BREEDING FAIR OF SHEEP
After plodding through the rights and wrongs of bovine EID the reader is surely entitled to a little light entertainment, courtesy of observations of
At BROOKHOUSE FARM, TOM HILL, TANWORTH IN ARDEN, SOLIHULL, B94 5AD
THURSDAY 22nd AUGUST at 3.00pm
Auctioneers: 01905 769770
SHORTLIST REVEALED
It’s decision time as we reveal the shortlist for Mart’s the Heart Awards, so register your vote at britishfarmingawards.co.uk/martstheheart, scan the QR code below or send o the form on the opposite page.
Supported by
CARMARTHEN
In association with
AUCTION MART OF THE YEAR
HEXHAM AND NORTHERN
MARKET DRAYTON
SKIPTON
CARMARTHEN Mart had a di icult few years preceding its closure in 2020, leading to the owners, Carmarthen County Council, to advertise a public tendering process. Nock Deighton Agricultural proved successful and reopened the mart in March 2022. It now sells 1,000 sheep, 100 dairy cattle, 250 calves, 250 store cattle and 70 barren cows weekly, as well as 300 weanlings and 80 bovine TB-restricted store cattle monthly, plus machinery. There is still room for improvement at Carmarthen, but it shows what a dedicated and hardworking team can achieve.
CLITHEROE CAFE
CLITHEROE CAFE is over the moon to be nominated for Cafe of the Year. In May 2021, it was invited to re-open and provide the catering facilities at Clitheroe Auction Mart. The menu has seasonal daily specials and caters for all tastes, from a bacon sandwich to a full carvery for any occasion. It serves co ee and a delicious selection of cakes and pastries made by its own on-site pastry chef. It uses only fresh local produce and is very proud of the team, who have helped create a welcoming and friendly environment for diners.
JOE BOWMAN
(Harrison and Hetherington)
JOE Bowman grew up on a farm near Carlisle, where early exposure to the agricultural lifestyle laid a strong foundation for his future career. In 2015, he joined Harrison and Hetherington and began his auctioneering journey by selling poultry and small machinery. Joe takes pride in working for both sellers and buyers, treating every client with the same level of respect and commitment whether they have one sheep or a thousand. He firmly believes in seller equality, ensuring that every sale is conducted fairly and transparently.
HEXHAM and Northern Marts is honoured and delighted to be recognised and nominated for this award. The company is renowned for having a warm welcome, its customer service, integrity and ambition and its core values. Perfectly situated near the A69 and A68 to serve the agricultural community of the north of England and the Scottish Borders, the centre provides great business opportunities and regularly holds social events for the wider community.
MARKET Drayton is honoured to be shortlisted for this award and gives its sincere thanks to all its clients who use the market and have contributed to its success. It is the team ethos from director through to drover who all display that passion and ‘can do’ approach in order to make the market thrive. Its aim is to enhance its client’s livestock marketing experience by bringing together the rural community and o ering a facility where service and trade matter. Coupled with ever-changing technology, it tries to keep its buyers and sellers informed on a daily and weekly basis.
AUCTION CAFE OF THE YEAR
DOT’S CAFE, DARLINGTON
THE MARKET CAFE, HEREFORD
SKIPTON Auction Mart, owned and operated by CCM Auctions, serves the needs of customers both local and countrywide, with a full range of prime, store, breeding, pedigree, sheepdog and machinery sales. Sales are two days per week year-round, rising to four to six days at busy times. The compact team of auctioneers, o ice and yard sta strive to o er the best possible service they can to all clients at every stage of the marketing experience, welcoming customers to its modern and easily accessible mart on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
DOT’S Cafe is led by Dorothy Macdonald, a farmer’s daughter whose heritage spans six generations. Dorothy’s upbringing instilled a profound respect for farming and the environment. She supports this by sourcing local ingredients, turning them into hearty meals and homemade desserts. Dorothy champions British farming, promoting its importance with passion and education. Dot’s Cafe serves as a welcoming community hub where people gather for good food and conversation. Dorothy and her team ensure exceptional service, going the extra mile to make everyone feel at home.
MEGAN DOWSON (Darlington Farmers Auction)
GROWING up around farms in the local area, Megan knew the importance of auctions. Since joining Darlington in 2022, she has learned the trade from the bottom up, and recently established a calf sale. She has enjoyed both the time in the rostrum and on-farm building relationships with farmers. Her aim as an auctioneer is to forge, encourage and build on trusting relationships, being a constant in the customer’s life when everything else in the industry can be volatile.
THE Market Cafe has been run by Jenifer Gore and family for the last 15 years. With all food made to order, the team provides a heartwarming service to all customers from near and far. Their focus is on using local ingredients and creating good, wholesome food, but listening and caring is just as important. The cafe also champions and donates to many charities and support visits from the NHS Health Check team and local health counsellors who provide invaluable support for all.
OF THE YEAR
GEORGE STARKIE (Clitheroe Auction)
ALTHOUGH not originally from a farming background, George always dreamed of having a career in agriculture. He first started working at Clitheroe as a clerk, then as a drover, eventually moving on to auctioneering – all while studying a degree in agriculture at Myerscough College. Although he loves the auctioneering side of the role, George says he also enjoys meeting new people and building long-lasting relationships with customers, which is key for an auction mart to thrive.
THE ROSTRUM CAFE, SELBY JUSTINE Bloom took over the running of the cafe more than five years ago along with a small team of ladies, who meet you with a warm and cheeky welcome. They serve good, old-fashioned, hearty, locallysourced, quality food – from a bacon butty, to a traditional full English breakfast, to the highly acclaimed roast dinners, where all meat is supplied by regular wholesale buyers at the mart. All cakes are homemade by Justine, who also o ers outside catering and private functions.
BEN WILSON
(Thirsk Farmers Auction)
NOW 18, Ben first started selling cast sheep on joining Thirsk at 16, and now sells all the store and breeding sheep, taking over the pig section last November and selling a few cattle. Coming from a family farm, he appreciates the role auction marts play in the agricultural industry, not just for business but for friendships and socialising. He says that since he first picked up a gavel and has been able to do what he loves from such a young age, he has been living the dream.
STAND BEHIND YOUR MARKETS
THIS YEAR’S JUDGING PANEL
CHRIS DODDS
Executive secretary for the Livestock Auctioneers’ Association which represents livestock markets in England and Wales.
RICHARD WEBBER
Director of Shearwell Data, the UK’s largest animal tag manufacturer, based at Whedmoor Cross, Exmoor. He also farms 405 hectares.
MYSTERY JUDGE
This year’s mystery judge of the Auction Cafe category will remain anonymous until the awards evening.
Submit your vote for the chance to win a £200 M&S voucher.
WHAT WILL THE FINALISTS RECEIVE?
ALL finalists will have their status raised, with a profile in print and online during public voting. Winners of all three awards will be guests at the British Farming Awards, with their awards presented by Farmers Guardian, the Livestock Auctioneers’ Association and Shearwell Data.
Photographs of the presentation will be made available to winners and their companies for their own use and will appear in FG.
Each winner will feature in an in-depth profile in print and online, and will receive a prestigious, cast iron commemorative plaque.
THE Livestock Auctioneers’ Association is delighted to sponsor the awards, which acknowledge the role auctioneers and their businesses play in the livestock industry and the wider agricultural and rural community, a key part of which is ensuring farmers get a fair and true price for their stock. The last year has demonstrated
the importance of the live market when demand outstrips supply, driving prices and creating trends. This is a great opportunity to recognise the role auctions play within the industry.
CHRIS DODDS
SHEARWELL Data is delighted to be continuing its support of the Mart’s the Heart Awards. Livestock markets are an integral part of the livestock farming community. Not only are livestock markets a place of business, but also a space where farmers can seek advice and see friends. A WORD FROM THE SPONSORS
Livestock markets and the live sale rings are key to a buoyant and competitive livestock farming sector and the future of the UK red meat sector.
RICHARD WEBBER Director, Shearwell Data.
Go to britishfarmingawards.co.uk/mart, or fill in and return this form Please
AUCTION MART OF THE YEAR
Carmarthen
Hexham and Northern
Market Drayton
Skipton
NEW AUCTIONEER OF THE YEAR
Joe Bowman, Harrison and Hetherington
Megan Dowson, Darlington Farmers Auction
George Starkie, Clitheroe Auction
Ben Wilson, Thirsk Farmers Auction
AUCTION CAFE OF THE YEAR
Clitheroe Cafe
Dot’s Cafe, Darlington
The Market Cafe, Hereford
The Rostrum Cafe, Selby
FARMSTOCK AUCTIONEERS, BROKERS & VALUERS
BORDERWAY MART, CARLISLE
Tel: 01228 406200
259 DAIRY CATTLE SELLING BORDERWAY MONTHLY DAIRY DAY
Wednesday 7th August - 10.30am pleasefollowusonfacebooktoviewanimals priortothesale
Comprising: 162 freshly calved cows/heifers –10 dry cows - 67 In-calf heifers – 20 bulling heifers Breeds represented include Holstein Friesian, British Friesian, Jersey & Ayrshire
FRESHLY CALVED ANIMALS The sale includes an outstanding consignment of freshly calved cows and heifers all producing large volumes of milk from many of the top dairy farms in the North.
SANDISFARNE HERD 40 freshly calved & dry cows sell from the famous Sandisfarne Holstein & Red & White Pro Cross herd, from Ballalough Farm, Isle of Man. Winners of the Gold Cup in 2003 and the UK’s No1 NMR Production herd in 2003 & 2004 the Sandisfarne herd has moved to a mainly Spring Calving, grass based system and is famed for their cow longevity. The herd is currently averaging 7298kg 4.22% 3.42% with only 1 ton of concentrate fed per cow.
BRITISH FRIESIAN The Williamson family from Barrowmoore Farm are selling a special group of British Friesians
IN CALF HEIFERS The BALLASEYR herd from the Isle of Man are selling 33 Norwegian x Holstein & Brown Swiss x Holstein In calf heifers due to the Beef Shorthorn from September.
YOUNGSTOCK The BALLASEYR herd have a nice group of 10 strong bulling heifers 12 – 15 months old mainly Norwegian x Holstein & Brown Swiss x Holstein.
PLEASE ORDER YOUR CATALOGUE TODAY or connect with someone from the sale staff.
Bidding opens noon 31st July finishing from 8pm Friday 2nd August
Production Sale 100 head ARDSTEWART BELTEX FLOCK
Saturday 3rd August – 3.00pm
With Denis Barret Auctions RSRA 004098
SALE OF MACHINERY, IMPLEMENTS & HEAVY PLANT items
Sale bidding starts 10.00am
Wednesday 7th August until 10.00am Thursday 8th August
KIRKBY STEPHEN
Tel: 01768 371385
CAST/FEEDING COWS & OTM CATTLE
Monday 19th August
LOCKERBIE MART
Tel: 01576 202332
Show and sale of NC CHEVIOT “PARK” RAMS & FEMALES
Wednesday 18th September
Entries close Tuesday 13th August
Show and sale of NC CHEVIOT “HILL” RAMS
Wednesday 25th September
Entries close Tuesday 13th August
Friday 1st November
Entries now open for LIVESTOCK CLASSES
Entries close 27th September
Bookings being taken for TRADE STANDS GIFT RING
DAVID THOMLINSON LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Closing date for nominations 27th September
For full details and application forms visitwww.borderwayagriexpo.uk
H&H Group plc (H&H) SALE OF 5112 SHARES OF £1 EACH IN H&H GROUP PLC BY AUCTION
Wednesday 14th August 2024 at 12.00 noon
In Ring 1 at Borderway Mart, Carlisle
If you are unable to attend the auction you can make alternative arrangements to purchase shares either by phone or by leaving commission bids with Margaret Irving on 01228 406334, 07912 485326 or margaret.irving@hhgroupplc.co.uk
Please note that copies of the Annual Report for the period to 30th June 2023 and Interim Report to 31st December 2023 are available on our website at http://hhgroupplc.co.uk/share-news/
Please note that only existing shareholders or restricted investors will be permitted to bid for these shares. If you are Interested in purchasing shares you should contact Margaret Irving to establish whether they meet the eligibility criteria under relevant legislation. Investments in shares are for the long term. The value of your investment and the income derived from it can go down
as well as up and you may get back less than you originally invested. You should not invest unless you are prepared to lose the money you invest. Investment is high risk and you may not be protected if something goes wrong.
If you are in any doubt about purchasing shares, you should consult an independent financial advisor authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
This financial promotion has been approved by SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (“SAPL”) under s21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act. SAPL is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. SAPL makes no recommendation as to the suitability of shares in H&H Group plc as an investment.
PLEASE SCAN TO VIEW OUR ONLINE CATALOGUES
Auctioneers: Auctioneers: Jeremy Eaton - 07747
Saturday 3rd August
182 STIRKS, WEANED & SUCKLED CALVES, STORE & BREEDING SHEEP
Sale 10.00am
SHOW & SALE OF POULTRY, HATCHING EGGS & EQUIPMENT
Sale 11.00am
SHOW & SALE OF
115 PEDIGREE DORSET SHEEP
Comprising: 100 Females & 15 Rams
Sale 12.30pm
On Behalf of the Northern Dorset Breeders Club
Monday 5th August
SALE OF REARING CALVES
Sale 10.30am
Entries & Enquiries to Kyle PRIME, CAST & FEEDING CATTLE
Sale 11.30am (TB exempt section available) MONTHLY SHOW & SALE OF SPRING LAMBS
Sale 12.30pm followed by CAST EWES
Wednesday 7th August
Sale of 5685 STORE LAMBS
Prize Show for Beltex x Lambs
Sale 10.00am Main Ring & 200 BREEDING SHEEP
Sale of Cont x, Suffolk x & Mule Ewes
Sale approx. 12.45pm
Monday 12th August
YOUNG FARMERS PRIME LAMB SHOW
Open to all Young Handlers
All lambs must be shown untrimmed (Under 10yrs, 10-16yrs, 17-26yrs) (Entries to the Office)
Wednesday 14th August
Sale of FEEDING BULLS, PRIME CATTLE, BEEF FEEDING COWS, STORE & BREEDING CATTLE
(entries close Wednesday 7th August)
Dairy Cattle
Monday 5th August
SHOW & SALE OF DAIRY CATTLE Sale 12noon
Monday 19th August
SHOW & SALE OF DAIRY CATTLE
Entries & Enquiries to Sarah 07710 795585
Breeding Sheep Sales
Tuesday 20th August
Annual Show & Sale of SHEARLING GIMMERS
Inc Mule, Masham, Continental & Suffolk x & All Classes of BREEDING SHEEP
(Entries close Monday 12th August)
Wednesday 4th September
1st Prize Show & Sale of SUFFOLK, CONT X & CHEVIOT MULE GIMMER LAMBS (entries close Monday 26th August)
Tuesday 10th September
Opening Show & Sale of NEMSA MULE GIMMER LAMBS
(entries close Wednesday 28th August)
Pedigree Sheep Sales
Monday 26th August –PEDIGREE KERRY HILL SHEEP
(Entries close Friday 2nd August)
SPECIAL EARLY RAM SALE
Sale of Suffolk, Charollais & Other Cont Rams (Entries close Thursday 15th August)
Saturday 31st August –PEDIGREE WENSLEYDALE SHEEP (Entries to the Society)
PEDIGREE JACOB SHEEP
RARE & MINORITY SHEEP
(Entries close Friday 9th August)
SHOW & SALE OF PEDIGREE & PUREBRED GOATS
(Entries close Friday 9th August) Sunday 1st September –
PEDIGREE VALAIS BLACKNOSE SHEEP (extended entries close Monday 5th August)
Northern Area Texel Sheep Breeders Club Members Only – Entries Online
Penrith Auction Mart 01768 864700
Wednesday 7th August
8am Cast Ewes & Rams followed at 10.30am with Prime Lambs (Ballot 10.30am)
Young Handlers Prime Lamb Show. Show 10am; Sale 12.30pm
Monday 12th August
Prize Show & Sale of Store Cattle and Feeding Bulls of all classesEntries close noon Monday 5th August
Friday 16th August
Sale of Early Breeding Rams and Females - Entries close Thursday 8th August
Friday 16th August
The Late Summer Show & Sale of Pedigree Dairy Shorthorns and Black and White Heifers, Cows and all other Classes Entries close noon Monday 5th August ********* Saturday 26th October ***********
Claiming Date - Farm Sale in the Penrith Area
Friday 9th August
Collective Sale of over 1500 lots of Tractors, Plant, Implements, Livestock Equipment & Small Tools Small Tools 9.00am Large Machinery 9.30am
Tractors and Vehicles - New Holland T7030 (2007/8000hrs approx.); New Holland T7210 50kph with front PTO (2013); New Holland TM155 (03 reg); New Holland T6050 tractor (2009); New Holland TL90 (X reg); Ford 6640 2WD; Ford 3600; McCormick MC115 (2009); McCormick CX105 & Trima loader; McCormick MTX 140 (05 reg); McCormick MTX; McCormick TTX190 xtraspeed (09 reg); Case 105 & MX loader (2007); Case 5150 (P reg); Case 1390 2WD (A reg); Case 695 stockman tractor; Valtra T120-4 (2003); Claas 630; Claas 426RX (2006); John Deere 6930; John Deere 6830; John Deere 6620 (2004); John Deere 6600; John Deere 6310; John Deere 5085E (2018); John Deere 4520 with loader & back actor; John Deere 3200 2WD (N reg); Massey Ferguson 7616 50KPH (2014); Massey Ferguson 6495 tractor (2008); Massey Ferguson 6480 with Quicke loader (2006/8250hrs); Massey Ferguson 5465 (2010); Massey Ferguson 3645 Dyna shift tractor; Massey Ferguson 3085 autotronic (K reg.); Massey Ferguson 590 tractor & loader; Massey Ferguson 390 4WD & loader (E reg); Massey Ferguson 185 (1972/8,000hrs); Massey Ferguson 158; Kubota 6060 4WD with power loader (2016/370hrs); Kubota M9504; Zetor 7341 super turbo; David Brown 1390; David Brown 880; JCB 527.58 telescopic handler (2013/5911hrs); JCB 525-60 Agri (2018); 2 X JCB 403 (2018/2200hrs); John Deere 3215 loadall (2006); Manitou 2600 turbo (J reg); Manitou MT 1440 telehandler; New Holland L218 skidsteer; Mustang 2054 skidsteer; Kubota RTV 900 (2007); Suzuki 750KQ 4WD ATV (2015); LF DAF 7.5t Bever Tail; VW Amarok (2014/187,000miles); Nissan Navara double cab pickup (2009/81,000mils); Honda XR80R 80cc dirt bike (2000); Fiat Doblo van (2005). Plant - JCB 8026 mini digger (2017); JCB JS130 LC digger (2004); JCB 3 digger (2006); Case 580X digger/loader; Bobcat mini digger; Kubota 161 6T digger (2008); Barford 6T dumper (2007); Lister Dumper; Takeuchi mini excavator; Sanderson TL7 fork lift (6696hrs); 12ft mobile welfare cabin with generator X 2; Herbst twin-axel low loader trailer; Bradley twin axle plant trailer 2600kg gross; Ifor Williams GX126 plant trailer 3500kg gross (2017); Ifor Williams dropsided trailer (2010); Ifor Williams general duty trailer.
Implements - Hi-Spec 2600g SA-R slurry tanker (2017); 2600g SA-R slurry tanker (2017); SRHolland 1000g slurry tanker; Slurry tanker SR Holland model hippo 1000; Slurry stirrer; 20ft Primex slurry stirrer; Primex 20ft slurry stirrer; Storth trailing shoe (2015); SKH rear discharge spreader; Ktwo DUO muckspreader; Jarmet wheeled spreader; Hi-Spec MixMax 14 diet feeder (2016); Kuhn Euromix 10 (2002); Kuhn Primor 3560 bedder; Kuhn trailed bedder; AG dispenser 150; Fraser 10t silage trailer; Fraser 8t silage trailer; Marshall 6t silage trailer; AS 12t grain trailer; Brian James trailer with mesh side kit and full tailgate; Shelbourne C/6000 multi-purpose combine header trailer; Teagle Dynamo 245 finishing mower; Kverneland CM168 mower; Kverneland 10ft mower conditioner (2013); Claas disco 8400 butterfly mowers (2010); Vicon Extra 122 7ft rear disc mower; 2 X John Deere 331 mower & Conditioner (2012); Claas Rollant 255 baler; Massey Ferguson 822 belt baler; Fendt Rotana 130F round baler; Amazone 1200 fert spreader; KRM M2, 3 bag fert spreader, Amazon fert spreader 1200; folding hopper cover; Lely Roto 510 rake; 2 X Claas 3000 4 rota rake; Pottinger 771A take twin rotor (2011); Pottinger 8 rotor tedder (2015); 2 X Claas 6 rotor tedder (2007); Claas Volto 770 tedder; Kuhn multi-master 150 5F plough; Kverneland vari-width 5F plough X 2; Kverneland PB100 5F plough (2001); Lemkin 4F rev. plough; Vicon 2F plough; Ferguson 2F plough; MA/AG 6m hyd. Folding cultivator; Front mounted flexicoil press; Teagle pasture topper 8ft; Spalding sub soiler/flat lifter & cultivator & seed box; Browns harrows & seeder; SMS air seed drill roller CV300 M1 (2016); Kuhn power harrow with disc drill & transport trailer; Hardi crop sprayer; Crop sprayer; Amazone UF 1200 24m sprayer; Tecnoma sprayer; Tecnoma manns sprayer; Spearhead Excel 660 hedge cutter (2000); Spearhead Excel 604 hedge cutter; 2 X Bomford hedge cutter; Twose hedge cutter; Spearhead Excel 660 hedge cutter (2000); 3pt hydraulic yard brush; Post knocker; Slewtic tool carrier grain bucket; JCB Q-fit 1.5 cube grain bucket; Slewtic 5 tonne muck grab on euro brackets; MX 5ft shear grab; Redrock telegator shear grab; Bale grab; Flat 8 grab; Ritchie bale handler with Euro brackets; Slewtic bale nipper. Livestock Equipment - BVL V mix-20 twin auger feeder; BVL 8 cube single auger feeder; Ifor Williams 12ft livestock trailer with sheep decks (2016); Ifor Williams 12ft livestock trailer; Ifor Williams 12X6 with sheep decks (2008); Ifor Williams 12X7 livestock trailer; QTY loader headstocks; QTY calf pens; QTY walk-through sheep troughs; cattle ring feeders; cattle troughs; cattle crush; cattle feed trough with barrier; calf creep feeder; calf de-horning crate; heavy duty rail hurdles with connecting rods; Heavy duty gate; dog kennel; Sheep rollover crate; Cattle self-locking head yoke; 4 X loaded headstocks; water bowser. Misc Items - John Deere lawnmower; 2 X Lister diesel generators. Viewing available on Thursday 8th August Pictures can be viewed on our website or our Facebook page. www.penrithauction.com Andrew Maughan 07717 611952 Paul Gardner 07552 589141
WEEKLY SALES
PRIME SHEEP
Every Thursday at Thrapston
STORE & BREEDING SHEEP & CATTLE, CALVES, PIGS & GOATS
Every Saturday at Thrapston
ALL CLASSES OF SHEEP & PRODUCE, POULTRY, PLANTS & SUNDRIES Every Tuesday at Stratford
Thrapston Livestock Market
Saturday 3rd August
Smallholders Sale
To include: Poultry, Goats, Pigs & Sundries
All Poultry must be pre-booked prior to the Sale. No late entries will be accepted. No pets can be sold, due to our local Councils instructions.
Saturday 17th August
Sale of Breeding Sheep & Rams Entries close Wednesday 7th August
Saturday 31st August
A Collective Sale of 600+ Lots of Horse Tack & Sundries
To include entries of Horses & Ponies
Stratford Livestock Market
Wednesday 7th August
Field Sale of Store & Ewe Lambs Catalogue available online
Thrapston Collective Machinery Sale
Friday 30th August
Entries close Tuesday 20th August
For further information contact: Alastair Brown: 07885 804450 Jake Wagstaff: 07487 526803 01832 732241 or visit the website for weekly listings of sale entries
by ‘LANCASTER LADS’ Show & Sale of Terminal Sire Breeding Rams Catalogue entries by Friday 2nd August
Tuesday 6th August 1pm PRIME LAMBS & CAST SHEEP
Thursday
...Yorkshire’s Friendly Mart
SATURDAY 3RD AUGUST
1st ANNUAL SALE OF BREEDING & STORE SHEEP
Inc Shearling, Ewes, Rams & Store Lambs
60 Suffx/Texx Shearlings, WH Clubley
20 Texx Shearlings, JE Fairweather
30 SuffX Mule Shearling, RG Walter Ryland Ram Lamb, D Peel
5 Blue Tex Shlg Tups & 3 Shear Tups, D Makin
8 Zwartble Shlg, A Burgess
20 Tex X Store Lambs & 1 Beltex x Tup, R Watson
5 Blue Tex Shlg & 3 Shear Tups, D Makin
Together with Store & Breeding Cattle inc
5 BBX Hfrs, 18mth J&L Cooling 10 Lim hfrs,15-20mth,D Pritchard Store & Breeding Pigs 10 in pig Gilts, E Schofield 4 Weaners, H Lane
Contact Office for Details
MART OFFICE: 01757 703347
Entries Welcome Pigs 9am Sheep 9.45am Cattle 11am
RICHARD HAIGH: 07768 594535 www.selbymart.co.uk
WEDNESDAY 7TH AUGUST
Dedicated Slaughter Market
305 Prime Cattle 450 Prime Sheep 175 Prime Pigs Pigs 9am Sheep 9.45am Cattle 10.30am
Contact Office for Details
MART OFFICE: 01757 703347
RICHARD HAIGH 07768 594535
www.selbymart.co.uk
Reaching deeper and further into UK farming than any other media group
Sunday 11th August 11am NWTBC Sale of 271 Pedigree Texel Rams & Females
Thursday 15th August 10.30am FORTNIGHTLY SALE OF STORE LAMBS
Saturday 17th August
Sale of RARE & MINORITY LIVESTOCK BREEDS Sale of POULTRY, WATERFOWL & EQUIPMENT
Monday 19th August Annual Production Sale of THE WHITELEY HEY FLOCK On behalf of Mr Paul Slater In conjunction with Darlington Farmers Auction Mart
Saturday 24th August
SHOW & SALE OF BREEDING EWES & SHEARLINGS Catalogue entries by Friday 2nd August
Thursday 5th September ‘LADS NIGHT OUT’
Evening Show & Sale of Terminal Sire Breeding Rams Catalogue entries by Wednesday 14th August
Collection: Wednesday 7th & Friday 9th August (9am-4.30pm)
WEEKLY STORE
LAMB SALE
Monday 5th August 11amBallot entries close Thurs 1st August. Further entries accepted on the sale day.
WEEKLY
PRIMESTOCK SALE
FORTNIGHTLY
STORE CATTLE SALE + CALVES / STIRKS
PURE BRED
Tuesday 6th August12.30pm - Prime Lambs & Cull Ewes
Thursday 8th August 12.30pmSale of Young Bulls, Store Heifers & Steers. Rearing calves 12 noon
Saturday 10th August 10am600 Cages of poultry plus 200 lots of dead stock & hatching eggs.
ONLINE
MACHINERY SALE
POULTRY SALE FORTHCOMING SALES
Thurs 22nd- Sat 24th AugustIntake of Items Tues 6th – Thurs 15th August Via appointment.
Sale of Mule & Continental Ewes & Shearlings Friday 30th August – Entries close Tues 20th Aug
Sale of Vintage & Classic Tractors plus Associated Parts & Machinery - Saturday 31st August Pre Sale catalogued entries close Thurs 22nd August.
Monday 5th August
Weekly Fatstock Sale
Thursday 8th August at 11am
Sale of Store Lambs followed by Ewes & Rams
Ian Smith - Mart Manager 07738 043771 Office 01943 462172 wfam @auctionmarts.com
Will 07590 876 849
www.benthamauc on.co.uk
Tuesday 6th August
10.30am 40-50 Feeding & Cast Cows & OTM Cattle Followed by 75 STORE CATTLE
12noon 45 SUCKLER BREEDING CATTLE
Inc. On behalf of S Wilman, Braesteads DISPERSAL OF PUREBRED ANGUS SUCKLER HERD
Comprising-13 Cows & 7 Hfrs with spring born calves; 1 Cow&1Hfr In Calf; 4 Maiden Hfrs 16mo; 1 Ped AA Bull (Pilsbury Einstein Y763) 29mo Proven Bull; Performance tested. Note: A closed herd providing excellent opportunity to purchase from a very genuine high health herd.
Also from JH Lohr Reduction Sale of 8 Cows with Calves 3 Breeding Bulls Viz 2 AA & 1 Beef SH
Wednesday 7th August 11am 100-150 Rearing Calves inc. Summer Calf Show (calves 70 days and under) 2.30pm 2500 Cast Ewes & Hoggs followed by 2500-3000 Spring Lambs
Tuesday 13th August
FORTNIGHTLY SALE OF 5000 STORE LAMBS
Entries for catalogue close Friday 2nd August
Wednesday 14th August
GENUS Dairy Extravaganza Pedigree & Commercial Classes
Wednesday 14th August at 7pm TWO AUCTION MART SHARES FOR SALE
Saturday 17th August
THE RAM-PAGE- 750 RAMS
Charollais, Beltex, Texel, X Bred, Suffolk etc. inc. MV Acc.
Tuesday 20th August Farmers Stirks & Young Stores
Friday 23rd August
BENTHAM BELTERS Pedigree & Commercial Elite Breeding Female Sheep Entries close Friday 9th August
Friday 30th/ Saturday 31st August Two Day Show & Sale of Breeding Ewes & Shearlings Entries for catalogue close Friday 16th August
Turner & Son
HAWES, NORTH YORKSHIRE, DL8 3NP 01969 667207 www.hawesmart.co.uk
Friday 2nd August at 10:30am
Sale of 1800 Store Lambs.
Tuesday 6th August at 10am
Sale of 1000 Prime Lambs
300 Cast Ewes & Rams
20 Calves at 10:30am 1 Auction Mart Share at 11am
Tuesday 20th August
Evening Show & Sale of 1500 Mule & Cont Gimmer Shearlings & Ewes. Cat closes Thurs 8th Aug. also Sale of Crossing Rams to follow. Ian Atkinson 07957 256337 Kenton Foster 07711 469280.
FRIDAY 9TH AUGUST – 11AM
EXETER LIVESTOCK CENTRE, EXETER, DEVON EX2 8FD DISPERSAL SALE OF 131 NMR RECORDED HOLSTEIN
FRIESIAN DAIRY CATTLE
On behalf of Messrs P & P Horton, Dunsford Farm, Swindon, Wiltshire
The Sale comprises 113 In Milk and/or In Calf Cows & Heifers & 18 In Calf Heifers due September-October.
v Herd Average 9421Kgs 4.31%BF 3.49%P cc174, Calving index 377
v Cubicle Housed, Herringbone Parlour milked, High health status
v Young Herd – 38 milking Heifers, 28 2nd, 15 3rd, 12 4th & 16 5th+
v All year round calving
v Excellent herd of medium sized modern cows!
FORTHCOMING SALES
Wednesday 28th August – Holsworthy Market
Dispersal Sale of 75 Holstein Friesian Dairy Cattle
On behalf of Messrs IR & JA Johns, Bude, Cornwall ************************
Friday 30th August – Exeter Livestock Centre
Laram Holsteins Select Sale 2024 plus Guest Consignments on behalf of Mr AR Mitchell, Bodmin (with Norton & Brooksbank) ************************
Tuesday 3rd September – Exeter Livestock Centre
Dispersal Sale of the ‘Ardingly’ herd of 400 Pedigree Holsteins on behalf of Messrs D Goodwin & Sons of Hill House Farm, Haywards Heath, West Sussex ONLINE BIDDING AVAILABLE FOR ALL DAIRY SALES VIA
Full details & Catalogues available on www.kivells.com For further information onj the above sale please contact: Mark Davis 07773371774 or Catalogues from 01392 251261
Livestock Markets
Livestock Markets
▪ Bridgnorth, Carmarthen & Newcastle Emlyn
▪ Bridgnorth, Carmarthen & Newcastle Emlyn
▪ Private & deadweight sales
▪ Private & deadweight sales
▪ Primestock & store markets
▪ Primestock & store markets
Bridgnorth:
Weekly primestock sales and fortnightly store sales
Bridgnorth: Weekly primestock sales and fortnightly store sales
Carmarthen:
Carmarthen:
Weekly dairy, calves & weanlings sales; weekly barren cows, store cattle and all classes of sheep; monthly weaned calves, suckler cows and breeding bulls; monthly orange TB restricted cattle sale; monthly Holstein South Wales show & sale
Weekly dairy, calves & weanlings sales; weekly barren cows, store cattle and all classes of sheep; monthly weaned calves, suckler cows and breeding bulls; monthly orange TB restricted cattle sale; monthly Holstein South Wales show & sale
Bridgnorth Market Contacts: Martin Clack 07977 0675198, Ollie Clack 07891 343673 or Mark Burgoyne 07831 192603
All dates for markets are on the Nock Deighton Agricultural
Welsh Mart Contacts: Llŷr Jones 07812 934964 or Paul Taylor 07815 509504. Bidding available on “Marteye” in Welsh marts nockdeightonagricultural.co.uk
LIVESTOCK CENTRE, NANT Y CI, CARMARTHEN, SA33 5DR 01 267 493200
Bridgnorth Market Contacts: Martin Clack 07977 0675198, Ollie Clack 07891 343673 or Mark Burgoyne 07831 192603 Welsh Mart Contacts: Llŷr Jones 07812 934964 or Paul Taylor 07815 509504. Bidding available on “Marteye” in Welsh marts nockdeightonagricultural.co.uk LIVESTOCK CENTRE, NANT Y CI, CARMARTHEN, SA33 5DR 01 267 493200
GENUINE DISPERSAL SALESATURDAY 10TH AUGUST 202410.30am
MIDDLE STREET FARM, MONYASH, BAKEWELL, DERBYSHIRE, DE45 1JG
On Instructions from Mr R Bagshaw
To Inc - 2011 New Holland T6070 Tractor, 2002 JCB TM200 Turbo Pivot Steer Loader, Case CX130 Excavator, Hanix H26C Mini Digger, Kubota HT500 Hi-Tip tracked Dumper, Daewoo 2.6ton Forklift, Lane Bros Forklift, Herbst 18 Ton Dump Trailer, Abbey 1600 Gallon Slurry Tanker. LARGE QTY OF NEW TIMBER OF VARIOUS LENGTHS
Usual Sundry Effects
BI-ANNUAL COLLECTIVE SALE -
SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST 2024 - 9.30AM
WESTBROOK HEAD FARM, THORNCLIFFE, NR LEEK, STAFFORDSHIRE, ST13 8UP To Inc Usual Range of Tractors, Machinery, Vehicles, Trailers & Implements
Building & Livestock Equipment
Usual Sundry Effects ENQUIRIES TO 07375 105985 OR AUCTIONS@GRAHAMWATKINS.CO.UK
TUESDAY 13TH AUGUST AT 9.30AM MONTHLY MACHINERY SALE (NEXT MONTH 3RD TUESDAY) DELIVERIES PLEASE MONDAY AND TUESDAY MORNING - ENTRIES TO DATE INCLUDE LEYLAND 272 + FEL, IH 674, DB 990 TRACTORS, SMALL HOLDERS DISPERSAL -1959 FORDSON DEXTA (ONE OWNER) HORSE DRAWN AND OTHER ITEMS, FULL LIST ON WEB SITE. LAST SALE 1300 LOTS, 30 VEHICLES ETC. FARM DISPERSAL SALE.
TUESDAY 20TH AUGUST 2024 AT 11.00AM. AT HEYES HOUSE FARM, PIMBO LANE, UPHOLLAND SKELMERSDALE.
MF 4255 TRACTOR, FORD 4110, NH TS115, , DB 996,MF 30 COMBINE FORD 420 DIGGER, SANDERSON SB 45 TC FORK LIFT, 2008 FREELANDER, ROVER 90 SALOON, MF 506 COMBINE, FULL RANGE OF CULTIVATION MACHINERY TO INCLUDE. KUHN HR 304 POWER HARROW, KUHN MULI-MASTER 5F REV. PLOUGH, NH 945 BALER. ETC.
Seawell Grounds is a 600ha Ring fenced farm, which includes an Arable and Single Suckler business, based near Towcester, Northamptonshire, farming combinable crops plus Pedigree Charolais and Salers cattle. We have an exciting opportunity for the right candidate who will be capable of overseeing the daily management of the two herds, working alongside our present team
We are looking for a forward-thinking, hands on, enthusiast team member to join us. This stock person will require to have attention to detail and the ability to take on the day-to-day operation of our Pedigree cattle. The Seawell Herd has a long line of heritage established in the 80’s currently at 300 cows plus followers. We have a high health status, selling quality cattle to pedigree and commercial breeders through out the year, so some experience with preparing cattle for sales would be advantageous.
A good size family house on farm can be provided with a negotiable package.
Role
• Reporting to the Owner
• Working with own initiative, as well as in a team.
• Ensuring the high health status and welfare
• Calving cows
• Record keeping and pedigree paperwork
• Liaising with vets.
• Compliance with Health and Safety
• General Stock work
• Full driving licence
Please apply with CV and references to seawell.charolais@btinternet.com
Latest jobs from Agri-Lloyd
Dairy Sales Manager - Role Summary
The Dairy Sales Manager is responsible for managing the development of sales of the Farm Animal Division’s nutritional and health products which will be sold directly to farmers through a network of Area Sales Managers.
Location: Lancashire
Closing date: 16 Aug 2024
Sector: Dairy, Management, Sales & Marketing
Contract Type: Permanent
Role: Consultant, Manager
Regional Sales Manager
Agri Lloyd are recruiting for a 2 x Regional Sales Managers. One to cover the Welsh region. One to cover the Scottish region. Applicants must live in the area. Salary up to £55,000, plus excellent bonus and benefits
Location: Lancashire
Closing date: 16 Aug 2024
Sector: Dairy, Management, Sales & Marketing
Contract Type: Permanent
Role: Consultant, Manager
For more informa on on any of these vacancies or to see all our current roles, please go to: JobsInAgriculture.com
Role: Farm Manager | Contract: Permanent Based in Leicestershire
A new opportunity has arisen at the College for a Farm Manager to join the team based at our working farm located within the grounds of SMB College Group’s specialist Land-based Brooksby Campus.
Our farm is diverse and at the forefront of sustainable farming. Join us at this exciting time in creating a leading example of regenerative farming techniques. Along with our heard of pedigree Hereford cattle we have a flock of North country mules and arable enterprise. Working in this role you will be responsible for the livestock, grassland, arable contract and roll out of sustainable farming enterprises and along with the day to day running of the farm.
The successful candidate with have excellent communication skills and a willingness to work with young and upcoming future farmers. Passing on and imparting their own skills and behaviours onto our students. New plans to extend our farm buildings and create an excellent learning environment for our learners is at the heart of all our decisions.
You will have a passion for innovation, bringing new ideas and embedding new technologies into the learning environment.
The SMB College Group is a highly successful FE college, formed of two merged and reputable colleges – Stephenson College and Brooksby Melton College.
Farm Operations Manager Employer: Farms for City Children
Location: Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro) (GB) Salary: £35,000 with accommodation
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full-time Farm Operations Manager to join our team at Lower Treginnis, located on the stunning Pembrokeshire coast and the most westerly farm in Wales.
Farms for City Children is a dynamic social mobility charity which exists to remove the barriers that prevent children and young people having meaningful access to the natural world. Through a week on one of our three heritage farms, Nethercott House in Devon, Lower Treginnis in Pembrokeshire, and Wick Court in Gloucestershire, children and young people experience increased learning and engagement, improved connections and wellbeing, and leave us with an enhanced sense of environmental citizenship. Visiting children are immersed in the natural world of countryside through a food and farming offer that allows them to participate in the seasonal tasks of the day: sowing, growing and harvesting in our kitchen gardens; caring for livestock and looking after the land; and cooking up a home-grown feast in the farmhouse kitchen. In partnership with our commercial farming neighbours, children experience the benefits of collaboration, enjoy plenty of physical activity, good food, and fresh air, and discover the magical rural environment that is full of new words, sounds and experiences to inspire their creativity. Spending time working alongside real farmers fosters children’s independence and helps them to grow in confidence, develops their self-esteem, and encourages them to become more resilient.
For more informa on on any of these vacancies or to see all our current roles, please go to: JobsInAgriculture.com
OFTEN WITHIN 12 MONTHS
• 60% – 70% REDUCTION TO WATER HEATER RUNNING TIMES
• IMPROVEMENT TO THE COOLING UNITS PERFORMANCE
• HOT WATER AVAILABLE ALL DAY
• DOMESTIC OR OFFICE HEATING
• ALMOST ZERO MAINTENANCE
• HUGE REDUCTION IN YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT POWERED BY YOUR MOO
Farmers seeking love in the quiet countryside! Tired of returning home to an empty house after a long day’s work? Join ‘Friends1st’, the offline introduction agency connecting hearts in rural bliss. Discover genuine connections with like-minded people who understand the joys of the land. Let love bloom in the fields of friendship. Your perfect match awaits – sign up with Friends1st today! For further information view www.friends1st. co.uk or call 0121 405 0941 and let us help you make it a reality.
BRITMILK tel : 01387 750459 info@britmilk.co.uk www.britmilk.co.uk The Captive Bolt Stunner that’s also humane on your
Used for the humane destruction of animals, no firearms permit is required to use one and at only £320.00 (inc VAT & p&p) this has to be the best value Captive Bolt Stunner on the Market! The Bolt gun come with a box of 50 blanks a carry case and postage
ORDER YOURS NOW! For further enquiries and for telephone orders please
MARTLANDS
knackering’s the game
Established over 100 years
Daily collections of all types of fallen stock throughout the North of England.
Tel: 01524 261144 or 01524 263022 or 01274 833196
WOOL WANTED All types required. Full payment. L.Pierce Wool Merchant: Scotland & North England - Grace Dobson- 07743 628405 or 07754 702187 or Southern England and South Wales- John Wood 07980 655637
IAN SMITH Livestock Scanning Services. Across the North -Tel: 01200 445750 or 07976 539197 (T)
CONCRETE GROOVING Neil O’Donnell -Tel: 01900 817009 or 07759 194600 Nationwide (T)
DAIRY CATTLE FOR SALE
A weekly selection of freshly calved & in-calf dairy cattle sourced from the UK. All guaranteed and delivered anywhere in the UK Finance can be arranged.
HAS FOR SALE A SELECTION OF DOWN CALVING HEIFERS DUE SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER TO BRITISH FRIESIAN BULL WELL GROWN, VERY GOOD CONFIRMATION, EXCELLENT PEDIGREES, BVD FREE CALL JOHN - 07768 645124
Buckhurst
REARING
A selection of top quality young bulls for sale. Now ready for work. SAC High health, TB4 , BVD, IBR Accredited. Red Tractor. Performance recorded. Senior Stock Bull Rawburn Jingo Eric.
Please phone Christopher Jackson 07748708106 Lancaster chris.mjackson@hotmail.co.uk
24 months old, Good bloodlines, temperament and confirmation
Easy Calving Strainfrom a closed herd TB4 Area
Tel: 07400 053752 North Rigton, Nr Harrogate (P)
Two Polled Charolais Bulls
Quiet, well grown. 18 Months old, ready for work.
Phone Norman Office: 01924 299993 or Mob: 07971 100093
Ready to work, delivered direct to your farm, very quiet, easy calving. Also females available. Health monitored, closed herd, full pedigree with each animal, Red tractor. Semen Available.
Tel: 077157 64351
& Fenomen bloodlines Easy calving strain, good con rmation, nice temperaments. Also 10 Maiden Heifers & Cows with Calves available. Tel: 07968 505014 Derbyshire (P)
Hay & Straw for Sale in all types of Bales. Good quality.
Reasonable prices.
TEL: (01625) 531629 OR (01625) 522249
LIQUID FEEDS to encourage forage intake. Molasses and molasses blends plus additional minerals if required. J E Morten: 01663 734621 High Peak, Derbyshire (T)
Property Landscape Valuation points – looking beyond the asset
Mobilehomes,holidaychalets,loghomes. Allbuilttoyourrequirements,deliveredand erectedanywhere,weofferbuildsinround, 360mm to up log random and cavity square, thick.Housessuppliedtomeetbuilding controlregulations.
Beyond the individual qualities of an asset (condition, size, nature and so on), other external factors play a major role in determining market value when assessing rural property, some of which include:
n Interest rates: These have increased since 2022 and now sit at a base rate of about 5.25%, making borrowed money more expensive and creating a real challenge for those contracted to repay.
Interest rates were increased to help reduce inflation; this has since been achieved, but interest rates remain at a base rate of 5.25%, scheduled to be reviewed again in August.
value. In North West England I feel there are more rural assets being brought to the market, many of which are due to lack of successors or financial pressure on businesses – increasing supply.
A complete 28 by 10 home with luxury shower room and kitchenete, Gas water heating, galvanized tile effect roof and full insulation DELIVERED TO YOU FOR £28.000. Complete. Available Now! We also offer our customers a wide range of Holiday Homes and Cabins Info@homeannex.co.uk for more details. Mobile 07733 390801 for information and planning advice or to discuss your requirements.
n Political status: With the pandemic and Brexit now far behind us, we turn our attention to the recent election where a Labour Government was elected with a significant majority.
In the Labour manifesto, agricultural and rural matters were brief, therefore the future is vastly unknown.
n Taxation policy: Capital taxation plays a large role in incentivising people to purchase additional land. Currently, it remains the same with favourable Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax regulation for agricultural and business assets, but the Labour party committed to changing the Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief rule within their manifestos which could significantly impact the value of rural assets.
n Agricultural subsidies: Landbased direct payments (Basic Payment Scheme) have been significantly reduced.
Other land-based schemes, including the Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive, are published, but are not currently open for applications, which is making those seeking to take advantage ever more frustrated with ‘the system’, reducing confidence in the market.
n Supply and demand: Supply and demand of rural assets can be very localised and has a huge impact on
However, it is important to note that rural assets are constantly being developed (through building or environmentally), therefore supply is always going to be limited.
I feel that demand from agricultural investors is currently very cautious, however lifestyle buyers, businesses investing for capital taxation advantages and those seeking environmental and carbon offsetting opportunities continue to fuel the market and create demand for agricultural assets.
n Trade, produce prices: In general, throughout 2024 stock and milk prices have been good with both beef and sheep markets holding up well through July.
This year presents another challenging year for many arable farmers in the UK with failed crops due to the weather and increased input prices in an effort to save crops. n Summary: In general land prices remain stable. The market is predominantly driven by healthy levels of demand, both locally and nationally, intensified by the limited amount of availability of agricultural assets on the open market.
Holly Wybergh is a rural surveyor and registered valuer at Edwin Thompson. Call 01228 548 385, or email h.wybergh@ edwin-thompson.co.uk
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £415,000 (Ref: C391)
MILTON KEYNES, Aspley Guise
A well-presented Five-bedroom detached house with a large garden, double garage, rear patio, parking and paddock to front, located in a sought-after countryside location.
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £1,325,000 (Ref: C393)
ESSEX, Stock
An attractive four bedroom detached farmhouse with attached single storey one-bedroom self-contained annexe all set in a good-sized plot with ample parking, large garden, and three small outbuildings located to the south of the popular village of Stock.
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £1,160,000 (Ref: C386)
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, Mears Ashby
The property offers well presented accommodation over two floors, located in a sought after rural location. The property is set in 14acres.
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £1,150,000
HAMPSHIRE, Winchfield
A four bedroom detached farmhouse with established garden, outbuilding, ample parking and a small paddock set in a rural location to the Northeast of the village of Winchfield.
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £900,000 (Ref: C387)
WEST SUSSEX, Cowfold
A well-presented three bedroom detached bungalow with large garden, garage, land, outbuildings and parking located in a sought-after countryside location.
SUBJECT TO AN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPANCY CONDITION GUIDE PRICE: £650,000 (Ref: C390)
• Detached Farmhouse (subject to occupancy condition)
• A two-bedroom apartment
• 27 x Stables and equestrian facilities
• Total plot of approximately 4.81ha (11.88ac).
• For Sale (may Let) by Private Treaty Guide Price £1,250,000
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NEW HZM 810B 1 TONNE LIFT MINI LOADER
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– 07583 054 831 – toby.whatley@agriconnect.com For more machinery content, go to farmersguardian.com/machinery-news-hub
John Deere’s 5M could be the compact tractor of choice for livestock farms, with its design capabilities for working in yards, and integrated technologies for fieldwork. Toby Whatley puts a range-topping 135hp 5130M through its paces.
John Deere’s new 5M series occupies a space in the manufacturer’s range which crosses over between the smallest 6M models and the largest of the three-cylinder 5E series.
■ Transmission: Four-speed mechanical with eight electronic split (32R/16R)
of producing some reliable and comfortable tractors in this power range, including the 5020 and 5R series.
The 5M series extends to five models from 75 to 135hp, with all machines provided with the same level of technology integration and loader capabilities.
■ Linkage: Cat 2 maximum lift 5,677kg
■ Hydraulics: Three mechanical spools 73 litres/minute
■ Tyres: Front, 480/65R24; rear, 540/65R38
■ Price: RRP as tested, £153,363 including VAT
The new M series introduces fully integrated GPS in machines this size, alongside factory-fitted loader options with joystick integration.
Unlike the 5020 and earlier 5R models which were assembled in Mannheim, Germany, the production of the 5M takes place alongside the
8Pagesof
John Deere 5130M to the test
5E in Pune, India. John Deere says the Pune production plant is its highest-volume tractor factory worldwide, and even well-established users of 6M and 6R machines would struggle to identify any differences between German- and Indian-built machines.
ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION
POWER for all models in the range, excluding the smallest 5075M, is delivered by a French-built 4.5-litre, four-cylinder Stage V unit.
A version of this engine is also used in several of the smaller 6M and 6R machines. Exhaust emissions are managed through a DPF, EGR and AdBlue combination.
With the 5130M, an unboosted maximum of 135hp is offered, which considering the overall size of the machine, provides users with more than adequate power for most applications the machine will be tasked with.
John Deere says the unit delivers peak power at 1,900rpm, but a peak torque of 541N/m at a much lower 1,600rpm, which should provide a decent fuel economy for lower-demand pto applications.
Transmission choices extend to two main options of either a 16F/16R or 32F/16R, which comprises a four-speed manual with four or eight electronic splits. A maximum forward speed of 40kph is provided in either version.
Electronic declutching is provided from the gearstick, with speed matching for each split as the operator works through the ranges.
Transmission
In use, the transmission was very easy to use and entirely predictable, particularly helpful if multiple or occasional operators used the machine, although the use of a four-speed mechanical transmission in a 2024 135hp tractor did appear to be a dated choice, particularly as no Autopowr
On Test Machinery
continuously variable transmission option is available.
The separate loader joystick includes transmission split switches and boom suspension controls when operating with a factory-fitted loader.
For vegetable and specialist crop
producers, an additional creeper box can be fitted in both transmission versions, which can provide a minimum forward speed of 0.3kph.
The maximum tyre sizes for the machine extend to 480/65R24 front and 540/65R38 rear.
Power is supplied by a 4.5-litre, four-cylinder Stage V engine.
Continues over the page
The new 5M occupies a power band of 75-135hp over five models.
Machinery On Test
CAB AND CONTROLS
THE largest changes to the new 5M over its predecessors are the cab layout and technology integration. Functionally, several areas reflected similarities from previous generations, with the manual spools and draft control reminiscent of 20 series machines.
A new digital colour dash was a welcome addition, with particular praise for the integration of Autotrac guidance into the left-hand screen.
The inclusion of a simpler guidance system provided a good balance between operational function and cab fulfilment and could provide repeatable pass-to-pass accuracy for virtually all the grassland-based tasks the 5M is likely to be used for.
When operating without an additional screen, the dash display is controlled through a series of blister buttons on the side of the dashboard. This resulted in a much longer machine set-up compared to the large touchscreen.
Our test machine included the optional G5 full screen with IsoBus,
which was mounted to the B-pillars. This was functionally a very helpful position, as it allowed users to move the screen into a direct line of sight or place the unit parallel to the windows to minimise any obstruction to the forward view.
In realistic terms, few users will likely purchase and permanently operate a 5M with the additional screen, but for businesses running multiple John Deere tractors, the ability to connect and utilise the screen and its control technology was attractive, particularly if the lighter weight machine is used for fertiliser applications in early spring.
Cost
The cost option to allow the integration of the G5 for IsoBus control adds £618, with the full Autotrac-ready option, which includes the IsoBus control, plus a wiring harness, sensors and steering valve adding £3,316. Neither of the above values includes the costs of the screen or receiver. Mirroring the offset mounting position of the permanently fitted receiver on the
much larger 7R, 8R and 9R machines, the 5M receiver was placed directly above the offside steps.
This design choice allows for an unobstructed view through the panoramic window for loader work, but also made fitting and removing the Starfire receiver much easier and far safer than the centre cab position of the unit on the larger 6M and 6R machines.
In our view, the only major downside to the offset position was the size and exposure of the receiver and the hanging loop connection cable to low-hanging trees or hedges.
In use, the lack of cab or front suspension created a bouncy, somewhat nostalgic, ride quality, with the option for either of these luxuries missing from the specification list.
When travelling at 40kph, an indicated cab noise level of 94.3dB was recorded. For a smaller tractor, this was louder than some competitor machines, but could be reflective of the proximity the operator is seated to a relatively large engine.
Located in the dash, the integrated Autotrac guidance system was an effective addition.
The new cab includes operational refinements and a panoramic windscreen; (inset) transmission choices were limited to a four-speed manual with electronic splits.
HYDRAULICS AND LINKAGE
THE maximum hydraulic lift capacity of 5,677kg is generous for the overall machine size, with a maximum lift through the full lift range of 3,569kg.
In practice, many users will not find these capacities underwhelming for most tasks, with the machine capable of carrying a reasonably sized power harrow combination if required.
The base weight of the machine is quoted as 4,400kg, with a maximum permissible weight of 8,200kg.
Again, this gives plenty of capacity for implements both front and rear and is unlikely to be under capacity for most users.
The major complaint with the 5130M linkage was the use of a category 2 rear linkage and a category 3 at the front.
Considering the size and power reserves of the machine, the use of a rear linkage now more commonly seen with sub-100hp machines presented a challenge to find implements capable of working with it.
John Deere advises that the 5M is currently only offered with a category 2 rear linkage, with either hook or ball ends. The fitment of a category 3 front linkage may have been more of a reflection of the pre-production specification of our test machine.
The hydraulic output of the pump and spool designation extended to three mechanical rear spools and three mid-mount for the loader,
with a maximum hydraulic flow of 73 litres/minute.
The spool provision is aligned with competitor machines, with the front linkage connected to the rear spools, which allows the use of the front linkage without the disconnection or removal of the loader.
Despite being factory-fitted, the front linkage uses flexible hoses running the length of the machine – we would have preferred longer service life steel pipes.
As a loader tractor working in and out of smaller traditional buildings, the capabilities and dimensions of the unit,
A lower capacity category 2 linkage is the only option for the rear.
particularly the panoramic windscreen, should make the machine a comfortable environment to work from.
Two models
Unfortunately, a loader was not available during our testing time, but John Deere advises that two models are offered for the 5M series – the 543M with a maximum lift capacity of 1,509kg and maximum lift height of 3.68 metres and the 603M with a maximum lift capacity of 1,693kg and maximum lift height of 3.75m.
The rear linkage provided a maximum lift capacity of 5,677kg.
Accessed from the offside steps, the Starfire receiver was easy to fit, but was exposed to trees or hedges.
Confusingly, the front linkage was supplied with a category 3 capacity.
The offside console was functional, but some features were dated.
Machinery On Test
LIKES AND GRIPES
■ Compact dimensions and tight turning circle
■ Cab visibility
■ Effective technology integration
■ LED work lighting
■ Accessible GPS receiver
■ Basic transmission
■ Noisy cab
■ Poor ride
■ Rear linkage category
■ Fit and finish on some parts
THE 5130M provides a balance of smaller tractor functionalities for mixed, livestock and amenity users, with some well-finished and integrated technology.
The limited transmission choice of a mechanical with splits was disappointing, considering how the machine’s ability to operate on a minimum working width of 1,880mm places it to be a popular choice for specialist fruit and vegetable growers.
The creeper option to use the machine for harvesting operations with these users provides for a low forward speed, but the requirement
to drop in and out of the low range for headland turns would be a repetitive frustration.
The 135hp maximum output and slick integration of John Deere’s highly refined precision farming applications comfortably extends the machine’s area of use.
Agility
Its lighter footprint and tight turning circle of a claimed 4.1 metres could present the machine as an agile fertiliser application or mounted spraying tractor, particularly during less-than-ideal conditions.
Many of the criticisms we found with the 5130M could be addressed with the similar power and identical engine 130hp 6M 105.
This machine can be ordered with a 50kph Autopowr continuously variable transmission or CommandQuad powershift and category three linkage, cab and axle suspension, and can be operated with slightly larger loaders.
However, the machine’s minimum width of 2,250mm, longer wheelbase and taller cab would make it too large –and much more expensive – for many of the 5M’s applications in livestock
buildings, grassland work and specialist crops.
With an as-tested price of £153,363 including VAT, the preproduction 5130M included virtually all of the possible options. However, when configuring a machine to a more typical specification, including the larger 603M loader brings this down to around £109,000 including VAT before any on-farm discounts.
In contrast, a 6M 105 with the desirables added which are currently not available on the 5M, returns a pre-discount price of around £148,000 including VAT.
FG verdict
The compact 5M offers the potential to be an agile and narrow tractor for loader work and specialist crop and grassland fieldwork.
Royal Welsh Show Machinery
Livestock transport, safer bale trailers and a reinvigorated transport box were some of the implements on display at this year’s Royal Welsh Show. Toby Whatley reports.
Machinery showcased at the Royal Welsh Show
IFOR WILLIAMS INTRODUCES TA510 LIVESTOCK TRAILER
TAKING a centre-stage position on its stand at the Royal Welsh Show, Corwen-manufacturer
Ifor Williams introduced a longer and redesigned version of its popular TA510 livestock trailer.
The 16-foot-long (4.9-metre) model is now the largest in the range and has been introduced with several new features and refinements.
Currently offered as a tri-axle layout only, the new trailer includes external treadplates at the front and rear to provide inspection of the top deck and allow the release of the internal gates from outside the body.
LAMPETER-based Dalton’s ATV has added Kymco to the portfolio of brands it offers. The Taiwanese manufacturer supplies mid-range ATVs with some models specifically designed for agricultural use, including the MXU 550 T3b on display.
The four-wheel-drive, 30hp, 499cc unit is offered with
independent rear suspension and a 460kg towing capacity.
Retail prices start from £6,675, with Dalton’s saying it has introduced the brand to its range to offer lower annual hour users the option to purchase a new ATV without the higher costs of the equivalent specification from the other brands it supplies.
The rear ramp release has been moved to an internal position, which Ifor Williams says provides a quicker and simpler release. Internally, the integrated dirty water sump tank has been changed to include removable grids for easier cleaning.
All lighting has been replaced with LED variants, with the option now introduced as standard on the shorter existing models in the range.
AW TRAILERS’ HYDRAULIC TOP STRAP OPTION
AW TRAILERS has introduced a secondary hydraulic top strapping system for its Ultima hydraulic wing bale trailer.
The design works in conjunction with the folding side squeezes and lowers a strap assembly over the bales to prevent any vertical movement of the load.
AW says the ratchet can be adjusted to suit varying heights of bale, and improves the retainment of round bales, with the strap running the
length of the trailer to prevent it from being pulled between individual bales.
The use of the system also fulfils the VOSA requirements of the operators to fully secure loads, as the cargo is held vertically and horizontally with the combination of both systems.
Control of the secondary strap is through the same hydraulic circuit as the wings, with a diverter valve on the trailer body which opens and closes the upper strap. Prices start from £22,000.
DALTON ATV ADDS KYMCO TO RANGE
Machinery Royal Welsh Show
HAUER KM TRANSPORT BOX
AUSTRIAN front loader manufacturer Hauer used the event to make its UK debut for its first transport box.
Although somewhat of a nostalgic implement, the KM transport box has been developed to match the capacity of modern tractors and provide a multifunctional transport system.
The hydraulic tipping box has a 4,500kg carrying capacity, with lifting cylinders mounted within the support arms to allow a claimed 92-degree tipping angle.
The internal dimensions include space to carry a pallet
with strapping points in the base. The orange guard can be flipped to provide a rear door or expose the cutting edge for grading tracks or self-loading material. Additional panels can be added to the sides to increase the internal capacity to 2.8cu.m.
Hauer says the demand for the implement has been driven by alpine farmers, who use the attachment to carry tools and equipment, including mini excavators, to maintain fencing and access roads on hillside and mountain pastures. Prices for the KM start from £4,650.
McCONNEL 325 POWERLODA MAKES ITS DEBUT
ADDING another option to its amenity machinery range, McConnel has introduced the Powerloda ride-on skid steer.
Assembled in Australia, the Powerloda uses a 24hp Kohler petrol engine to provide a 325kg lift capacity to a maximum height of 2.68 metres.
Drive is fully hydrostatic, with a maximum 7.5kph travel speed. Shown with a four-in-one bucket, a range of attachments will be offered to utilise its 47 litres/minute hydraulic capacity.
Currently offered with tyres, a rubber-tracked version is planned. Prices start from £25,000.
MARSHALL TRAILERS’ HYDRAULIC LIVESTOCK DECK
FOLLOWING customer requests to allow the transport of sheep directly followed by cattle –or vice-versa – Marshall Trailers has added a hydraulic lifting deck to its livestock trailer range.
Operated from the tractor spool through an additional external valve, the eighttonne capacity deck can be loaded and raised, with folding partition gates attached to the underside, which swings down before locking into position.
For cattle transport, the second floor is lowered and operates like a conventional trailer, with some width loss due to the deck side supports.
The design uses four reinforced
from £31,000 for
lifting cylinders to control the deck position, which Marshall says is a simpler and more reliable design
than using lifting cables and ratchet mechanisms. Prices start
the 21ft (6.4m) version, with models offered up to 32 feet (9.75 metres) long.
Edited by Katie Jones – 07786
856 439 – katie.jones@agriconnect.com
For more livestock content, go to farmersguardian.com/livestock-news-hub
● Keeping production costs low said to be key
By Ewan Pate
GROWING a livestock enterprise with minimal capital is not easy but it is far from impossible, according to speakers at Go Falkland, Scotland’s recent Groundswell outreach event.
Duncan Morrison, who along with his wife Claire has set up a suckler cow enterprise on an upland farm in Aberdeenshire, said: “Admittedly, it is not for the faint-hearted. It is quite difficult to convince bankers to lend money when cows are going off farms all around the district. Also, cashflow can be a major challenge as you expand.
“There is always talk about the shortage of land, but that is not really true. There is land, but you have to present yourself in the right way to be able to access it.
“A tenancy is not always the easy way when there are other opportunities about.”
In his own case, he had worked as a stockman with some good herds in the North East, while gaining experience and looking for opportunities.
After some false starts, he was able to gain a short, limited-duration tenancy on Meikle Maldron, a 91-hectare (224-acre) farm near Torphins, Aberdeenshire.
By this time, he had accumulated a herd of 50 Aberdeen-Angus cows.
To make up numbers, he took the novel approach of leasing a herd of 100 Stabiliser cows from a former employer.
The farmed acreage has also been built up using rented grass.
Mr Morrison explained that as each older leased cow is culled from the herd, it is replaced by one of the Morrisons’ own heifers.
Low capital entry into livestock not impossible
Building up capital is only part of the story, however. The other part involves keeping production costs very low by outwintering cows on deferred grazing, supplemented by baled silage.
James and Nikki Yoxall have
taken a different approach. After the couple moved from the south to a small farm in Aberdeenshire, they began to keep cattle on a small scale on their 7.2ha (18-acre) holding.
Speaking at Go Falkland, the couple said they could see the pot-
Scottish farmers exploring bokashi
SCOTTISH livestock farmers are exploring a method of fermenting manure in the hope it will boost farm productivity and slash emissions.
In a new Innovative Farmers field lab, farmers on two sites are trialling bokashi, which uses a mix of microorganisms to ferment animal bedding and dung, covered and left for six to eight weeks.
Cattle waste is typically stacked outdoors, uncovered, which can emit ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and lose potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.
As it dries out, it reduces in size and becomes harder to handle.
The three-year trial will measure concentrations of these gases and nutrients as the fermentation takes place. Separately, farmers will observe how easy it is to apply the treated manure and any changes to the fertilised fields.
Triallist Andrew Barbour, a cattle and sheep farmer at Fincastle Farm, Glen Fincastle, says: “We want to improve our soil health, make sure we do not lose nutrients and reduce our carbon footprint.
“The effort involved using bokashi
is very low – half-an-hour at the start and at the end – but we will save time later if it is easier to handle and available earlier.”
Boost
Bokashi has been used effectively by farmers in south west England for several years and trialling it in colder conditions will boost the existing body of evidence.
Innovative Farmers co-ordinator Laura Gude says: “The impact of techniques such as this are still not widely known and the research is genuinely ground-breaking.”
Speakers at the recent Go Falkland, Scotland’s Groundswell outreach event, said growing a livestock enterprise with minimal capital is far from impossible.
ential for native cattle to improve land which was being primarily used for conservation purposes.
So they set up Grampian Graziers, offering a service whereby their cows would be used to manage and regenerate land which was in danger of becoming overgrown.
At the same time, they have been able to build up a market for their naturally reared beef.
Gemma Wark, based in the Scottish Borders, might well have taken the most unique route to building up a herd of cows.
She said that when she was a student, she worked for season for an expatriate Scot in New York.
She took part of her payment in Aberdeen-Angus embryos.
Ms Wark’s next employer in Scotland allowed her to put the embryos in donor cows in return for helping bring out show cattle.
The result is that Ms Wark now has her own pedigree AberdeenAngus herd carrying the Tullyfergus prefix.
A South Wales arable and livestock farming family are expecting to increase self-sufficiency and profit with a new cereal and legume mix. Gaina Morgan finds out more.
Welsh pilot project looks at feed value of cereal and legume mix
Apilot project looking at the potential benefits of growing a cereal and legume mix to improve cattle performance and soil fertility has been carried out on Gelli Goll Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan with support from Farming Connect.
The results of the project so far were showcased at a Farming Connect open day at the farm where local farmers heard about the proposed benefits of growing a mix of peas, oats and barley to create a complete home-grown winter diet.
Gelli Goll Farm is run by Mark Jarvis, alongside his father Peter and his daughter Bethany. They drilled 10 hectares (24 acres) with a mix of peas, oats and barley in April this year. Traditionally they have grown winter and spring barley on the 26ha (65-acre) arable platform.
Mark Jarvis, who is the fourth generation to farm at the 182ha (450-acre) unit, said he hoped this new crop
THE CEREAL AND LEGUME MIX
JOHN Falconbridge, of Western Seeds, said the mix being grown in the trial was Sovereign Combicrop, which is a precise blend of spring oats, spring barley and a combining pea.
He said: “It can yield as much as, if not more than, straight cereals and without fungicides, herbicides or insecticides.
“Properly managed, the thick crop
would meet the nutritional needs of their cattle and sheep this winter. This, he added, would reduce reliance on bought-in feed and increase homegrown protein values and yields, compared with single variety crops.
The family runs 550 New Zealand Suffolk cross Mules and 200 Welsh Mules producing lamb for Waitrose. The 120-150 store cattle finished annually are bought in at 10-12 months at about 350kg and sold at 20-24 months
will smother weeds and easily produce enough free nitrogen, leaving a substantial residue for the next crop.”
He added it could be combined dry to produce a feed concentrate meal that is high in starch with 13-16% protein. Or it could be wholecrop fermented harvested at 25%-45% dry matter to feed on its own or with grass silage as a forage for stock.
at 700-725kg. Cattle are sold to nearby St Merryn Meats at Merthyr.
Mr Jarvis said: “Hopefully we are going to be able to reduce our cereal input into the fattening cattle, so we will be reducing our dry barley intake.
“Instead of them having a big feed of barley in the morning and a big feed in the evening, it will even out the feeding of the animal throughout the 24-hour period a little bit more to better stabilise the rumen.”
Mr Jarvis said he hoped that improved rumen function and the animals’ more effective utilisation of protein and energy would lead to increased liveweight gain.
The crop will be ensiled as wholecrop and, once fermented, it will be analysed and a winter feeding ration devised based on its feeding quality.
Comparison
As part of the trial going forward, the feed value of the wholecrop will be compared to the feed value of a control diet, and the two cattle groups will be monitored for daily liveweight gain.
The crop was planted in two separate blocks: 6.5ha (16 acres) of sand/ silty loam and 3.2ha (eight acres) of clay loam. The sward was first sprayed, then the ground ploughed and drilled in April, with fertiliser applied at establishment.
The farm rises to about 76 metres (250 feet) above sea level, with 1,0161,270mm of rain a year. And, less
The barley is flourishing mixed with the legumes as part of the combicrop.
From left: Peter, Bethany and Mark Jarvis with dog Nelly.
afflicted by the torrential downpours affecting other areas, Mr Jarvis said the barley and the new combined crop have thrived on a combination of moisture and dry weather.
Mr Jarvis added it had been a ‘big learning curve’ and while it is too early in the trial to crunch the numbers and estimate cost savings, he said he was confident that there would be a value to the crop.
Mr Jarvis also said he was pleased to be less reliant on bought-in protein for the youngstock and to be able to improve soil fertility by creating a break between barley crops.
Hefin Richards, of Rumination Nutrition Consultancy, added the aim of the new crop was to increase homegrown protein values by between 30–50% compared with single variety crops.
He said: “Ideally, we want to be growing as much of that protein as possible on the farm, just to give us resilience.
“When you are growing your animals it is very important to have enough protein to get that frame of growth and to lay that meat down as they grow. We can get away with lower protein towards finishing, but we still need a 15% protein diet for younger cattle and 13-14% for finishing.”
Nitrogen
And he said that in addition to increasing feed quality, legumes could also help reduce brought-in nitrogen. He added the crop would provide residual nitrogen in the soil, while
also eliminating leaf fungal disease, so removing the need for fungicides and insecticides.
The trial will assess the overall suit-
ability of the crop in an arable rotation, along with comparing costs, yield, quality and feeding values against single-variety crops.
Beware of fusarium and ergot in grain
LIVESTOCK farmers are being warned of a potential risk to livestock posed by fusarium and ergot in grain.
through many mobile seed treatment companies.
Farmers heard about the proposed benefits of growing a mix of peas, oats and barley to create a complete home-grown winter diet at a recent open day at the Glamorgan farm.
AHDB has said there could be an increased presence of the two types of fungi in grain harvested this summer due to wet weather during the 2024 growing period.
Although harvested crops being processed through a mill will be thoroughly checked, the risk remains where grain is being used directly onfarm to feed livestock.
Ergot, which can affect wheat, barley, rye, triticale and oats, is particularly toxic and has the potential to make humans and livestock seriously ill. It can constrict blood vessels and damage the nervous system, resulting in seizures, loss of muscle strength, poor co-ordination and in the most severe cases, death. Lameness is often the first sign, followed by an increase in temperature and respiratory rate.
Ollie Johnson, AHDB head of farming systems and agronomy, says: “At harvest, ergot can be found as a hard, black mass in place of the grain and can be mistaken in a heap for rodent faeces. The only effective way to remove it from a pile is by using a colour sorter which can be sourced
“In the field, there is no easy solution to remove ergot other than to use an appropriate seed treatment at drilling, though managing grassweeds and good rotations can help –unfortunately this is much too late for harvest ‘24.”
Fusarium can affect all the major cereal crops (wheat, barley, oats), as well as maize. It releases mycotoxins and is particularly dangerous to both humans and livestock. In cattle, fusarium poisoning can reduce feed intake by reduced appetite, hamper immune system health and cause gastrointestinal irritation.
Rainfall
Extensive rainfall during the flowering period, which is around late May and early June – as was the case in many areas of the UK this year – increases the risk of this infection.
“For cereal crops out in the field, farmers should be looking for ‘white heads’, which are ears that appear to have gone white while the rest of the plants appear greener,” says Mr Johnson.
“Once harvested, contaminated grains will appear shrivelled with pink
For cereal crops out in the field, farmers should be looking for ‘white heads’, which are ears that appear to have gone white while the rest of the plants appear greener
OLLIE JOHNSON
tips and/or black patches and are impractical to be removed.”
Maize grown in a continuous rotation, and wheat after maize, is particularly high risk. Wheat crops that did not receive a fusarium active fungicide, such as Prothioconazole or Pydiflumetafen, at or before flowering should be closely investigated ahead of harvest this year.
Growing peas for the first time at Gelli Goll Farm has proved successful.
Stowell Farms in Wiltshire has taken big steps to improve profitability and lower its environmental impact, making the business one of the top performers for Arla’s Sustainability Incentive model. Farmers Guardian reports.
What makes Stowell Farms a top sustainability performer?
Farm manager Neil Ridgway’s drive to run a top performing dairy herd that has cow welfare and the environment at its heart has ultimately led to a more profitable and sustainable system.
After joining the business two-anda-half years ago, Mr Ridgway decided big changes were needed to better integrate the farm and create a business that could thrive into the future. This has stemmed around protecting soils, producing quality home-grown forages to reduce reliance on boughtin feeds, targeting nutrients and improving cow comfort.
He says: “My ethos has always been sustainably producing profit while maximising animal welfare. We want to be at the forefront of UK agriculture and setting the standards, not just adhering to the minimum.”
Such an approach meant they were in a strong position when their milk buyer Arla introduced its Sustainability Incentive (SI), which rewards suppliers for environmental management.
Through the SI (see panel), Stowell Farms, which is also a Mole Valley Farmers Focus Farm, scored 15 points above the 2023 global average, bringing a total financial benefit of 2.01 euro cents (1.7p) per kg fat- and
protein-corrected milk (FPCM). The farm also receives one euro cent per month per kg FPCM for carrying out a climate check (farm carbon footprinting).
Points
Mr Ridgway explains how they have gained their points for ‘the big five levers’ that make up the highest number of points in the SI.
1Feed efficiency – Stowell Farms’ score: 10/13
What it is: The more effectively a unit of feed is converted into milk, the lower the climate impact. Feed efficiency is impacted by forage quality, diet composition and feed for replacement heifers.
Why Stowell scores well: Traditionally, grass was planted after cereals, cut once and followed by
maize. Mr Ridgway says this was having a negative impact on soil health and forage quality.
To address this, cereal acreage has been reduced from 242 hectares (600 acres) to 202ha (500 acres).
Land is now planted with four- to five-year herbal leys, three-year grass and clover leys or lucerne. This supports soil health and the production of quality forage, and aids the herd to
From left: Farm manager Neil Ridgway, Mole Valley Farmers’ Dr Matt Witt, herd manager Chris Gowen and Arla’s Megan Edwards.
A focus has been put on cow comfort to help cow longevity.
The use of home-grown lucerne has a big impact on protein efficiency.
■ 12 Lely A5 Astronaut milking robots
■ 780 Holsteins in herd
■ 11,700 litres per cow per year at 4.01% fat and 3.21% protein
■ Supplying Arla Aldi
■ 3,400 litres per cow per year milk from forage
produce 3,400 litres of milk from forage out of total yields of 11,700 litres. Strategies such as removing soya from the diet and feeding home-grown lucerne also impacts feed efficiency.
2
Fertiliser – Stowell Farms’ Score: 8/11
What it is: The aim is to reduce the nitrogen surplus from feed production as this will reduce emissions per kg of milk.
Why Stowell scores well: Mr Ridgway says that in-depth soil analysis is used to map fields and adopt variable rate spreading of fertiliser and digestate. Improved storage and an umbilical system allow nutrients to be applied when the crop needs it.
As lucerne fixes nitrogen, the wheat or maize crop that follows it requires less bought-in fertiliser and mostly receives digestate from the anaerobic digestion plant or farmyard manure.
■ 24.2 months average age at first calving
■ 1,416 hectares (3,500 acres) total area farmed, including 89ha (220 acres) herbal leys, 61ha (150 acres) lucerne and 69ha (170 acres) grass and white clover leys
Mr Ridgway says this has helped reduce fertiliser use by 75 tonnes in the last two years. At around £425/t that equates to a £30,000 saving.
Careful ration balance also optimises protein use by the cow and reduces nitrogen excretion. Predicted N output from the diet is monitored by the farm’s nutritionist, technical and sustainability manager for Mole Valley Farmers, Dr Matt Witt. This is used to ensure the diet is utilised effectively to optimise cow and environmental efficiencies.
3
Land use – Stowell Farms’ score: 6/9
What it is: The area used for feed production on- and off-farm. Improving yield from the farm’s land and crop choice has a positive effect on the climate. Reducing feed losses is an impactful measure to reduce land use. Why Stowell scores well: Home-
grown forage production and the removal of bought-in soya from the diet helps the farm’s score, as does the herd’s high yields and milk from forage.
Mr Ridgway says the farm has its own silage-making kit, allowing silage to be cut at the optimum time. A self-propelled feed mixer reduces forage wastage from the clamp to feedout, while robotic feed pushers ensure cows always have access to the ration.
4
Protein efficiency – Stowell Farms’ score: 8/8
What it is: Providing cows with the right level of protein is key to optimising milk production. Excreting surplus protein requires the cow to use energy and can lead to unnecessary carbon emissions. Calculations include bought-in concentrates, home-grown forage quality and milk production.
Why Stowell scores well: The production of quality home-grown protein in the form of lucerne has a big impact on protein efficiency, as does the removal of soya from deforested areas.
Dr Witt has worked closely with
ARLA’S SUSTAINABILITY INCENTIVE MODEL
THE Sustainability Incentive (SI) model is based on the main levers that Arla has identified as the most impactful and cost-efficient way of delivering its 30% climate emissions reduction target by 2030. Producers can gain up to 80 points across the SI. The levers include:
1 The big five – 49 points. Identified as having the biggest impact on sustainability: feed efficiency, fertiliser use, land use, protein efficiency and animal robustness
2 Sustainable feed – 11 points
3 Biodiversity and carbon farming (which includes grazing) – eight points
4 Manure handling – six points
5 Renewable energy – five points
6 Knowledge building – one point
the team to reduce the environmental impact of the diet, while ensuring the herd meets its production targets, which includes maximising milk from forage.
Dr Witt says: “We have taken soya out of the ration and effectively maintained the nutritional specification and cost of the diet by using homegrown lucerne – which is averaging 16% crude protein – plus feeds like British-grown protected rapeseed.”
5
Animal Robustness – Stowell Farms’ score: 1/5
What it is: Animal robustness describes the health and well-being of a cow and includes mortality rate. Planned improvements at Stowell: This was identified as the main area for attention and has influenced decision-making, says Mr Ridgway. In 2022, the business moved from twice-daily milking through a rotary to milking through 12 milking robots. The internal infrastructure of the cubicle sheds was also overhauled.
The ultimate aim was to improve cow comfort by reducing standing times and providing plenty of feed and lying space. This will support cow longevity and help the herd realise its full genetic potential. So far, the changes have resulted in a 2,700-litre per cow per year uplift, a one-third reduction in lameness and 50% drop in mastitis.
Breeding is now focused on strength, legs and feet and udders. All heifers are genomically tested and classified, with the best used for replacements.
Mr Ridgway adds: “Agriculture is a bigger part of the solution to the climate emergency than the problem. And along with the Arla Sustainability Incentive, we stand to do quite well out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, to the point that we will be better off than with the Basic Payment Scheme.”
Farm facts – dairy system overview
The 780-cow herd is milked through 12 Lely robots.
Stowell Farms is a Mole Valley Farms Focus Farm.
Week beginning July 29
GRASS GROWTH ACROSS THE UK
Scotland
The South 56.8kg DM/ha/day (23kg DM/acre/day)
Grass growth Soil moisture (cb)
Soil temperature (degC) Rainfall (mm per week)
GrassCheck Livestock
DAILY GROWTH FORECASTS
Region Seven-day forecast 14-day forecast
North England 44.5kg DM/ha (18kg DM/acre) 46.6kg DM/ha (18.9kg DM/acre) South England 32.1kg DM/ha (13kg DM/acre) 30.7kg DM/ha (12.4kg DM/acre) Scotland 40.5kg DM/ha (16.4kg DM/acre) 58.6kg DM/ha (23.7kg DM/acre) Wales 64.2kg DM/ha (26kg DM/acre) 49.6kg DM/ha (20.1kg DM/acre)
GRASS QUALITY
GROWTH RATES
MANAGEMENT NOTES
■ Recorded grass growth on farms across the regions exceeded the long-term average, but it is predicted to fall back considerably, especially in southern England, due to drier conditions forecasted
■ Herbage metabolisable energy values have been below optimum for some weeks now, so keep trying for a good clean out of paddocks to retain
quality in subsequent rotations
■ For forward planning of autumn grazing and setting up the farm for next spring, begin by increasing the rotation length gradually through August to a target 30-day rotation. Also bear in mind that swards must be of good quality before starting to build covers
■ Drier weather conditions will be welcome for field improvement work
GrassCheckGB is a collaboration between The UK Agri-Tech Centre, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Rothamsted Research, AHDB, Hybu Cig Cymru, Germinal, Handley Enterprises, Sciantec Analytical, Yara, Pilgrim’s UK and Quality Meat Scotland. Regular updates will appear in Farmers Guardian.
Trials diary
WALES
August 3. LLANWRYTD, Ffos Fields, Llanwrtyd Wells, LD5 4RS, Open and novice national, combined runs, young handler trophy for under 25s, two sessions, 7.30am start, catering, contact secretary Hilary Davies, tel: 07977 543 239. ABERMULE, SY15 6LU, Pre-entry, two sessions, tel: 07790 179 064 (text).
August 4. LLANFAIR CAEREINION, Plasiolyn farm, SY21 ODJ, local Montgomeryshire and overseas, prizes and cups, 12pm start, contact secretary Heulwen Davies, tel: 07740 355 017.
August 7. LLANFAIR CAEREINION, Open, class two and young handler, under 26, 7.30am start, enter on field, contact secretary Heulwen Davies, tel: 07740 355 017. August 7-8. LLANBRYNMAIR, Clegyrddwr, Llanbrynmair, SY19 7DY, first day, open and novice national, 8am start, second day, local Montgomeryshire, 4pm start, contact secretary Elgan Jarman, tel: 01650 521 269. August 8. TALYBONT, Llety Ifan Hen, Bontgoch, Talybont, SY24 5DR, Open and novice national, open and novice South Wales, 8am start. NEWCASTLE EMLYN,
For winning results
English results
MID SHIRES, 1, R. Hutchinson (Littledale) Jonah, 101/110; 2, N. Vyas (John O’Gaunt) Cap, 100; 3, M. Hutchinson (Littledale) Katy, 99; 4, B. Powell (Cold Ashby), Blake, 98OLF; 5, B. Powell, Mirk, 98; 6, P. Johnson (Burton on Trent) Scalpsie Inch, 97OLF. Highest pointed novice, P. Thomas (Church Stretton) Skye, 86. Best outrun, lift and fetch, B. Powell, Blake. Best driving trophy, M. Hutchinson, Katy. Best young handler, G. Gower, Ben, 81. HUSBANDS BOSWORTH AND THEDDINGWORTH (J. Aldridge) 1, B. Smith, Ben 2, 91; 2, S. Mynard, Frank, 74; 3, V. Beech, Gypsy, 68; 4, S. Mynard, Winston, 66; 5, J. Porter, Joe, 65; 6, A. Hall, Tess, 62; 6, K. Gurney, Jess, 62. Open (R. Hutchinson) 1, Nij Vyas, Cap, 82; 2, E. Hawkins, Bob, 82; 3, G. Bonasll, Jake, 81OLF; 4, B. Smith, Ben 2; 77OLF; 5, S. Duckworth, Dale, 77OLF. SIMONBURN (T. Iley) 1, B. Jordan, Chase, 85; 2, M. Davidson, Angus, 84; 3, M. Davidson, Glen, 81; 4, C. Balmbro, Dot, 79; 5, D. Henderson, Jewel, 78OLF; 6, D. Henderson, Mia, 78. DEVON AND EXMOOR, 1, P.D. Russell, Esme, 83OLF; 2, F.D. Russell, Nellie, 83; 3, S. Greenaway, Moss, 80; 4, P.D. Russell, Jac, 78OLF; 5, J. Nichols, Maud, 78; 6, J. Tucker, Sal, 72. RYDALE (R. Dugmore) 1, D. Bristow, Moss, 86; 2, B. Galloway, Nimo, 84; 3, A. Wilkinson, Pip, 82; 4, T. Bennet, Belle, 81; 5, I. Murdock, Dell, 75; 6, S. Walton, Spot, 73.
Cillfallen, Cwmcou, Newcastle Emlyn, SA38 9PY, Open national only, full course, shed, pen and single with collared sheep, starts 8am, entries in person, catering available, contact secretary Arwyn Organ, tel: 07464 648 490. August 10. CWMSYCHPANT, Waun Fields, Rhydowen, SA44 4QA, Open and novice national, combined runs, open and novice South Wales, combined runs, 8am start, catering, contact secretary Sulwyn Jenkins, tel: 07971 442 462. CYNGHORDY, Talgarth Field, Cynghordy, Open and novice, combined runs, 7.30am start, contact secretary, Philip Jones, tel: 07950 442 874. BRYNEGLWYS, LL21 9NA, 8am start, tel: 07983 394 772. LLANARMON YN LAL, CH7 4QX, 8am start, tel: 07964 671 308. LLANFYLLIN, SY22 5HS, 8am start, tel: 07890 292 896.
SCOTLAND
August 3. EDDERTON, Edderton Farm, IV19 1JU, first dog run at 8.30am, fundraiser for Scottish national 2024, novice handlers welcome, £10 per dog, judge George Simpson, contact Gert Van Dyck via gert.van.dyck@ hotmail.com or tel: 07873 877 310. August 4. BIRTHWOOD, Birthwood Farm, ML12 6QD,
CORNWALL, Open driving (J. Nicholls) (28 ran) 1, W. Carter, Belle, 86; 2, R. Snoecd Mead, 80OLF; 3, R. Hawke, Mirk, 80; 4, R. Hawke, Chip, 78; 5, R. Hawke, Flame, 76; 6, J. Mills, Venn Millie, 75. Maltese cross (T. Hopper) (15 ran) Open, 1, W. Carter, Rob, 83; 2, S. Williams, Chase, 76OLF; 3, W. Carter, Jen, 76; 4, J. Mills, Venn Millie, 74. Novice, 1, J. Nicholls, Meg, 75; 2, R. Hawke, Bryn, 74; 3, W, Carter, Frank, 55OLF; 4, J. Mills, Rock, 55.
Welsh results
ROYAL WELSH, Open trial championship, 1, C. Toner, Niro Mace; 2, J. Price, Cap; 3, A. Price, Tweed; 4, Venn Davies, Penrhiw Pat. Open day one, 1, C. Toner, Niro Mace; 2, J. Price, Cap; 3, D. Howells, Wyevern Pip; 4, A. Davies, Eglwys Elsa; 5, J. Jones, Brondrefawr Sally; 6, I. Rees, Prentre Jax; 7, M. Morgan, Scott; 8, D. Jenkins, Jock; 9, M. Dubenova, Oak Mo; 10, I. Evans, Gwnnws Jet. Open day two, 1, A. Price, Tween; 2, V. Davies, Penrhiw Pat; 3, I. Griffith, Cap; W. Davies, Dan; B, Laemmle, Floss; 6, J. Phillips, Cwmhyfryd Jet; 7, W. Jones, Moss; K. Haker, Case; 9, K. Broad, Kinloch Bode; 10, P. Tompkins, Fynydd Kylo. Open, 1, I. Griffith, Gwynydd, Cap; 2, J. Phillips, Cwmhyfryd Jet; 3, A. Davies, Celt; 4, E. Jarman, Ken; 5, J. Howells, Cydros Boss. Young handlers, 1, L. Bevan, Tanhill Alex; 2, I. Griffith, Cap; A, Davies, Mac; 4, R. Mcnaught, Pandy Tlws. Champion of champions, 1, R. Ellis, Tod; 2, M. Longton, Rooten Brook Max; 3, C. Toner, Niro Mace. ABERNANT (Judge V. Davies) (81 dogs ran) Open, 1, Rob Ellis, Pip, 6; 2, Meirion Jones, Kennox Bob, 7; 3, Rob Ellis, Preseli Sue, 8; 4, Angie Driscoll, Kinloch Sweep, 16; 5, Lyn Howells, Storm, 17; 6, Angie Driscoll, Kinloch Taz, 18. Novice, 1, Rob Ellis, Preseli Sue, 8;
Working Dogs
Open hill trial, 550-yard outrun, entry fee £10, all proceeds to the 2024 International, entries to birthwoodbordercollies@yahoo.com or Hazel Brown, tel: 07590 480 688.
August 7. ARDLAMONT, Open trial to be held at Kilfinan Farm, Tighnabruaich, PA21 2EP, 9am start, entry £5 per dog taken on the day or contact, Kerr Crawford, tel: 01700 811 285.
August 10. HUNTERSTON ESTATE, West Kilbride, Ayrshire, KA23 9QF, enter on field, 8am start, £10 per dog, catering on field, for further information contact Bobby Howatson, tel: 07947 532 993.
ENGLAND
August 2-3. MACCLESFIELD AND DISTRICT, Sutton Hall Farm, Sutton, Macclesfield, SK11 0HE, entry form available on Macclesfield Sheep Dog Trial website or email entries@macclesfieldsheepdogtrials.co.uk.
August 3. OSMOTHERLEY, Open trial and novice handler, Home Farm, Thimbleby, Northallerton, DL6 3PY, Judge P. Simpson, 10am start, running two or more dogs one must be booked in before 12, two and three dogs must book in before 2pm, entry fee open £5, entry fee novice £2, handler not to have been placed top three in an
2, Lyn Howells, Storm, 17; 3, Alison Sharpe, Alfie, 18; 4, Bradley Morgan, Tom, 19; 5, Jack Howells, Cydros Boss, 24. Afternoon open (Rob Ellis) 1, Meirion Jones, Nan, 7; 2, David Millichap, Bedlwyn Jack, 11; 3, Cerys Millichap, Gelli Smudge, 12OLF; 4, Matt Evans, Thistledown Jim, 12; 5, Malcolm Ellis, Kay, 15; 6, Kelvin Broad, Kinloch Mazi, 17. Novice, 1, Cerys Millichap, Gelli Smudge, 12; 2, Jonathan Phillips, Cwmhyfryd Jet, 25OLF; 3, John Bowen, Patch, 25; 4, Tony Mallon, Miley, 26; 5, David Evans, Hendre Jet, 27. Junior, 1, Jack Howells, Cydross Boss, 24; 2, Jonathan Phillips, Cwmhyfryd Jet, 25.
HIGH HILLS, 1, Kevin Evans, Jet, 305/340; 2, Kevin Evans, Kemi Jack, 304; 3, Kevin Evans, Knockmaa Bec, 299; 4, Kevin Evans, Preseli Ci, 286; 5, James McGee, Gold, 257; 6, Rob Ellis, Pip, 248; 7, Dewi Jenkins, Clwyd Bob, 247; 8, James McGee, Becca, 240; 9, Jack Howells, Boss, 234; 10, Dewi Jenkins, Tynygraig Meg, 214. Young handler, 1, Jack Howells, Boss, 234/340; 2, Joren De Bruycker, Jen; 3, Chelsea Elkin, Mirk.
NEW CROSS (L. Evans) 1, I. Evans, Gwnnws Toss, 17; 2, J. Price, Ben, 22; 3, M. Morgan, Jano, 24; 4, I. Jones, Gwnnws Dot, 25.
RHESYCAE, 1, E.P. Roberts, Eryri Meg, 4; 2, C. Rundle, Nap, 9; 3, J. Ellis, Mac, 13; 4, K. Schwarze, Brenig Lisa, 14; 5, R. Schripsema, Mosse, 17. HENRYD, 1, H. Owen, Glan y Gors Cap, 12; 2, E. Lewis, Jaff, 13; 3, I. Griffith, Gwen, 14; 4, Elaine Von Dinther, Lyn, 15; 5, J. Ellis, Redbrook Maelor, 16OLF; 6, A. W Jones, Llanllyfni, 16. Young handlers, 1, I. Griffith, Gwen. Highest female handler, Elaine Von Dinther, Lyn. RHOSGOCH, 1, H. Jones, Llanfarian Mirk, 20; 2, P. Kok, Jen, 23OLF; 3, A.W. Jones, Beaut, 23OLF; 4, P. Kok, Lynn, 23; 5, E. Morgan, Fly, 25; 6, D. Davies, Treflys Floss, 27.
open trial, contact, Brenda Swinbank, tel: 07761 619 494. LOW THORNEYBURN, NE48 1AW, enter on field, 9am start, two dogs booked in by 10.30am, contact, Jim Fyall, tel: 01434 270 460. WADEBRIDGE, Trewindles Farm, Breock Down, Wadebridge, PI276 7LF, Whats3words: collides.discouraged.hosts., classes for open, driving, novice, 9.30am start, contact secretary Trevor Hopper via trevor_hopper01@btinternet.com, or tel: 01872 501 886. OSMOTHERLEY, Home Farm, Thimbleby, Northallerton, DL6 3PY, judge, P. Simpson, 10am start, running two or more dogs one must be booked in before 12pm, two and three dogs must book in before 2pm. Entry fee open £5, novice £2, contact, Brenda Swinbank, tel: 07761 619 494.
August 4. COLLEGE VALLEY, NE71 6TW, 9am start, contact M. Davidson, tel: 07751 276 513. THORNTON LE DALE, Middle of Thornton Dale, just off A170 between Pickering towards Scarbrough, please contact the relevant show office.
August 8. ENGLISH NATIONAL, Moorelands Farm Princetown, Dartmoor, Devon, for all enquires contact englishnational2024@gmail.com. LAKE DISTRICT, Hill Farm, Kendal, LA8 9QQ, 10am start, contact Carole Hodgson via jad_yoadpot@hotmail.com, or tel: 07769 871 819.
Chris Toner with Niro Mace, open champions at the Royal Welsh Show.
Royal Lancashire results
Beef
Inter-breed, Supreme and continental, P.A. and S.M. Cade, Cade Fifi’s Nala (Simmental); reserve and native, M. and T. Severn, Highlee Enya Tabitha (Beef Shorthorn); res. continental, N. Slack, Pepper (commercial); res. native, J.M. Grant and P.A. McDonnell, Longbridge Velvet (Longhorn).
Simmental (Judge, S. Stronach, Keith) Sup. and fem., P.A. and S.M Cade, Cade Fifi’s Nala; res. and res. fem., J.H. and V.G. Wood, Popes Princess Noor; male, P.M. and R. Fitton, Simply Peter Pan 23; res. male, J.H. and V.G. Wood, Popers Premier. Aberdeen-Angus (A. Johnson, North Yorkshire) Sup., Woodmoss Farming, Woodmoss Laydy Lil W023; res., O. Tunney, Morpheus Princess Caroline. Any other beef breed, Sup., C. Pendlebury Jessops Ugogirl; res., W. and R. Ashworth, Stonylane Ulala. Hereford (R. Irvine) Sup., B. Hutchinson, Dendor 1 Vodka; res., E. Jackson, Evetert 1 Aan Jackson. Longhorn (B. Stanley, Derbyshire) Sup., J.M. Grant and P.A. McDonnell, Longbridge Velvet; res., J.M. Grant and P.A. McDonnell, Litton X-Ception. British Blue (R. Tiplady, Co Durham) Sup., A.M. and E. Hartley, Pendle Sarsaparilla; res., J. and S. Crowther, Making Place Sheila B. Beef Shorthorn (E. Trueman, Derbyshire) Sup., M. and T. Severn, Highlee Enya Tabitha; res., M. and T. Severn, Highlee Tyson. Dexter, Sup., S. and K. Darnbrook, Planetree Kraken; res., J. Nuttall, Jordeth Sammie. Limousin (I. Sedgewick Lancashire) Sup., C. Pendlebury, Sarkley Urmadel.
Commercial (J. Richardson, Cumbria) Sup., N. Slack, Pepper; res., S. and N.V. Jowett, The Duchess.
Dairy
Judge for all classes, D. Wright, Cumbria. Inter-breed, Sup., R. and E. Butterfield, Ingleview Jimmy Bevin (Holstein); res., J.E. and S.M. Seedall, Jamara Champion Gladys 2 (Ayrshire). Holstein, Sup., R. and E. Butterfield, Ingleview Jimmy Bevin; res., D. Coulthurst and J. Unsworth, Cattrona
Sidekick Reta.
Jersey, Sup., R. and E. Butterfield, Ingleview
Victorious Jane. Ayrshire, Sup., J.E. and S.M. Seedall, Jamara Champion Gladys 2; res., B. Sackfield, Whitegate Snowdrop 29.
Sheep
Inter-breed (D. Whybrow) Sup., K. Batchelor (Suffolk); res., Brown and Mason (any other continental).
Texel (S. Richardson, Barnsley) Sup., J. Porter; res., F.A. Nairey.
Suffolk (K. O’Donoghue) Sup., S. Woodend; res., A. Blair.
Beltex (R. Garth) Sup., J. Clamp; res., L. Critchley. Zwartbles (A. Bateman) Sup., J. Yardley; res., M. Preston.
Blue Texel (A. Gargett) Sup., E. McKenchnie; res., S. Taylor.
Dutch Spotted (E. Jackson and G. Jackson) Sup., J. Clamp; res., H. Johnson.
Swiss Valais Blacknose (H. Adams) Sup. and res., C. Losty.
Any other continental (R. Garth) Sup., Brown and Mason; res., J. Clamp. Jacob (K. Carpenter) Sup., R. Knowles; res., G. Leslie.
Coloured Ryeland (M. Pink) Sup., G. Glover; res., K. Atkinson-Shaw.
Butchers’ lambs (D. Bull) Sup. and res., I. Lancaster. Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset (W. Carson) Sup., J. Redford; res., R. Fitton.
Any non-MV breed, Sup. and res., K. Bachelor.
Pigs
Inter-breed (M. Horsley) Sup., G. Bretherton, Lyatts Inga (British Landrace); res., J. Holroyd, Kingsdown Golden Harvest (Large Black).
Cade Fifi’s Nala claims supreme championship
l Simmental National Show hosted at event
THE Royal Lancashire Show hosted the Simmental English National Show where the overall championship went to the September 2022born heifer Cade Fifi’s Nala from Paul and Sharrie Cade, Peterborough, which then went on to claim the supreme inter-breed title
The judge, Stewart Stronach, said of his champion: “This is just a tremendous heifer. Good in all the right places, she moves well, is easy fleshing, deep in the hip, wide and square, and has real show presence.”
Cade Fifi’s Nala, which is an ET calf by Sacombe Jameson out of Sterling Celia’s Fifi, then joined up with the bull Popes Premier from Jimmy and Vikki Wood, Preston; and Denizes Melody 52, and Denizes Melody 53 from the Wacton herd of R.E. and S.H.W. Steggles, Honingham, Norfolk, to win the team of four inter-breed.
Cade Fifi’s Nala has been part of
Royal Welsh Show
Simmental winning inter-breed teams and groups at the Royal Norfolk, was breed champion at Herts Show and reserve continental inter-breed, and was reserve Simmental at Suffolk and Royal Norfolk shows.
Taking the reserve supreme and reserve female title was Popes Princess Noor from Jimmy and Vikki Wood. April 2022-born, Popes Princess Noor is an ET calf by Team Celtic and out of Popes Princess Hettie. Incalf to Denizes Hamish, it won the Simmental championship at the 2024 Great Yorkshire Show.
Winning the male championship, junior male and overall junior, was January 2023-born Simply Peter Pan by Ashland Magic out of Derrycallaghan Kitkat from Robert and Louise Fitton, Bolton, which was having its first outing and went on to be sold privately at the show to a Norfolk breeder.
Lifting the reserve male championship was the January 2023-born bull Popes Premier 23 by Popes Lethal Weapon from the Woods. It was the winner of the Simmental pedigree calf championship and national pedigree calf show inter-breed title at the 2023 English Winter Fair and the male and overall reserve champion at the 2024 Great Yorkshire Show.
Simmental National Show supreme champion and Royal Lancashire interbreed winner, Cade Fifi’s Nala, from Paul and Sharrie Cade, Peterborough.
Simmental National Show reserve overall and reserve female champion, Popes Princess Noor from Jimmy and Vikki Wood, Preston.
Inter-breed dairy and Holstein champion, Ingleview Jimmy Bevin, from R. and E. Butterfield, High Bentham.
Longhorn (Judge, C. Roads, Worcester) Supreme, B. and J. Sutton, Melbourne Park Kiggle; reserve, B. Facon, Gentons Whoopi.
l Aberdeen-Angus claims beef title
By Katie Fallon
LEADING the sheep rings at this year’s Border Union Show, Kelso, was a North Country Cheviot, park type gimmer shearling from William Thomson and family, Kelso.
Out of a home-bred ewe and by Knockoker Bodyguard, it was the first time out for the gimmer which forms part of the family’s 500-head flock of North Country Cheviot ewes.
Exhibiting at the show every year, it marks the family’s seventh sheep championship win. The gimmer went on to claim the overall champion of champions trophy in the afternoon.
Judge Peter Stott, Morpeth, said his champion was a good-looking sheep which had ‘star quality’ and was ‘just about faultless’.
Taking home the reserve rosette was a Texel gimmer shearling from Fletcher Renwick, Kelso. Only its first time out, the home-bred gimmer is sired by the 28,000gns Haymount Foremost, which the Renwick family purchased from Carlisle in 2022.
With the show hosting the Aberdeen-Angus Summer National Show, it was a fitting result when the beef inter-breed title was awarded to the Aberdeen-Angus champion.
North Country Cheviot takes top spot at Border Union
From Owen Tunney, Cheshire, it was a January 2018-born cow, Morpheus Rosie, which took home the supreme sash.
Shown with its three-month-old bull calf at foot, a Morpheus Kentucky son, Morpheus Riverdance, the cow was breed champion at this year’s Royal Cheshire Show.
The cow and calf outfit went on to claim reserve in the champion of champions judging later that day.
The Limousin champion stood reserve – a three-year-old bull named Maraiscote Sherlock, from Keith Redpath of Redpath Farms, Kelso.
By the 50,000gns Bassingfield
Results
Sheep
Inter-breed (Judge, P. Stott, Morpeth) Supreme, W. and J. Thomson (North Country Cheviot); reserve, F. Renwick (MV Texel).
MV SECTION
Beltex (J. Aitken, Hesket Newmarket) Sup., G. Gray; res., N. Harvey. Border Leicester (J. Aitken) Sup., S. and A. Watson; res., T. Tennant. Suffolk (D. Miskelly, Alford) Sup., C. Nelson; res., J. Elliot. Texel (J. Gibb, Biggar) Sup., F. Renwick; res., J. Elliot.
Zwartbles (D. Miskelly) Sup., A. Thornburn. Dutch Spotted (J. Aitken) Sup. and res., A. and J. Guthrie. Any other breed (C. Lamont, Dumfries) Sup., G. Gray (Blue Texel); res., Firm of Gray. Prime lambs (A. Warnock, Biggar) Sup. and res., S. Craig.
NON-MV SECTION
Blackface (W. Craig, Biggar) Sup., D. and A. Redpath; res., Mcclymont family.
Bluefaced Leicester, crossing type (C. Napier, Peebles) S. Ainslie; res., B. Hedley. Bluefaced Leicester, traditional type (C. Lamont) Sup., A. Mcclymont; res., L. Flemming. Hebridean (E. Medway, Harrogate) Sup., J. Wingfield; res., L. Cowper.
Jacob (B. Webster, Newburgh) Sup. and res., R. Locker.
Kerry Hill (R. Fishwick, Penrith) Sup. and res., A. Burgess.
Cheviot, South type (G. Irving, Selkirk) Sup., J. Hume and Son Sundhope; res., W.N. Douglas. Cheviot, North Country, park type (J. Scott, Morebattle) Sup. W. and J. Thomson; res., R. Runciman.
Cheviot, Lairg type (A. Hutcheon, Wooler) Sup., J.F. Irving and Son; res., W.N. Douglas.
Scotch Halfbred (J. Aitken) Sup., G.S. Shaw and Co; res., G. Pate. Scotch Mule, Sup. and res., J. and G. Sinclair. Shetland (F. Hipwell, Kinross) Sup. and res., B. Watson. Suffolk (D. Miskelly) Sup. and res., G.S. Shaw and Co.
Machoman, the bull was purchased from Ian Nimmo’s Maraiscote herd at Carlisle in 2022 for 10,000gns. Out of Maraiscote Intrigue, it was also reserve inter-breed beef at last year’s show.
Reserve
Claiming reserve overall in the Aberdeen-Angus rings was the male champion Oakmoor Boss, a two-year-old bull from Tom Slater, York. The first calf out of its dam Oakmoor Beauty, the home-bred bull was male champion at this year’s Royal Highland Show and reserve male champion at the Great Yorkshire Show.
Texel (J. Gibb) Sup. and res., R.H. Bell and Co. Valais Blacknose (J. Walters, Devon) Sup., J. Hill; res., L. Mclean.
Any other breed (C. Lamont) Sup., R. Powell (Berrichon); res., L. Murray (Coloured Ryeland). Beef
Inter-breed (A. Ryder, Ainstable) Sup., O. Tunney, Morpheus Rosie (Aberdeen-Angus); res., Redpath Farms, Maraiscote Sherlock (Limousin). Aberdeen-Angus (W. Tilson, Berwickshire) Sup. and female, O. Tunney, Morpheus Rosie; res. and male, T. Slater, Oakmoor Boss; res. fem., D. Evans, Tree Bridge Polly Perkins T699; res. male, G. and N. Taylor, Mosshall Red Saltire Y490. Limousin (A. Proctor, Morpeth) Sup. Redpath Farms, Maraiscote Sherlock; res., C. Knox, Beachmount Ultimo.
Any other native (W. Tilson) Sup., D. Mackinon, Bryar Rose Of Rannoch (Highland); res., E. Hodge, Rm 1 Hasimara (Hereford).
Inter-breed beef and Aberdeen-Angus champion, Morpheus Rosie, from Owen Tunney, Cheshire.
Reserve inter-breed beef and Limousin champion, Maraiscote Sherlock, from Keith Redpath, of Redpath Farms, Kelso.
Reserve inter-breed sheep champion, a Texel gimmer shearling, from Fletcher Renwick, Kelso.
Inter-breed sheep champion, a North Country Cheviot park type gimmer, from W. Thomson and family, Kelso.
Primestock throughput, price and price change (p/kg). Week ending July 30, 2024.
HEIFER prices saw a downturn this week at English and Welsh auction marts in a move which bucked the trend in the cattle rings.
Young bulls went up by 1.3p/kg to 262.6p/kg and steers rose by 0.8p/kg.
Dairy-sired cull cows were priced at 153.5p/kg, a 0.5p/kg increase on the week, while heifers reduced by 2.8p/kg.
In the sheep pens, lambs were up in value by 1.9p/kg to 303.7p/kg.
All pig categories had decreased in price, with cutters down the most by 45.6p/kg.
As Farmers Guardian went to press on Wednesday (July 31), UK LIFFE wheat prices for November 2024 were trading at £188.95/tonne, down £5.90/t on the week.
Source: LAA/MartEye
Market Prices
DEADWEIGHT CATTLE
STORE SHEEP ENGLAND
DEADWEIGHT SHEEP
N/S
Deadweight sheep prices are collected from a sample of GB abattoirs.
DEADWEIGHT PIGS
WALES SCOTLAND
WEANER PRICES
HAY AND STRAW PRICES
July 31, 2024
GOOSTREY: Mon, hay, round bale to £94/tonne; haylage, round bale to £90/t; barley straw, square bale to £120/t, round bale to £138/t.
SOURCE: LAA/MartEye
(ENGLAND/WALES)
CULL COWS (ENGLAND/WALES)
SOURCE: LAA/MartEye
SOURCE:
Market Prices
UK DELIVERED PRICES – SUMMARY
FUTURES MARKETS (WHEAT)
return £1.20/£1 ref amount with buyer’s delink payment less than £30,000 post-transfer. Subject to Delinkage values 2025-27. BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN: English: Defra estimates £20,000-£200,000/unit excluding VAT and associated fees, subject to lot size. Last tender July 15, 2024, next September 9, 2024. NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY: Long-term sales all types agric man excluding specialist habitat creation. Nitrates £3,000-£4,000/unit (£18,000£206,000/ha); phosphates £50,000-£65,000/ unit (£2,000-£169,000/ha). CARBON: Woodland Carbon >£35/WCU >£25/PIU. May 2023 WCG reverse auction average £19.76. WATER: English abstraction licences less than £3-£15/cu.m. Source: Townsend Chartered Surveyors
CORN RETURNS EX-FARM PRICES
UK DELIVERED WHEAT PRICES
NATIONAL STRAIGHTS PRICES
2.
MILK PRICE LEAGUE TABLE
3.
DAIRY CATTLE PRICES
HAY AND STRAW: REGIONS
UK MONTHLY MILK PRODUCTION
Search #farm24 on social media
From August 8 at 5am to August 9 at 5am, 24 Hours in Farming will take place once again – but what can you expect from this year’s event?
Uniting the farming industry for 24 hours
When 24 Hours in Farming first began in 2015, it was inspired by a TV programme at the time called GPs: Behind Closed Doors
The idea was to let people see what farming was really all about from those who did the job day in, day out.
It gained traction quickly and has become as embedded in the farming calendar as many other summer agricultural events, such as shows.
Every year, more and more people take part alongside grassroots farmers, including the likes of the Prime Minister, top chefs such as Jamie Oliver, and BBC Radio Two presenter Sara Cox. When Morrisons joined the
campaign in 2016, a bigger focus was placed on connecting with consumers, and the campaign has since reached millions of people, won a prestigious PPA media award in 2023, and been featured on BBC Radio One.
Change
Things change daily in farming – the last few weeks have seen a new Government come into power, and the industry will be bracing itself for yet more change.
But the beauty of 24 Hours in Farming is that it allows agriculture to unite, regardless of job, background, age or political beliefs; this is the sector’s chance to make some noise
and, as a collective, make a difference.
Aside from showcasing exactly what farming is all about, it also gives farmers an opportunity to connect
with others in similar positions, and that peer-topeer support is equally as important, especially when navigating their way through a quickly changing sector.
PICTURE: GETTY
Ambassadors
This year 24 new ambassadors are helping to support 24 Hours in Farming, all from diverse backgrounds with their own story to tell. To find out more about each ambassador and see what they are up to on the day, please visit FarmersGuardian.com/farm24
Win of the day
If you follow Farmers Guardian on social media, you might have seen our ‘win of the day’ challenge. Farmers face so many challenges, and our ambassadors thought it would be a good idea to spread some positivity. Every day, one of our ambassadors has been sharing their own personal ‘win of the day’ – it could be the birth of a new animal or simply taking five minutes to chat to someone in need. Whatever the win, please share it, because you never know who you might help.
How to take part
If you want to take part in 24 Hours in Farming, head to social media from August 8 at 5am to August 9 at 5am and upload your images and videos. Whether you are a first-generation farmer, an agronomist, an accountant or a vet, farming is an incredibly diverse and exciting sector – this is the perfect opportunity to showcase that. Use the hashtag #farm24 and tag Farmers Guardian and Morrisons. You can also download the #farm24 pledge of support and post a picture with it on social media.
For more information about the event, scan the QR code opposite or visit farmersguardian.com/farm24
What to look out for Tractors in Morrisons
rPrize giveaway: Head to Farmers Guardian’s social media platforms on August 8 to enter
rThe #farm24 kids competition: Download the #farm24 pledge and colour it in your own unique way
rOut and about with consumers: Farmers Guardian hit the streets to find out what people really know about farming and where their food comes from
rSocial media lives: Throughout the day, we will be going live with some of our ambassadors to see what their job entails and what they are up to on-farm
For the first time ever, in select Morrisons stores, shoppers will find a John Deere tractor on show to highlight the farm-to-store story.
Adam Henson is one of this year’s #farm24 ambassadors.
In Your Field
Every week we follow the ups and downs of farmers around the UK
KATE ROWELL
Scottish Borders
Kate is a fifth-generation farmer running the 750-hectare (1,853-acre)
Hundleshope Farm on the Haystoun Estate, Peebles, where the family have been tenants for 150 years. She runs the hill unit with her husband Ed and their four children. She is also a vet and chair of Quality Meat Scotland.
Dodging the rain during this particularly disappointing summer has at least meant that the less popular inside jobs –some of which have been waiting for months, if not years – have moved further up the list for action.
The pile of gates needing minor repairs after lambing had grown steadily over the past few years, and I had a busy afternoon removing nails, cutting wood and replacing spars, which resulted in a huge amount of job satisfaction and a feeling of real achievement.
Then there were the walk-through sheep troughs from the lambing shed – they were made when Dad put the building up in 1985 and were definitely past their best. Some had been attacked by woodworm, some battered by wayward sheep, and others affected by less-than-optimal tractor driving skills over the years.
The overall result was that rather a lot of permanent replacement parts were needed instead of the very temporary repairs that had been cobbled together in the chaos of lambing.
This took another couple of afternoons, but again was a very worthwhile investment of time which means
‘We all have our fingers crossed for a better August to get back on track’
that (hopefully) they’ll do the job for quite a few years longer, or at least for as long as it’s my problem.
Tidying is always at the bottom of everyone’s list, both around the farm and in the house, but it is another job that makes me feel much better when we eventually get round to it and see the results.
Feed bags thrown under the hopper, silage wrap piled up next to the recycling bin (a bit like putting dishes next to the dishwasher in my view, and a definite argument-starter), empty worming bottles and spray cans heaped up in the sheep pens, and bits of baler twine around the steading – these all need to be gathered up and dealt with when there’s time to draw breath
Farmers Weather by Dr Simon Keeling
between silage, clipping and harvest.
The place always looks so much better for just a wee bit of work, although my continued questions about why we can’t all just tidy up as we go along remain largely unanswered.
Lawn mowing
The other aesthetic issue which still needs to be tackled is the lawn; it continues to look like a jungle because both the lawnmower and strimmer are out of action and, despite several new parts arriving after expensive online ordering, there still doesn’t seem to be any progress in getting them running.
I have been reduced to digging out an old scythe and trying to at least get the path to the drying green cleared so
Careful about climatological comparisons
AS we get into August forecasting eyes turn to the other side of the Atlantic for signs of hurricane developments. Models are starting to hint at some storms beginning to wind themselves up, and although unlikely in the coming week (hmmm, I wonder who else said a hurricane wouldn’t happen?) we could see the remnants of hurricanes in the Atlantic the following week.
As to the track they will take, and whether they will affect the British Isles, that’s an unknown right now, but it is something to be mindful of, especially given that this hurricane season has been forecast to be a
busy one. We’ll be updating on developments at Weatherweb.net.
However the main theme of this week’s column relates to a Guardian newspaper article about ‘Water temperatures near UK last year were hottest on record ’.
As you know, I think that climate change science reporting needs to be regularly scrutinised to ensure it stays within the normal limits of ‘good’ science, and so this piece raised my interest.
Whilst not doubting the veracity of the data, what I am concerned about is the period to which the data is compared. Standard practice when
referring to climatological data is to compare to recent 30-year periods, the latest being 1991 to 2020.
Now, in the article above (and many others I have been reading), there is a reference made to comparing data to the period 1961 to 1990. By being selective about the climatological period used to compare data, one can establish many different outcomes.
I will point out that this seems to be a confusion of journalists rather than scientists, but it is worth checking whenever reading a climate change story that we are clear about the periods of time we are comparing.
I could get some washing out (not that there have been many days where that has been possible). It feels like a definite backwards step in technology, but the garden gate is too narrow to get the tractor and grass cutter through, so it seems to be the only option.
The weather continues to cause frustration for everyone with fields of grass still to cut; second cut growth is completely stalled due to the cold, and the spring barley is looking like it’ll probably end up being wholecropped because of the poor season.
We all have our fingers crossed for a better August – mainly to get things back on track, but also so there’s a good excuse to avoid any more of those unpopular inside jobs.
For location specific forecasts visit farmersweather.co.uk and for video updates go to weatherweb.net or call the number below. Call Farmers WeatherLIVE
NEXT WEEK
Monmouthshire Kate Beavan
Cheshire Ian Garnett
‘All’s
well that ends well, but it was a day I’ll never
AMY WILKINSON
Lancashire
Amy works on her family’s tenanted farm at Halsall, Lancashire. Working mainly with her dad, Amy farms 285 hectares (704 acres) of arable crops and 550 beef cross cattle which are all reared through to finishing. You can follow her on Instagram @amygingewilkinson
I’m back again and do I bring chaos? Of course I do, I wouldn’t disappoint you like that.
This month’s tale begins with a Holstein/Friesian bullock not very affectionately called Simon. Ever since he arrived at two weeks of age, he’s always been a bit special in his own way, bless him.
He has grown at the same rate as the others, but he is clearly not all there in the head. From always being
forget’
tipped upside down by his peers in the trough and not bothering to get up, but just carrying on eating in that position, to the very rare occasion he lies on his side and just can’t get up.
I was hesitant to put him on the marsh as he’s a liability to be honest, but we decided to put him on the smallest marsh so he would be easy to check on.
Since being turned out, he’s thrived, but is just typically found lagging behind the herd a little.
Concerned
That is until I received a message, one evening, from a concerned lady about a ‘terribly poorly cow’ on the marsh.
I asked the lady: ‘Is it black and white by any chance?’ She responded: ‘Yes’. I told her not to worry as it was only Simon and I would get him the right way up now.
So, I arrived at the marsh that evening and did my best to wrestle him up into standing, however due to the fact he has grown so much, I can no longer just heave him up myself.
Crossword 1256
So, I got him into a sitting position from which he would usually find his feet himself. While wrestling him up however, unbeknown to me, my house keys fell out of my pocket; a fact I only realised when I arrived home covered in mud and locked out of my house.
The following day, after retrieving my spare key, Dad and I decided Simon was too much of a liability and to bring him home.
We set off and as we arrived in the local town, we found the roads busier than normal, which was odd as the annual air show only was set to begin the next day. We then found ourselves in standstill traffic, wondering what was happening. That was until we heard a bang, and that is when we found our-
selves approached by a sea of orange.
That’s right – we had got stuck in the annual Orange Lodge Parade with cattle trailer in tow.
In that moment, Dad just turned to me with an expletive and I replied laughing with: ‘Well, at least we aren’t loaded’.
Dad said: ‘Yes imagine being loaded with all these drums. I’d laugh if one of the animals sh*t out the side’.
We were having a good giggle by this point and I couldn’t help but compare it to the scene in the Derry Girls TV programme. The march did eventually pass us and we did get to the marsh for Simon. Dad even found my house keys. So all’s well that ends well, but for sure it was a day I will never forget.
Send in your correct entries to be in with a chance of winning £20 worth of Love2shop vouchers every month. Send to: Crossword No. 1256, Farmers Guardian, Unit 4, Fulwood Business Park, Caxton Road, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9NZ.
ACROSS
1 Florence, for example, who sang in Berkeley Square (11)
7 Rifle vermouth (7)
8 Head of state working in procession organised in protest (7)
10 Not entirely coarse rubbish (4)
11 Scruffy grain before start of year (5)
12 Mate is almost a blockhead (4)
15 Mum’s gone to this North Atlantic island, maybe, shopping (7)
16 Worried chain rejected Italian wine (7)
17 Weapon’s fashionable on this armed boat (7)
20 Bellows of a bagpipe for talkative fellow (7)
22 Casually enthusiastic about piebald horse failing to start (4)
23 Simple carpenter’s tool, we’re told (5)
24 Some pedantic person opposed to anything (4)
27 Hold forth principally denying erroneous allegation (7)
28 Cooked a dose of produce from the ocean (7)
29 Little brown bird chased by predator, long-legged European flier (11)
DOWN
1 Training - jog up and primarily take usual regular exercise (7)
Forthright opinions from throughout the world of agriculture
‘Lack of succession planning can tear livelihoods apart’
The looming inevitability of the need to plan for succession elicits various responses across farming families. While many share experiences of the daily struggles to keep their business afloat, the prospect of also looking ahead to the next generation causes many in the industry to bury their heads in the fields.
Why? I believe this stems from a complicated mix of generational differences, lived experiences and lack of communication between the generations. But one thing is clear, the lack of succession planning can tear families and livelihoods apart. As the cost of farming bites, a collaborative and flexible approach is needed to resolve these arrangements before it is too late to secure a lasting future for the family business.
All too often, we speak to farmers who do not have all the appropriate documentation in place, whether that be a partnership agreement, Lasting Powers of Attorney or suitably drafted wills. These conversations often reveal gaps which, if not addressed, can
Putting a succession plan in place is essential to ensure a lasting future for your family business, says Debbie Harrison.
result in claims against the estate, or assets passing to unintended beneficiaries.
It is imperative that everyone who is involved with the transition continues to remain engaged in the succession plans in the months and years leading up to the time of change.
Trusted adviser
We often advise our clients to hold a periodic meeting to discuss the future strategy of the business. Some families find it helpful to use a trusted adviser, for example an accountant or agri-consultant, as a facilitator in such meetings to ensure everyone feels comfortable in an unusual forum.
Diversification can solve cashflow issues, but potentially at the cost of future gain. While diversification schemes may provide new routes to unlocking revenue, the absence of thorough planning may leave farmers sleepwalking into onerous commitments and jeopardising the availability of agricultural and business property reliefs from Inheritance Tax.
For example, a solar farm will
DEBBIE HARRISON
Partner in the tax, trusts, wills and estates teams at Knights
likely lose eligibility for relief unless it is powering farm buildings as it becomes an investment rather than a trading asset.
There are potential risks too with multi-decade long-term leases for such projects bearing in mind the exponential rate of technology change. There is the threat of passing an obsolete asset over to the next generation to resolve. Many of these diversification projects have impeccable eco-credentials and the possible income generation is compelling, but these benefits must be weighed in a wider balance.
Beware liabilities
We are in a period of political change and it becomes even more important than ever to keep an open mind as to future taxation changes and the general direction of travel of the Government of the day.
One of the great difficulties for many farmers is how to provide for members of the family who are not part of the business. There is a
need to avoid the possibility of claims against the estate, but even if lifetime gifts are a realistic possibility, care must be taken not to incur premature tax liabilities. If all this appears daunting, a team of estate management, diversification and succession specialists can provide straightforward and clear advice to help farming families plot a way to ensure a successful outcome while minimising the impact of taxation. Planning ahead, collaboration and communication are key.
The Stainthorpe family focuses on figures to drive their pedigree Hampshire Down flock forward, while producing the best example of the breed. Katie Fallon reports.
Performance recording key for Hampshire Down breeders
Set on the North Yorkshire coast, overlooking the seaside town of Whitby is Mortar Pit Farm, home to Louis and Becky Stainthorpe and their two children Finley, 16, and Lottie, 14.
After several years living and working in Leeds, Mr and Mrs Stainthorpe returned to the coast 18 years ago and lived in Whitby while growing their surveying and building consultancy business, Bell Snoxell Building Consultants.
But with farming in the blood for them both, the couple say they felt a pull to the rural way of life and wanted the children to experience their childhood on a farm.
With fond memories of working with sheep on his father’s family farm in the neighbouring village of Snea-
ton, Mr Stainthorpe says he knew he wanted the children to grow up around livestock.
He says: “My uncle ran the family farm with my granddad and, in the late 80s, early 90s, I remember helping to gather the sheep and I absolutely loved it.”
The family bought Mortar Pit Farm 13 years ago, which was initially run as an arable enterprise by Mr Stainthorpe’s father, Dennis, while he and his wife, continued to establish their business.
But with the dream of their own sheep flock, the 14-hectare (34-acre) farm was reseeded into grass leys around five years ago and they took over the reins.
Mr Stainthorpe says they attended several local shows looking for a sheep breed which ‘looked nice in the field’
but was also profitable. And after reading an article on the Hampshire Down breed being commercially viable, they decided that was the breed for them.
He says: “Unbeknown to me, half of the sheep I used to help dip when I was a boy were Hampshire Downs, so maybe that was where the breed decision came from.”
Gifted
Initially starting with two Hampshire Down ewes gifted to the children one Christmas, the family then bought a selection of ewes both privately and from society sales, many of which were from Jim and Jane Birkwood’s Thorbeck flock, as well as some inlamb ewes from Graham and Judith Galbraith’s Graylen flock.
These sheep helped lay the foundations of the flock, which today com-
prises 40 breeding ewes under the Whitby prefix.
Mr Stainthorpe says the flock has fluctuated in numbers, but in the past five to 10 years the family has decided to take the sheep enterprise more seriously and ensure the flock pays for itself.
He says: “We also had a flock of pedigree Suffolks as my granddad always had Suffolks, so I wanted to try them too.
“But with two different breeds and two different lambing times, we spread ourselves too thin and decided to focus solely on the Hampshires, especially given their easy lambing and hardiness.”
With 36 Hampshire Down ewes put to the ram this year, lambing takes place in two batches over a four-week period in December, with all ewes lambed inside. The ewes are sponged
From left: Becky, Louis and Lottie Stainthorpe run 40 breeding Hampshire Down ewes under the Whitby prefix.
First and foremost, we want commercial rams that are fast growing, efficient, with reduced days to slaughter
LOUIS STAINTHORPE
to ensure a tight lambing period, as lambing time needs to work alongside their surveying business, which Mr and Mrs Stainthorpe run together from their office on the farm.
The ewes run with four rams, two of which are home-bred, with the other two bought from pedigree flocks in Edinburgh and Newquay.
Mrs Stainthorpe says: “Hampshire Down ewes tend to cycle earlier, so are earlier to lamb than some other breeds, which is good for us as we can get lambs to market quicker and target the Easter market.”
Weather
Ewes and lambs are kept inside for six to eight weeks after lambing, due to the seasonal weather conditions in December, where they will be fed a lamb coarse ration and haylage.
“After eight weeks, everything is turned out to grass, weather-dependent,” adds Mrs Stainthorpe.
Generally, half of the ewe lambs are retained as replacements each year and will be tupped as gimmer shearlings, with a handful sold for breeding and any surplus sold liveweight through Ruswarp Livestock Market.
As well as producing breeding females, selling breeding rams has become a key focus for the family in recent years and Mr Stainthorpe says they will sell between 10 and 12 breeding rams per year, with any surplus sold liveweight.
To ensure the best examples of the breed are retained for breeding, they follow a strict culling policy and, in more recent years, have started performance recording the flock with Signet Breeding.
All lambs are performance recorded each year, which Mr Stainthorpe says has allowed them to access both pedigree and commercial markets for breeding males and females.
“First and foremost, we want
commercial rams that are fast growing, efficient, with reduced days to slaughter.
“That is key to me, and RamCompare data shows that Hampshire Down recorded rams tested on commercial flocks come out on top for days to slaughter,” he says.
“Yes, we can sell among ourselves as pedigree breeders, but we also want to sell to the commercial market and, with Signet recording, we can show the true benefits of using a Hampshire ram in black and white.”
Mrs Stainthorpe adds: “I like the figures side of performance recording, the spreadsheets and looking at the weights. It means we know exactly what we are selling.”
While still looking to breed a traditional Hampshire Down with a dark, full face, they also focus heavily on muscle and growth rate when selecting rams for breeding, based on the recorded figures.
They have also taken several rams to Edinburgh for full body CT scanning this year.
The process, which assesses total muscle, fat and bone yield, has allowed them to make more informed breeding decisions, alongside the benefits of performance recording.
Mrs Stainthorpe says: “A lot of the enquiries we get about our rams are based on the recorded figures and I think there is a real shift
Ewes lamb inside in December, with half of the ewe lambs retained for replacements each year.
Sheep
Farm facts
■ 14ha (34 acres) of grassland
■ 40 pedigree Hampshire Down breeding ewes under the Whitby prefix
■ All progeny is performance recorded
■ Started incorporating full body CT scanning for breeding rams
■ Sell between 10 and 12 pedigree breeding rams annually
towards using this data when making decisions on purchasing rams.”
Mr Stainthorpe says: “All rams have to be DNA and scrapie tested before they are used, so you cannot hide behind anything, you know exactly what you are paying for when buying a performance recorded ram.”
As a result of performance recording the flock and selecting rams based on figures, they have managed to significantly increase the flock’s muscle values over quite a short period of time.
Muscle
Mr Stainthorpe says: “One of the tups we have used this year is one of the top leading Hampshire Down sires in the country and the other is one of the highest in the breed for muscle.”
The family has also just entered a home-bred shearling ram into the RamCompare project, run by AHDB and Signet, where the ram will be trialled on a commercial farm and compared with other breeds.
While performance recording the flock is now an important part of their
sheep enterprise, Mr Stainthorpe says producing a correct example of the breed which appeals in the showring remains equally important.
“We still want the sheep to look right, with correct colour and a leg in each corner stance are a big thing for the breed.
“If the looks and figures match up, then that is the dream.
“We have a lot of sheep which are not necessarily the highest figures, but are a good example of the breed,” he adds.
Last year the family had their most successful year to date with ram prog-
eny, after attending the breed society sales at Carlisle and Shrewsbury.
One of their best results was at the society’s main sale at Carlisle in September, where a home-bred ram, Whitby Dracula, was placed champion in the pre-sale show and went on to sell for 1,500gns to the judge, Allen MacFadden, Co Down, in partnership with another Northern Ireland breeder.
The family also had a successful day at the society’s Shrewsbury sale in May, with a pen of three rams selling for 11,100gns, and a top price of 4,500gns.
Mrs Stainthorpe says: “We held a
training weekend for the society a couple of weeks before the Shrewsbury sale where people saw what stock we had for the sales.
“What we presented was really honest, straight out of the field.”
It was also the family’s first year exhibiting at the Great Yorkshire Show this year, where they came home with a second for their shearling ram and a third for their ram lamb. They were also placed reserve overall native champion at Driffield Show last year and reserve any other native breed champion at Malton Show.
Social
Mr Stainthorpe says: “We enjoy going to the shows for the social side of things and our daughter Lottie is keen on the sheep.
“She showed for the first time eight years ago at Masham and got the bug.”
While they admit taking over the farm and establishing the flock has been a learning curve, they are focused on continuing to grow and improve the flock, with performance recording being a key part of achieving that.
Mr Stainthorpe says: “Hopefully we have established a bit of a footing now as one of the good breeders.”
Looking to the future, he says they would like to one day sell commercial rams at the Kelso and National Sheep Association ram sales, while finding new bloodlines to progress the flock further.
Mrs Stainthorpe adds: “We have fallen in love with the Hampshire breed and the ultimate goal would be to cut down on surveying so it is 50/50 with the sheep and the business.”
Lottie Stainthorpe with one of the ram lambs that went to the Great Yorkshire Show.
A Novel Science Based Palatable Feed Additive
There is a growing need for a palatable, evidence-based and effective feed additive to maximise production returns in cattle and sheep at times of stress, while also improving health, bloom, and appearance.
This is all the more so with recent prohibitions on the indiscriminate usage of oral antibiotics. Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms (or beneficial bacteria) that are beneficial to the host when administered in adequate amounts, and they have been widely and profitably used as additives in animal feed. Beneficial bacteria can help:
• Prevent enteric pathogens from colonising the intestine
• Increase digestive capacity
• Lower pH
• Improve mucosal immunity
A synergy is now known to exist between beneficial bacteria and yeast, resulting in
• Enhanced dry matter intake
• Better digestibility of nutrients
• Increased absorption of end products into protein
• Improved feed efficiency
• More weight gain
• Optimum performance - healthier coat, skin, and conformation
Effects of Stress on the Microbiome
Disease and stress adversely affect the balance and functioning of the rumen microbiome. Stress causes a change in the population of good bacteria in the gut and allows an overgrowth of other undesirable organisms. Lactic acidosis from over feeding, indigestion, anorexia, inappetence, ruminal atony, and diarrhoea can all be consequences of suboptimal ruminal microbial functioning and of a disrupted microbiome.
The Gut: Immunity + Digestion
Until recently, the rumen and gastrointestinal was considered to be an organ solely equipped for the digestion and absorption of nutrients. However, recent research has demonstrated that the gut harbours the largest population of immune cells in the body and is in fact is the largest immune organ in the body. Therefore,
there is now a general consensus that a healthy gut lead to not only to gut health but also to immune health and a less frequent incidence of outbreaks of disease. Many of the commensals of the gut (good bacteria) and especially probiotics, produce short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the gut and these substances act as chemical messengers to upregulate the immune system of the body.
The Importance of Yeast for Ruminants
Yeast is one of the most important constituents of any useful feed additive. Mechanisms have been proposed to explain why yeast products could stimulate dry matter intake and productivity in growing and lactating cattle. Yeasts are able to grow, at least for a short period of time, in the rumen thereby directly enhancing fibre digestion and/or producing nutrients that stimulate growth of other more beneficial rumen bacteria, which do the bulk of the fibre digestion. Yeasts also utilize nutrients, such as lactic acid which, if allowed to accumulate in the rumen, could suppress bacterial growth and/or suppress DM intake by driving rumen pH down.
Written by Dr T.B Barragry PhD, MSc, MVB, MRCVS, Dip ECVPTw
Engaging with a flock health plan has helped Ashley Moran cut medicine use, improve immune status and mitigate diseases. Farmers Guardian reports.
Flock health planning saves money
Five years ago, Ashley Moran, who runs 1,500 ewes, half North Country Mules and half Texel cross Mules, at Settle, North Yorkshire, decided to sign up to Dalehead Veteri-
FLOCK VACCINATION
THE flock is vaccinated against clostridial diseases and pasteurella as standard, based on Mrs Swindlehurst’s advice on preventative treatment.
She says: “I advise that every flock to use a clostridial and pasteurella vaccine. These diseases are the biggest causes of sudden death we see in growing lambs.
“Pasteurella is always present in sheep tonsils. It becomes activated and causes disease during periods of stress. Clostridia are also ubiquitous in the environment.
“The best way of preventing infection is by boosting the ewe and lamb’s immunity through vaccination and optimising their nutritional status.”
Consequently, ewes are vaccinated
nary Group’s Flock Health Club, which is run by vet Karen Swindlehurst. This has enabled him to identify key risk factors and create a ‘belt and braces’ approach to flock health which will benefit the bottom line.
with a combined seven-in-one clostridial plus pasteurella vaccine. This immunises ewes as an aid in the control of a number of diseases including lamb dysentery, pulpy kidney and blackleg.
Lambs are also vaccinated against clostridial disease and pasteurella.
Mr Moran also chooses to protect ewes against enzootic abortion and toxoplasmosis.
Mrs Swindlehurst says: “These vaccines are all important to help prevent disease.
“They are far more effective and cost-effective long-term than, for instance, blanket treatment with antibiotics as a pasteurella prevention before going to market.”
NATURAL IMMUNITY AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS
TO prevent cobalt deficiency, which can compromise immunity and growth, all lambs are injected with vitamin B12 at four to six weeks old.
Cobalt is involved in metabolic pathways and energy usage in the sheep.
The animal does not use the cobalt itself, but converts it to vitamin B12, which is the usable form.
Signs of deficiency include ill thrift, open fleeces and increased susceptibility to worms.
Mr Moran says: “We used to use a mineral drench that does not last as long. The injection lasts three to six months.”
Ewe nutrition at lambing has also had an overhaul in response to prolapse issues linked to ewes being over-conditioned.
Traditionally, ewes were always fed
a quarter of a pound (113g) six weeks before lambing, increasing by a quarter of a pound (113g) every week from then on, regardless of silage quality.
Analysis
Now, Mr Moran always analyses silage stocks and calculates the required level of concentrate feed based on silage quality, so ewes are fed to meet requirements.
He says: “The silage was coming back a lot better than you ever thought and the ewes were getting too much with the concentrate we were putting in.
“Now we feed based off the silage sample analysis.
“We did not feed until four weeks out this year. The feeding rate has probably halved and there are definitely less prolapses,” he adds.
SIGNED up to the club are 75 sheep farmers who pay an annual fee which covers:
■ A Flock Health Plan (including use of the Flock Health Checklist from MSD Animal Health)
■ Faecal egg counts for fluke and worms
■ Post-mortems
■ A pre-tupping and pre-lambing vet visit
■ Four farmer meetings are also included. Topics covered have varied and include worming, fluke
control, coccidiosis, iceberg diseases, ewe nutrition, abortion, scab, colostrum management and several farm walks where breeding selection, herbal leys and carcase selection have been discussed
■ Various health parameters are also benchmarked against other flocks as part of the Flock Health Plan. The plan goes beyond the basic requirements from Red Tractor and the Animal Health and Welfare Pathways
Dalehead Veterinary Group’s Flock Health Club
Ashley Moran runs a flock of 1,500 ewes at Skirbeck Farm.
TARGETED TREATMENT FOR FLUKE
RATHER than blanket treating ewes at set times of the year, Mr Moran is now adopting a targeted approach based on when the fluke emerge in a specific year.
With 61 hectares (150 acres) of ground on a flood plain, Skirbeck Farm is one of the first farms to get a fluke problem in a season.
Subsequently they are now used as a sentinel farm for the area by the team at Dalehead Vets.
Every month 10 lambs are blood tested from August to establish when the fluke have emerged and treated accordingly.
Mr Moran says: “We had got into a system where we would treat them for fluke at the same time every year and now we are going in with a lot more knowledge to treat them right.”
This means he does not necessarily have to treat ewes at tupping time, when he would have done routinely in the past.
He says: “Timings differ every year now. We did not have fluke until January this year for the first time.”
Testing through the Flock Health Club also identified widespread resistance to triclabendazole, including at Skirbeck Farm.
As a result, when blood testing highlights fluke emergence, ewes are now treated with closantel, two to four weeks later.
Effective
This is due to the fact the drug is effective on four- to six-week-old fluke.
Mr Moran says: “This highlights the importance of ongoing monitoring, so fluke are treated at the right time.
“We are definitely treating less and it also helps the resistance side of it.
“We do not have many drugs left for treating fluke and we do not want resistance issues. Plus it is less handling.”
He also believes flock health has likely benefited from more effective treatment, highlighting improved ewe body condition and fertility with ewes scanning at 205% this season.
He says: “It is mainly peace of mind for us. Fluke can be fairly catastrophic for sheep. Being on top of it helps the bottom line.”
Overall, Mr Moran says he would encourage farmers to get involved in a flock health club.
“I would highly recommend a flock health club because of the work the vets have done with us.
“They are always giving us pointers of what to look out for and what is coming into the surgery,” he says.
Ashley Moran says the flock health club has helped his bottom line.
Sheep Opportunities boosted for NS
Showing sheep was the gateway into farming for a young farmer leading him to a share farming venture. Ellie Layton reports.
Growing up, Sean Jeffreys escaped Swansea to spend time on his grandparents’ smallholding in Llanelli, where weekends were taken up by attending local shows with their flock of Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep.
It is this early exposure to sheep farming which gripped Mr Jeffreys, now 27, and he knew from a young age that he wanted to be involved in agriculture in some form.
Agricultural studies at Gelli Aur College, followed by Harper Adams University, gave Mr Jeffreys the foundations to pursue a farming career, starting at Hybu Cig Cymru with its Hill Ram scheme, before a stint as a sales representative for Carrs Billington.
In 2021, wanted to further his onfarm involvement and started a handover period for a share farming agreement on a local farm in Llandeilo, owned by Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) president Ian Rickman.
This occured after seeing a local advert to share farm, which he applied for.
Prior to this he was running 150 ewes on various parcels of rented ground, some of which the business still uses as grass keep.
Mr Rickman has lived and worked at Gurnos Farm all his life, but com-
bining this with his role at FUW has presented challenges to running the farm single-handedly.
He says: “I was not giving the farm the attention it needed and was concerned that I would start winding the business down, cutting back on stock numbers. I did not want that to happen.”
Keen to pursue his off-farm commitments, but not yet ready to retire from farming, he sought help from Farming Connect’s Venture initiative.
They set-up the agreement after a few months of working through legal advice from specialist agricultural and rural law solicitor Dr Nerys Llewelyn Jones, of Agri Advisor.
This assistance helped Mr Rickman and Mr Jeffreys to openly discuss what they envisaged and what they both wanted to get out of the agreement.
Involvement
This facilitation given by Farming Connect has helped Mr Rickman provide a young person with the opportunity to farm, without removing his involvement on the farm.
Mr Rickman says: “I was lucky enough to farm because my parents had bought Gurnos in the 1970s, but if you are not born into farming it is a difficult industry to get into.”
After a six-month process, in 2022
All of our sheep are sold live, which is something I am passionate about SEAN JEFFREYS
Mr Jeffreys became a 50/50 partner of the business, providing extra sheep and working as a full-time member of staff, while Mr Rickman delivers the farm, main flock and part-time work.
Mr Jeffreys says: “Since then the system has had a shake-up, introducing cattle on to the farm and nearly doubling the head of sheep, and we would like to get up to 1,200-head.”
The flock is split into two, with a flock of Llandovery Whiteface ewes running on the hill and, this year, 500 of their ewe lambs retained to be kept in the flock to build up numbers.
These run on a common hill where they have common rights, of which they are only using half, which is where Mr Jeffreys says there is scope to increase numbers. During their
Aberfield lambs grazing after being weaned.
Sean Jeffreys has become a member of the 2024 National Sheep Association Next Generation Shepherd consort.
April lambing, they are brought down to the lower ground to lamb. Before lambing, ewes are fed silage bales and blocks, which helps them to retain their scanning percentage, which peaks at 185% for the cross-bred ewes and 110% for the Welsh. Their aim is to decrease the number of barrens but not necessarily increase the number of twins.
These produce the ground flock of Aberdale cross ewes which run on the lower ground and are lambed indoors, allowing room for the outdoor flock.
Crossed ewes are put to an Abermax or Aberblack and grazed with lambs on silage fields before weaning. Lambs are sold at various weights depending on price per kilo at the time, aiming for 42kg, but will sell at local markets Talybont and Llandeilo from 36kg.
Mr Jeffreys says: “All of our sheep are sold live, which is something I am passionate about. This ensures our market has competition and is not at the mercy of the supermarkets.”
No creep is fed to lambs, except pet lambs or show sheep, to push their modern stratified system, with a new plan of action for the grassland.
A Next Generation Shepherd
Farm facts
■ Started share farming in 2021 at the Gurnos, which is 90 hectares (220 acres)
■ Sean Jeffreys is a current National Sheep Association Next Generation Shepherd
■ Current Badger Face Torddu record-holder at 2,300gns
Mr Jeffreys has established rotational paddock grazing using the current field fencing, not electric fencing. He has learned more about the process by being part of the Precision Grazing initiative, which is also funded by Farming Connect.
He says: “We do not yet measure grass, but we hope that will be something we will attempt in the near future.”
Grassland
Despite the farm not being in any environmental schemes to aid the new grass leys, they have been trialling a grassland break of 100 days over winter, which has proved successful.
With the farm being wet and lacking buildings, Mr Jeffreys says that despite the desire to keep cattle, the farm and local bovine TB pressures would not easily support it.
Finding a compromise, they are now rearing their third batch of Wagyu calves, which they get from the farm where their ewe lambs go to for winter grazing, near Pendine, Carmarthen.
Bred through the Warrendale Wagyu scheme, the calves are
brought onto the farm at two weeks old and are taken through to five months old.
Mr Jeffreys says: “Our current batch is 110 calves and they come feeder trained before they are transitioned to hard feed.
“We have to take extra care of the calves in the first few weeks, especially the early days, but following that we have had success with them.
“The calf agreement is flexible and suits our system, allowing us to add a new reliable income stream.”
In his endeavour to improve the farm system, Mr Jeffreys says personal development is vital to help the farm achieve its best.
As part of this, he has become a member of the 2024 National Sheep Association (NSA) Next Generation Shepherd consort.
He says: “I had known people who had taken part before, who had recommended the programme. I applied because I believe it vital to get off the farm to see and learn from other systems to network and socialise with
people who have common interests.”
As part of the programme the group has been on various trips before finishing the year at the NSA event in Malvern.
These involved visits to markets and farms, meeting industry experts and seeing systems in action.
Mr Jeffreys says: “We have also had media training, which I believe is important. Modern agriculture is in the limelight and this training will prepare the group to be a voice for agriculture, within the industry and to consumers.
“Ian is at the heart of Welsh agricultural affairs in his role as FUW president, and I share his passion for the organisation.
“FUW solely acts for Welsh agriculture, specialising in medium-sized, independent and family farms.
“Every farmer in Wales sees the benefits of their work, but not every farmer pays in.”
Optimistic
Looking forward, Mr Jeffreys is optimistic that he can look at different paths to increase production at Gurnos.
He would like to establish off-farm contracting for income in winter, and has started working in the local livestock market.
Alongside the general farming system, he is continuing to breed Badger Face Welsh Mountain Torddu and Torwens alongside his grandparents.
They keep 120 ewes under the KTG prefix and have had great success winning at the Royal Welsh Show multiple times and holding the current breed Torddu record.
The family’s passion for the breed was started by his great-grandfather Alun Isaac, who was a founding member of the breed society.
The aim is to increase the flock to 1,200 head.
Sheep
There are some ways to mitigate the impact a lack of EAE vaccine could have on sheep farmers.
Advice for when an enzootic abortion vaccine is unavailable
The Sheep Veterinary Society and Sheep Antibiotic Guardian Group have issued a statement expressing their disappointment in the lack of enzootic abortion (EAE) vaccine this tupping season.
They are aware that this will have a significant impact on sheep farmers and their flocks which currently rely on effective vaccination to control disease and have offered the following advice.
When faced with an aborting ewe, it is important that the ewe is isolated from the rest of the flock and that samples are taken to diagnose which abortion agent is responsible.
It is not appropriate to use routine prophylactic antibiotics to control abortion – the use of antibiotics in late pregnancy is only acceptable to protect other ewes in the group in the face of an outbreak, or in a group of ewes following a confirmed laboratory EAE diagnosis in the immediately preceding year.
Replacement ewes
For flocks which have previously regularly vaccinated against EAE, there will this year be a small cohort of unvaccinated replacement ewes but the risk to them is low if the remainder of the flock is protected. They should be marked and vaccinated next year when they are not pregnant.
For flocks that are at high risk of disease (perhaps due to current or recent EAE abortion outbreak or following the introduction of EAEshedding ewes into an unvaccinated flock) then there are a couple of options:
1There is an inactivated vaccine (Inmeva; Hipra) which may be appropriate to use (note that two doses are necessary, with the first dose given at least five weeks before mating and the second dose given three weeks after the first). A further booster is required within a year; this vaccine can be safely given during pregnancy with efficacy demonstrated in the mid-trimester, but its use is not recommended in the final month of pregnancy.
2Unvaccinated ewes at high risk of disease (confirmed by laboratory diagnosis) may be given a single injection of oxytetracycline (at 20mg/kg) between day 91 and day 126 of pregnancy. For groups with lambing spread over a four- to fiveweek period, this means injecting them exactly three weeks before the first ewe is due to lamb.
It is not appropriate for any flock to be given routine prophylactic antibiotic without a confirmed laboratory diagnosis of EAE in the current or previous lambing season. Even in this circumstance, it is appropriate for the vet to undertake separate risk assessments for different cohorts of ewes.
Hill Radnor Sheep society celebrates 75 years of the breed
A HILL breed deriving from Mid Wales is celebrating 75 years of the breed. The Hill Radnor breed is a bulkier tanned-faced sheep which was developed to roam the Radnor Hills.
The breed was first noted in 1911, but the society was not established until 1949 and in the late 1990s was listed on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watchlist as a minority breed.
Now standing at just more than 100 members, the breed has recently taken a knock to numbers with 1,000
sheep lost, following two senior flock dispersals.
In June, the society gathered to celebrate the breed’s milestone near Brecon with a two-day event which attracted 160 people.
Novice classes
Breed secretary David Jones, who keeps the Trawscoed flock, said: “The event celebrated the breed and we wanted to help attract new members by featuring novice classes.
“To help share their wisdom, the judges across the three novice, experienced and cross-bred classes were all breeders whose families have been involved in Hill Radnors from the society’s establishment.
“The highlights included an entry of 30 fleeces in the wool class, and a novice handlers class for all ages to encourage new showmen and women.”
Mr Williams said they have found shows to be the best way to promote
the breed, with people being able to see the sheep in the flesh.
This has resulted in a new cluster of North Wales breeders, who have managed to set-up breed classes at this year’s Anglesey Show.
“Our next event will be the breed’s sole sale in September at Talybonton-Usk outside Brecon, where we hope to see more new breeders, as well as those who have helped to keep the Hill Radnor breed successful,” added Mr Williams.
to stamp out lameness on farm
Sheep
A passion for Blackface sheep has helped Richard Carruthers build a thriving livestock business on a Buccleuch Estate farm. Lynsey Clark finds out more.
Having been raised with his family’s Blackface flock in Northumberland, it is no surprise that Richard Carruthers chose that breed when it came to establishing his own sheep flock, which he now runs at Merkland Farm, Thornhill, near Dumfries.
Mr Carruthers’ long-term aim was always to farm on his own, but with his older brother John taking on the tenancy at Silloans, Rochester, Mr Carruthers’ journey after college first involved a spell on an agricultural research farm, before working with specialist breeding companies, Britbreed and Ovibreed.
In 2010 he took on the tenancy
Blackface flock suited to Dumfries hill farm
of Dalveen Farm, where he was based for three years before securing a 15-year tenancy on Merkland, a 1,012-hectare (2,500-acre) Buccleuch Estate hill farm.
Now 10 years into that tenancy, the Merkland name is already well established in the Blackface world, with ram lambs having sold up to £38,000 and shearlings to £36,000. Mr Carruthers has de-
veloped a livestock system that makes the most of the mainly marginal hill land, which rises to 549 metres (1,800 feet).
Flock
The sheep flock comprises 1,710 breeding ewes, including 850 Blackfaces that are bred pure and 750 that are crossed with the Bluefaced Leicester. There is also a
flock of 100 breeding Scotch Mule ewes and 10 pedigree Beltex ewes under the Carruthers prefix. A small herd of pedigree Limousin cattle, also under the Carruthers prefix, is being built up and bulls are currently sold privately from home, with those not retained sold as stores at one year old.
Establishing the livestock at Merkland has been a gradual process.
Richard Carruthers’ sheep flock comprises 1,710 breeding ewes, including 850 pure-bred Blackfaces and 750 crossed with the Bluefaced Leicester.
I had a particular type that I was aiming for with the Blackies – a well-made ewe with a big muzzle that can get to the top of the hill
RICHARD CARRUTHERS
Mr Carruthers says: “I started at Dalveen with nothing really; I had to borrow machinery and a trailer. By the time I came to Merkland, I had built up a Blackface stud flock and took on 1,000 ewes that were here and hefted already. I rented 100 acres of in-bye ground, which the Mule and twin-rearing ewes run on,
and then crossed 750 of the Blackie ewes that were already here.
Type
“I had a particular type that I was aiming for with the Blackies – a well-made ewe with a big muzzle that can get to the top of the hill –and I wanted to stick with that.
hill land, which rises to 549 metres (1,800 feet).
The singles are lambed at 1,400ft, both pure and crossed, so they need to be hardy.”
Of the pure Blackface ewes, Mr Carruthers has a stud flock of around 250, from which he breeds ram lambs and shearlings to sell at Stirling, Lanark and Dalmally. Draft ewes have been bought from
Blackhouse and Midlock to add to that flock, with a focus on legs, bodies and hair.
Mr Carruthers says: “I like them with plenty character too, since I have got to look at them for five years.”
The top 100 of those 250 stud ewes are artificially inseminated, while the rest of the ewes are
brought off the hill to be tupped on better grass, before returning to the hill until scanning. Only the Mule ewes stay in-bye, often scanning at 200%.
Lambing begins with the stud ewes and Mules, which go to Beltex and Suffolk rams from April 4, while the Blackies due to the Blue ram start around April 20.
Home-bred ram lambs are heavily used from favourite ewes and this has worked well for me, stamping a type into the flock
RICHARD CARRUTHERS
Mr Carruthers says: “If the weather is particularly bad, they get feed blocks, but other than that, they are not fed on the hill until after scanning, when the twin ewes are then fed. I aim for 156% right through.
“After scanning, the twins go to hill parks and the singles remain on the hill. The Mules are lambed inside but everything else lambs outside. The first year I was here, I scanned 500 twins, and the second year I put out Bio Trace mineral blocks and managed to increase it to 800 twins scanned, so I have continued to use them ever since.”
Company
On the whole, Mr Carruthers works by himself, and luckily, he says, he enjoys his own company, but he does draft in help at key times from part-time worker Andrew Hambleton, and he now uses contract shearers for a job he used to do himself.
After shearing, the twins go back to the hill, and weaning takes place from the first week in August.
He says: “The Mule lambs go onto silage ground and are given a bit of feeding at that point. The majority of the Blackface ewe lambs are kept for replacements,
while the rest of them and the wedders are sold either straight off their mums as stores, fat, or in January/February, after having been wintered on the ground I rent at Dumfries.
“The Beltex and Suffolk cross lambs are sold through Longtown from September onwards.”
Mr Carruthers also sells around 450 Mule ewe lambs and 100 gimmers each year, mostly privately.
“The Mules from here do well when put onto lower ground, so I have built up a good repeat customer base for them,” he says.
In fact, Mule ewe lambs bred at Merkland have gone on to top the gimmer trade at Dumfries for three years in a row.
The heather hills at Merkland make ticks a constant challenge. To help combat them, lambs are
A Merkland £38,000 lamb sold in 2022.
A Merkland £36,000 shearling sold last year.
treated with an insecticide at birth or thereafter, and then again for ticks and fly strike when they are brought in for marking. It is an area with high rainfall, but Mr Carruthers says despite this, the grass usually keeps growing.
Come October, all focus is on the Blackface ram sales, where Mr Carruthers aims to sell 15-20 shearlings and five-10 lambs annually. This is his real passion, although he admits it is a stressful time.
“You never know how it is going to go,” he says.
It has gone well for him so far though. In 2015 he achieved his first five-figure sale with a ram lamb at £16,000 at Lanark.
That one was a son of a £10,000 Crossflatt, and in 2020 he bought a third share of a £34,000 Crossflatt which bred extremely well for the flock.
The following year, its sons went on to sell at £20,000 and two at £11,000, while a shearling son sold at £36,000 in 2023.
Character
Mr Carruthers says: “£34,000 Crossflatt had that extra character and his lambs had beautiful colours and tremendous skins.
“When I am looking for stock tups, they need a good body, but they also need to catch my attention, with their head up and a good skin and legs. I have a fairly tight budget too, which results in often having to share tups.
“Home-bred ram lambs are heavily used from favourite ewes and this has worked well for me, stamping a type into the flock. Some of the lead shearlings for sale this year are by a home-bred ram by £30,000 Auldhouseburn that I retained for breeding.”
Mr Carruthers bought a third share of £30,000 Auldhouseburn in 2021, and one of its sons achieved Merkland’s best price yet when sold for £38,000 in 2022.
He says: “I get a lot of pride out of selling tups to other breeders that I have looked up to and been inspired by.
“You never know how you are going to get on; it is only once you get them to the sale and are able to compare them to everyone else’s that you get an idea of where you are at.
Mr Carruthers adds his father John has been a big inspiration to him, setting up the family farm where he grew up and he definitely passed on the Blackie bug.
“In the years building up to taking on my own farm, I was able to see a lot of different systems and ways of doing things and I learned a
lot from other people. I have found Buccleuch Estate extremely helpful too – David Rogerson is always willing to help sort out any problems and I really appreciate that.
Breed
“I always think I could do better and I am always looking to improve the female flock, but I do not think any other breed could work as well as the Blackies do here.
“They are good, solid ewes that look after themselves through the winter and can thrive on the top of the hill, producing great lambs off marginal ground, running alongside nature and maintaining a perfect habitat for both to thrive.”
Two of Mr Carruthers’ favourite lambs this year.
Sheep Transitioning Beltex flock from commercial to pedigree
Farming is a family affair for Liam Swinnerton, who is based in Market Drayton on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border at the 60-hectare (150-acre) farm, Lipley Villa.
It is here that he runs his continental cross commercial flock, targeting the Easter trade and Christmas fatstock shows.
But as Mr Swinnerton has taken on more involvement on the farm, he has shifted the system to include his passion for the Beltex breed, which he says has proven itself while being used across the commercial flock for the last 20 years.
Beltex and Texel cross Mules make up the 150-head commercial flock, which lambs in two batches to target two different markets.
Mr Swinnerton says: “All lambs are
born indoors, with some commercials lambing in January before the pedigree flock starts with the recipients and pures.
“We use Suffolk cross Mules and Lleyn ewes for our 75 recipients for the pedigree flock. For the first time this year, everything which does not take to the embryo has been put to a Bluefaced Leicester in the hope that ram lambs will be sold as teaser rams, while the ewe lambs will be retained for recipients.
January lambs
“All cross-bred January lambs out of the main flock are creeped and sold liveweight through Market Drayton at 38kg-plus for the Easter trade to allow room for the March lambers to get out. They are taken through and sold at Christmas fatstock sales.”
Alongside the sheep, the family owns an agricultural haulage business and runs a 50-head Limousin cross suckler herd, which are put to pure Limousin bulls, with a small selection artificially inseminated to British Blues with the aim of breeding show-type calves.
They keep their own replacements and occasionally buy a cow and calf outfit out of Welshpool market from Ryan Morris, Llansilin.
Calving takes place from March onwards, with progeny sold as stores at 16 months old when they reach 450kg plus.
Mr Swinnerton says: “To help them flesh naturally, we do not push the cattle.”
But his main focus and passion is Beltex sheep, which led him to establish his pedigree Lipley Beltex flock
in 2017, which today stands at 10 pedigree ewes, along with the use of embryo work.
He says: “We have used the Beltex breed for years and I truly love it. It produces a real carcase animal with super conformation, which can be easily crossed onto commercial breeds or successfully bred as pure or pedigree.”
Flush ewes
He started with a handful of flush ewes with their embryo work completed at Farm Gene, Shrewsbury, and has since retained the best five ewe lambs every year.
Two foundation ewes were bought shortly afterwards from the Beltex Beauties sale, two from Stuart Wood’s Woodies flock and a ewe from the Wilodge flock, Shifnal.
This is where most of the breeding still comes from, but Mr Swinnerton would like to get to the stage where all of the ewes are home-bred.
The farm uses a selection of boughtin frozen semen, which helps to keep variety in breeding lines while keeping the flock type.
One of the most influential rams used on the pedigrees was 12,000gns Ardstewart Fred Flintstone, from Wade and Alison McCrabbe, Co Donegal, which was bought in shares with the nearby Wilodge flock at the 2021 Carlisle Premier sale.
Mr Swinnerton says: “He is, in my eyes, a true Beltex, and has helped us to push the flock forward.”
It was not until 2020 that the Lipley flock had sold any stock when they trialled a few yearlings at Carlisle, which helped them to assess the finer details of selling pedigree sheep.
Following the purchase of Ardstew-
Farm facts
Liam Swinnerton started his Beltex journey in a commercial capacity, but over recent years has developed his stock into a successful pedigree flock. Ellie Layton reports. ■ Lipley flock was established in 2017
Run by third-generation farmers, the Swinnerton family
All stock sold liveweight through Market Drayton market and pedigree sales
150-head commercial ewes with 10 pedigree Beltex plus recipients
Beltex show females, with the Royal Highland Show champion ewe lamb on the left.
PICTURES: JOHN EVESON
art Fred Flintstone, they sold a son of his, Lipley Hugo Boss, at the Carlisle Premier sale.
The ram lamb, out of Woodies Eye Candy, one of their foundation ewes, went under the hammer for
20,000gns, selling to Rosie Boden for her Mellor Vale Flock, Stockport.
Mr Swinnerton says: “Being our first sale of ram lambs, this came as a major surprise, but we had invested passion and financially to
get to the position, so it was a welcome reward.”
They also sell a selection of females, which topped at 4,000gns last year in Carlisle, for a full sister to Lipley Hugo Boss.
British Wool – creating new demand through innovation
British Wool recently announced a strategic investment in NexGen Tree Shelters Ltd., a pioneering company specialising in bio and environmentally degradable tree shelters, hedging and vole guards made from British wool.
The investment will enable NexGen to commence full production of its eco-friendly tree shelters, which have undergone extensive development and testing since winning the Innovation in Wool award in 2020.
This strategic partnership aims to transition NexGen’s innovative products from development to market, enhancing sustainability, eliminating single-use plastics and driving demand for British wool.
NexGen has committed to sourcing wool through British Wool’s collective marketing scheme.
Pedigree sales, which kick-off in August, are the main outlet for the Lipley flock. This year they hope to sell just over 30 sheep between males and females.
They have a good idea of what will
British Wool is delighted to partner with NexGen and support the company in bringing this innovative, new wool-based product to market. NexGen tree shelters will take single use plastic out of the environment and have the potential to drive significant demand for undervalued types of British wool over the medium to long-term.
Andrew Hogley, CEO at British Wool
For more information please contact NexGen Tree Shelters Ltd. on enquiries@nexgen-ts.com
Together we’re growing something special.
Liam Swinnerton with a selection of his Beltex shearling tups.
Sheep
make the grade from the early days in the lambing shed, says Mr Swinnerton, although some do change.
He says: “When it comes to selling ram lambs, we need something which is flashy with breed type for the pedigree market, while 90% of shearlings will be sold for commercial use and require more power and size.”
His ideal type is a good head, which is bright and alert, and a sheep which is good on its legs. He prefers a traditional type Beltex, and size is not a big factor.
Once selected, sheep are shorn in May and have June to take to their feed and rest. At the start of August, they are washed five days before the sale and trimmed by fellow breeder and friend Jamie Jerman. Their main sales are society sales in Carlisle and Skipton.
Major shows
Prior to the sales, in recent years, Mr Swinnerton has travelled around the major shows competing with his Beltex.
Last year, he won at the Royal Highland Show on his debut visit with a ram lamb, Lipley Jaguar, also a son of Fred Flintstone, which has been retained in the flock.
At this year’s show, they won the ewe lamb class with Lipley KindHeart, which went on to be reserve female champion.
At the 2023 Great Yorkshire Show, their shearling ewe Lipley Just The One, a sister to Hugo Boss, was overall champion.
The success has carried on at this year’s Royal Welsh Show, where his second prize yearling ewe claimed reserve breed champion.
Mr Swinnerton says: “We enjoy showing sheep and it has been a good way to form friendships, as we are relatively new breeders. It also helps us to
assess our stock against other breeders and pushes us to be the best when taking our stock into the showring.”
Looking forward, Mr Swinnerton is pleased with the progress the flock has made in a relatively short period of time.
He says: “I would like to bring some
new bloodlines into the flock through male bloodlines and aim to have 25 ewes, which are all our own breeding. “I would like to increase the pedigrees, which may replace some of the pure numbers. I have a passion for the breed and would like to carry on with it for years to come.”
Beltex gimmers, ewe lambs and tup lambs.
Some of the farm’s Beltex shearling tups.
It is coming to the time of year when farmers are looking to get rid of sheep no longer serving the flock, to make room for replacements. Georgina Rigby, of Cross Country Farm Vets, offers some advice.
Making the right cull decisions
Most farmers look to replace 20-25% of ewes each year and in an ideal world, all culling decisions would be based on voluntary culls. That is getting rid of the lowest performing percentage of the flock to drive productivity and basing decisions on issues such as temperament, conformation, age or poorer milking.
Veterinary surgeon Georgina Rigby says: “In reality, we often have to base these decisions on ‘involuntary’ aspects such as mastitis, poor fertility, repeat lameness or injuries. Whilst we will always have sheep like this in the flock that need to go, with careful culling decisions over the years, the balance between ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary culls’ can become better.
“Record-keeping is obviously very
important when choosing cull animals – if you do not know who the troublemakers are it is hard to pull them out from the flock. Spray marker, cull tags, written and electronic records can all be useful. Make a record at the time of the problem – with the best will in the world you never remember every sheep, or you will forget the reason for the tag or the spray mark when it comes to culling and it is easy to kid yourself into thinking she will not be a problem next time.”
Mrs Rigby says it is worth taking real care when going through the ewes. Spending some extra time getting rid of issues in autumn will save time and money in spring. Check the mouth of each ewe carefully for dental wear – can they fully utilise the forage in the diet with the teeth they have?
Udder examination
Examining the udder carefully for even the more subtle signs of mastitis, such as a ‘pencil lead’ feeling to the teats, as well as the more obvious lumps and bumps, while time-consuming, is very important, she adds.
testing these sheep if they are leaving the flock, they are often a good sentinel for other underlying issues in the flock.
Record-keeping is obviously very important when choosing cull animals – if you do not know who the troublemakers are it is hard to pull them out from the flock
GEORGINA
RIGBY
Mrs Rigby says: “Other conditions can have a genetic aspect. Have you had an issue with short-jawed lambs or entropion [rolled in eyelids]? Both have a genetic aspect, so retaining ewes in the flock that have produced lambs with either of those conditions means they may do the same again next year, and if you keep your own replacements, the condition can become more and more prevalent in the flock.
“Lameness also has a genetic association – so chronically lame ewes are more likely to have lambs that follow in their footsteps.
“Lastly, what can these cull sheep tell you about your flock? Though it may seem counterintuitive to be
“Testing for iceberg diseases such as maedi visna and Johne’s, or carrying out a post-mortem on very poor sheep can give you a picture of the health of the rest of the flock.
“Your cull choices can represent an opportunity to improve the health, performance and genetics of your flock and give an insight into the health of the rest of your flock, so choose wisely.”
FLY AND MIDGE RISK
Schmallenberg NewForestEye
Summer Mastiti s Fly Strike
BlueTongue
Poor fertility is often an involuntary aspect on which cull decisions are made.
Welshpool - Friday 23rd August
Dungannon - Monday 26th August
Carlisle Premier - Thursday 29th & Friday 30th August
Worcester - Friday 6th September
Melton Mowbray - Saturday 7th September
Skipton - Saturday 7th September
St Asaph - Saturday 14th September
Kendal - Saturday 21st September
Stirling - Monday 21st September
NSA Builth Wells - Monday 23rd September
Carlisle 2nd Sale - Saturday 28th September
Darlington Mart 2024 Summer/Autumn Sheep Sales Calendar
Store Lambs & Feeding Ewes - Every Monday at 10.30am
Catalogue entries will always close at noon the Wednesday prior to the sale
Monday 12th August - Sale of Breeding Ewes alongside the weekly store lambs
Tuesday 13th August - ‘Ewetopia’ Evening Show & Sale of pedigree and pure bred single Ewes, Shearlings and Ewe Lambs Evening Sale - MV Accredited section in place
Monday 26th August - Junior Handlers Super Single Store Lambs - Full details to follow
Thursday 29th August - Junior Handlers Super Single Prime Lambs - Full details to follow
Monday 9th September - Sale of Breeding Ewes alongside the weekly store lambs
Tuesday 10th September - ‘Tup Tup Chalice’ Show & Sale of Rams & Ram Lambs Evening Sale - MV Accredited Section in place
Tuesday 24th September - Great Annual Anniversary Show and Sale of Gimmer Lambs, Ewes & Shearlings (Also 2nd Ram Sale)
Tuesday 8th October - Special Sale of Gimmer Lambs, Ewes & Shearlings - Includes 3rd Ram Sale Incorporates the ‘Hill of a Day’ Sale
Tuesday 29th October - Special Sale of Breeding Sheep & 4th Ram Sale MV Accredited Section in place
Scott Ferrie Auctioneer 07557 260653 | Oliver Chapman Auctioneer 07887 653442
Thursday 15 August, Thursday 26 September & Thursday 17 October at Market Drayton Livestock Market
This will be a catalogued Sale of All Classes of Breeding/Store Sheep Commencing at 5pm for Shearling Ewes Followed by Aged Ewes, Ewe Lambs, Store Lambs and 6.30pm Breeding Rams. Entry forms available from market office to be completed and returned no later than Wednesday 7 August (for the first sale)
Mark Jones 07813 625787 & Ben Baggott 07791 791356
Market Drayton Market Ltd 01630 652926
Bernie Hutchinson 07778 164274, Mark Jones 07813 625787 Ben Baggott 07791 791356 & Jonty Cliffe 07595 453306
Gimmer Lamb Sales
September
*Hexham Thursday 5th September
Skipton Tuesday 10th September
Kirkby Stephen Friday 13th September
Kendal (NWA J36) Saturday 14th September
Bentham Saturday 14th September
Hawes Monday 16th September
Hawes Tuesday 17th September
Longtown Tuesday 17th September
Middleton-in-Teesdale Wednesday 18th September
Lancaster Wednesday 18th September
Wigton Wednesday 18th September
Pateley Bridge Wednesday 18th September
Barnard Castle Thursday 19th September
Carlisle Thursday 19th September
*Hexham Thursday 19th September
Cockermouth Friday 20th September
Leyburn Friday 20th September
Penrith Tuesday 24th September
Skipton Tuesday 24th September
Lazonby Alston Moor Wednesday 25th September
Tow Law (at Hexham) Thursday 26th September
St John’s Chapel Friday 27th September
Bentham Saturday 28th September
* Denotes the Marts will be selling Mules out of both Northumberland type Blackface and Swaledale dams.
BOLD - Nemsa Association Sales
October and November dates are available on the website : www.nemsa.co.uk
www.welshpoolsmithfield.co.uk
Sale of Dutch Spotted, Badger Face Texel and Blue Texel Sheep Friday 23rd August 2024
Welsh National Texel & Welsh Premier Beltex Show & Sale Wednesday 28th August 2024
Welsh Mule Sheep Breeders Association Sales Wednesday 11th September – Breeding Ewes Thursday 12th September – Ewe Lambs
Sale of Commercial Pure & Crossbred Rams Saturday 7th September 2024
*Weekly Sales of Breeding Ewes & Store Lambs throughout September & October*
All catalogues available online, enquiries to- 01938 553438 or info@welshpoolsmithfield.co.uk
The Only Livestock Market in Staffordshire Autumn 2024 Store & Breeding Sheep Sales Over 65,000 Head
Sale of Store Lambs, Ewe Lambs and Breeding Sheep
Alternate Saturdays Throughout The Season *
17th August - Early Sale of Breeding Sheep (MV & Non-MV Sections)
7th September - Including Prize Show & Sale of Shearlings
21st September – Including Prize Show & Sale of Breeding Ewe Lambs 5th& 19th October 2nd, 16th & 30th November 14th December
* Sales of Breeding Rams MV & Non-MV Sections
In Teesdale
Principal
Saturday 28th September Saturday 26th October
*
Two Special Breed Sales Include; Wednesday 21st August - 6pm Beltex Society Evening Show & Sale
To Include Beltex Males & Females & Friday 13th September - 6pm Derbyshire Texel Club Show & Sale ‘Derbyshire Dazzlers’
To Include Texel Males & Females
*
All Sheep Sold Through a Sale Ring With Buyers Attending From a Wide Area Catalogued Entries Only - Entry Forms Now Available Enquiries: 01538 372749
Email: leek@auctionmarts.com NELSON SHEEP SALES 2024
Prize Show & Sale of 1500 Mule & Continental Shearlings
Also, Sale of Breeding Ewes & Gimmer Lambs of all breeds. Prize Show & Sale of 200 Continental & Suffolk Rams Sale at 11am
THURSDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER
Prize Show & Sale of 5500 Mule Gimmer Lambs on behalf of N.E.M.S.A Sale at 11am
THURSDAY 10TH OCTOBER
2nd Prize Show & Sale of Mule Gimmer Lambs
Also, sale of Mule/Continental Shearlings/Ewes & all classes of Gimmer Lambs
2nd Prize Show & Sale of Continental, Suffolk & Blue Faced Leicester Rams Sale at 1.30pm
ST JOHNS CHAPEL AUCTION MART
Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1QF
FRIDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER
Prize Show & Sale of 2500 Mule Gimmer Lambs On behalf of N.E.M.S.A Sale at 11am
SATURDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER
Prize Show & Sale of 1500 Swaledale Ewes, Shearlings & Gimmer Lambs
Sale at 10.30am
TUESDAY 8TH OCTOBER
Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association D District Ram Sale – 300 Rams Sale at 9.30am
PATELEY BRIDGE AUCTION MART
Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, HG3 5HN
WEDNESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER
PRIZE SHOW & SALE OF 2000 GIMMER LAMBS (Mule/Dales Mule & Masham) Sale at 12 noon
FRIDAY 11TH OCTOBER
2nd Gimmer Lamb Sale ALSO Breeding Ewes of all classes
To include Prize Show of Horned/Masham Breeding Ewes & Gimmer Lambs Also Prize Show & Sale of Store Lambs Sale at 12noon
BROUGHTON
AUCTION MART
Broughton in Furness, South Cumbria LA20 6HQ
MONDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER
Prize Show & Sale of 160 Herdwick & 50 Swaledale Rams Sale at 11am
WEDNESDAY 9TH OCTOBER
Prize Show & Sale of 2000 Herdwick & Swaledale Ewes Sale at 11am For Catalogues/all sales info view our website: www.barnardcastleauctionmart.co.uk Or contact Libby Bell Auctioneer/Manager on 07818435728 Auction Mart Office, Vere Road, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham DL12 8AD – 01833 638152
SHEEP SALES AT LONGTOWN MART
Tel (01228) 791215 www.longtownmart.co.uk
EVERY THURSDAY – PRIMESTOCK
Prime & Cast Ewes & Prime Lambs
Tuesday 6th August
3,000 Store Lambs
Tuesday 13th August
3,000 Store Lambs
Tuesday 20th August
5,000 Store Lambs | Special Show & Sale of Mule Wether Lambs
Early Season Breeding Sheep Sale
Tuesday 27th August
The Principal UK Sale for 10,000 Cheviot Mule Ewe lambs, Gimmer Shearlings & Cheviot Mule Cross Ewe Lambs & Shearlings
Wednesday 28th August
5,000 Store Lambs
Tuesday 3rd September
7,000 Store Lambs
Wednesday 4th September Mule Shearling Gimmers Lowland breeding Sheep of All Classes. Rams.
Tuesday 10th September
7,000 Store & Breeding Sheep. 1st Sale for Cheviots & Blackfaces
Friday 13th September
Kelso Ram Sales
Tuesday 17th September
9,000 Breeding Sheep. Principal Show & Sale of Mule Ewe Lambs
Cheviot Mule Ewe Lambs. Breeding Sheep of All Classes
Evening Multi-Breed Ram Sale
Wednesday 18th September
8,000 Store Lambs. Show & Sale of Cheviot Lambs.
Tuesday 24th September
9,000 Store Lambs. Special Sale of Cheviot & Blackface Lambs.
Monday 30th September
Border Cheviot Ewe & Ram Sale | 6,000 Cheviot Breeding Sheep N.C. Cheviot Rams. Traditional Bluefaced Leicester Rams
3,000 Lowland Breeding Sheep of all classes inc. 2nd Sale of Mule Ewe Lambs
Tuesday 8th October
9,000 Store Lambs
Wednesday 9th October
Longtown Multi-Breed Ram Fair
SHEEP SALES AT DUMFRIES MART
Tel 01387 279495 www.dumfriesmart.co.uk
EVERY WEDNESDAY - PRIMESTOCK
Prime & Cast Ewes & Prime Lambs
Friday 23rd August
Opening Sale of Store Lambs & Feeding Ewes
Friday 30th August
Nithsdale Show & Sale of Scotch Mule & Other Shearling Gimmers Breeding Ewes of all classes
Friday 6th September
Store & Breeding Sheep
Saturday 14th September
Nithsdale Show & Sale of Scotch Mule Ewe Lambs | Half Bred & Texel Cross Ewe Lambs | Blackface Ewe Lambs | Second Sale of Scotch Mule Texel & other Shearling Gimmers | Opening Sale of Suffolk, Texel, other breed rams | Store lambs
Friday 27th September
Blackface & Cheviot Draft Ewes & Gimmers | 2nd Sale of Blackface Ewe Lambs| Other Breeding Sheep | Store Lambs & Feeding Ewes Airies Texels Annual Production Sale
Blackface & Cheviot Draft Ewes & Gimmers | 2nd Special Sale of Mule Ewe Lambs | Texel Cross & Other Ewe Lambs | Breeding Sheep of All Classes | Store Lambs & Feeding Ewes
Dumfries Ram Fair (Show & Sale)
Bluefaced Leicester Rams & Ram Lambs Texel, Suffolk & All Other Breeds of Rams
Store & Breeding Sheep, Fridays Weekly Thereafter
NORTH WEST AUCTIONS
2024 AUTUMN SHEEP SALES
Wednesday 21st August at 10.30am
Great Annual Show & Sale of 2500 Mule, Masham & Continental
Breeding Ewes & Gimmer Shearlings
LANCASTER LADS - Show & Sale of 150 Terminal Sired Breeding Rams
GIMMER LAMBS - Wednesday 18th September at 10.30am
Great Annual Show & Sale of 2500 Mule, Masham & Continental Gimmer Lambs To include members of NEMSA.
Second Sale of Breeding Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings & Rams
HILL FAIR DAY - Saturday 5th October 10.30am
Sale of all classes of Breeding Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings & Breeding Rams
Second Sale of Gimmer Lambs, followed by the Special Sale of Store Lambs
Sunday 11th August at 11am
North West Texel Breeders Club
Annual Show & Sale of 300 Pedigree Texel Rams & Females
Monday 19th August at 10.30am
Annual Production Sale of 750 Sheep from the Whiteley Hey Flock on behalf of Mr Paul Slater
Saturday 24th August at 10am
Great Annual Show & Sale of 5000 Mule, Masham, Continental x & Cheviot Mule Breeding Ewes & Gimmer Shearlings
GIMMER LAMBS - Thursday 29th August at 10.30am
Special Show & Sale of Continental & Suffolk Gimmer Lambs
LADS NIGHT OUT - Thursday 5th September
Great Annual Show & Sale of 850 Terminal Sire Breeding Rams
TWO DAY SALE OF 13,000 GIMMER LAMBS
AMBLESIDE FAIR - Friday 13th September at 10am
Show & Sale of Mule, Masham, Rough Fell Mule & Cheviot Mule Gimmer Lambs
NEMSA SALE - Saturday 14th September at 10am
Great Annual Show & Sale of 8000 NEMSA GIMMER LAMBS on behalf of the Kendal Branch of NEMSA
PEDIGREE SHEEP DAY - Saturday 21st September at 10am
Society Sale of Pedigree Rams & Females to include; Beltex, Blue Texel, Badger Face Texel & Dutch Spotted.
Second Sale of Breeding Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings & Rams
DRAFT EWES - Friday 27th September 10am
Show & Sale of Swaledale Draft Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings & Gimmer Lambs. Show & Sale of Rough Fell Draft Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings & Gimmer Lambs, on behalf of the RFSBA. Followed by any other hill breeds.
J36 RURAL AUCTION CENTRE
Every Saturday – 2000 + Store Lambs and 1000 + Cull/Grazing Ewes. All Store Lambs Sorted and Weighed. 20kg to 40kg available.
Saturday 3rd, 17th & 31st August – Aged Good Under Cheviot & Welsh Ewes.
Thursday 19th September - Annual On Farm Sale of 800 Draft Cheviot Ewes and 2000 Store Lambs for CNEWR ESTATE LTD.
Wednesday 25th September - 1000 Brecknock Hill Cheviot Ewes and Ewe Lambs with Lowland Breeding Ewes.
Saturday 28th September - Society Sale of 350 Brecknock Hill Cheviot Rams.
LLANDOVERY MARKET, CARMS 01550 720 440
Friday 23rd August – All Breeds Ram Sale & Lowland Breeding Ewe & Ewe Lamb Sale.
Sunday 1st September - Native, Rare, Primitive & Longwool Sale to include Suffolk, Hampshire Down, Border Leicester, Valais Blacknose, Leicester Longwool, Llanwenog, Easycare, Shetland, Hebridean, Scotch Blackface, Blue Faced Leicester, Kerry Hill, Herdwick, North Country Cheviot, Jacob, Dorset Down, Poll Dorset, Ryeland, Coloured Ryeland, Southdown, Cotswold, Shropshire & Other Native Breeds.
Sunday 8th September - South Wales Texel Breeders Club Sale to include Dispersal of the Towy Texel Flock together with Continental Sunday Ewe & Ram Sale to include Blue Texel, Dassenkop, Dutch Spotted, Black Texel, Black Beltex, Zwartbles, Continental Coloured Crossbred Females, Berrichon, Charmoise, Charollais, Beltex, Texel etc - MV & Non MV together with Inaugural Mid & South Wales Dutch Spotted Club Sale.
Tuesday 17th September - Society Sale of 4000 Llandovery Whiteface Ewes & Ewe Lambs.
Wednesday 18th September - Society Sale of 1500 Beulah Speckle Face Ewes.
Wednesday 25th September - Society Sale of 100 Speckle Face Rams together with 500 Speckle Face Ewe Lambs.
Sunday 29th September - 20th Anniversary Coloured Breeds Sale to include Badgerface – Torwen & Torddu, Black Welsh Mountain, Balwen, Herdwick, Coloured Crossbreds & Coloured Mules.
Monday 30th September - Society Sale of 200 Llandovery White Faced Rams.
TALYBONT-ON-USK MARKET, POWYS 01874 622 488
Sunday 8th September – Show & Sale for the Hill Radnor Flock Book Society.
Thursday 26th September – Store Lambs together with 500 Talybont Welsh Ewes & Ewe Lambs together with Lowland Breeds. Saturday 5th October - 400 Rams for the Talybont Welsh Sheep Society. NSA BUILTH WELLS
Monday 23rd September - 1350 Texel Rams & Ram Lambs, 140 Texel Females, 170 Cheviot and White Face Rams.
Hardy • Maternal • Healthy Fast Growing
What’s not to like?
NORTH WALES - LL15 1PB
THURSDAY 1st AUGUST
THURSDAY 8th AUGUST
For more information or to request a catalogue: enquiries@blackwelshmountain.org.uk Mobile: 07511 653714 Autumn Sales of Breeding Stock 2024
Annual consignments from David Faulkner of Top quality Texel & Beltex Cross Yearling Rams @ 1pm
Annual consignments from HC&TC Hughes, Llangwyfan, and from Edwards family, Pennant Ucha comprising Suffx Yearlings, Tex x Mule Yearlings in all approx. 1,000 Yearling Ewes expected that day
THURSDAY 15th AUGUST NO SALE (Come & see us at The Denbigh & Flint Show
THURSDAY 22nd AUGUST Annual consignments from HC&TC Hughes, Llangwyfan, and from Edwards family, Pennant Ucha comprising Tex x Mule Yearling Ewes. Annual consignment from Gop Farm, Trelawnyd of Texel & Texel x Homebred Shearling Rams.
THURSDAY 29th AUGUST Annual consignments from HC&TC Hughes, Llangwyfan, and from Edwards family, Pennant Ucha comprising, Tex x Mule Yearlings & Tex x Yearlings
Annual Consignment of Rams & Females On behalf of Paul Slater @ 1pm
MONDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER 23rd Annual Sale of Lleyn Sheep @ 9.30am
WEDNESDAY 4th SEPTEMBER 69th Sale of Welsh Half Bred Sheep @ 11am
THURSDAY 5th SEPTEMBER Sale of Beltex Sheep - Sale @ 1pm
MONDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 37th Annual Sale of Pedigree Texel Sheep @ 9.30am
FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER 27th Sale of Dutch Texel Sheep - Sale @ 12noon 8th Sale of Charmoise Hill Sheep Sale @ approx 2pm following Dutch Texel Sale
SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER 38th Annual Sale of Welsh Mule Ewes & Ewe Lambs @ 11am
FRIDAY 20th SEPTEMBER Sale of Black Welsh Mountain Sheep @ 1pm
SATURDAY 21st SEPTEMBER Bluefaced Leicester Sheep @ 10.30am & Multibreed Sale of MV & Non MV Rams @ 11am
MONDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER NSA Sale of Lleyn Sheep at Builth Wells @ 10.30am
SATURDAY 28th SEPTEMBER Clwyd Welsh Pony & Cob Association Sale @ 11am
SATURDAY 5th OCTOBER Special Sale of Suckler Bred Weanling Calf Sale @ 1pm
THURSDAY 10th OCTOBER Annual Sale of Welsh Rams
SATURDAY 12th OCTOBER Bala Sheepdog Sale @ 9.30am
SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER Sale of Suckler Bred Weanling Calf Sale @ 1pm
SATURDAY 3rd NOVEMBER Live Sale of Farm Machinery, Implements & Agricultural Miscellanea @ 9.30am
Monthly Sales of Store & Breeding Pigs every FIRST Friday of the month at 12noon Monthly Sales of Dairy Cattle every LAST Thursday of the month at 12noon
WEEKLY THURSDAY BREEDING SALES
Weekly Breeding Sheep Section commencing 8th August with Store Lambs (Sold in pens) at 10am
Breeding Ewe Lambs (through the New Sale Ring) at 12noon Stock Rams (Exhibition Hall) at 1pm
Breeding Ewes (through the New Sale Ring) at 3pm
Weekly Store Stock Sale of all classes of Cattle to include Calves at 10am, Stirks at 11.30am, Cows & Calves / Breeding Bulls @ 12noon Store Cattle at 12.30pm followed by Barren Cows
Visit www.ruthinfarmers.co.uk for further details and Catalogues
CLITHEROE AUCTION MART
Sheep Sales Diary 2024
CATALOGUED SALE OF MULE & CONTINENTAL EWES & SHEARLINGS
CATALOGUED SALE OF MULE & CONTINENTAL GIMMER LAMBS PLUS 2ND SALE OF EWES & SHEARLINGS
SHOW & SALE OF SUFFOLK & EURO RAM (INC MV SECTION)-
ANNUAL SHOW & SALE HORNED & HILL GOING DRAFT EWE & SHEARLINGS (WARRANTED CORRECT)
SHOW & SALE OF REGISTERED LONK SHEEP (RAMS & FEMALES)ON BEHALF OF THE LONK SHEEP BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
SHOW & SALE OF REGISTERED CHEVIOTS ON BEHALF OF THE NORTH COUNTRY SHEEP SOCIETY
SHOW & SALE OF REGISTERED DERBYSHIRE GRITSTONE SHEEP ON BEHALF DERBYSHIRE GRITSTONE SHEEP SOCIETY
SHOW & SALE OF HORNED & HILL GOING, PLUS BLUEFACED LEICESTER RAMS
2 DAY CATALOGUED ‘OLD FAIR SALE’ OF 5000 BREEDING EWES, FEEDING EWES, SHEARLINGS, GIMMER LAMBS & STORE LAMBS
‘OLD FAIR SALE’ 350 BREEDING RAMS OF ALL BREEDS
‘2ND OLD FAIR SALE’ OF 2500 BREEDING EWES, FEEDING EWES, SHEARLINGS, GIMMER LAMBS & STORE LAMBS PLUS 150 RAMS OF ALL BREEDS
‘3RD OLD FAIR SALE’ OF BREEDING EWES, FEEDING EWES, SHEARLINGS, GIMMER LAMBS & STORE LAMBS PLUS RAMS OF ALL BREEDS
Friday 30th August - Catalogue entries close Tuesday 20th August
Friday 13th September - Catalogue entries close Tuesday 3rd September
Saturday 21th September - Catalogue entries close Tuesday 10th September
Friday 26th September – Catalogue entries close Tuesday 17th September
Saturday 5th October– Catalogue entries close Monday 30th September
Sunday 6th October -Catalogue entries close Tuesday 24th September
Saturday 12th October – Catalogue entries close Tuesday 30th September
Monday 14th October –Catalogue entries close Monday 7th October
Friday 25th October – Catalogue entries close Tuesday 15th October
Saturday 26th October- Catalogue entries close Tuesday 15th October
Friday 8th November –Catalogue entries close Tuesday 29th October
Friday 22nd November –Catalogue entries close Tuesday 12th November
All catalogues available from office or on our website – www.auctionmart.co.uk All entries to Mart Office please - Times of sales to be confirmed in catalogues & later adverts
WHITELEY HEY FLOCK
19TH AUGUST AT 10.30AM
EXETER LIVESTOCK CENTRE, MATFORD PARK ROAD, EXETER,
TUESDAY 6TH AUGUST
21st Early August “Mule” Sale of 5233 Breeding Ewes & Rams
Inc. Nemsa Show & Sale of 1717 Mule Shearlings. Catalogue online.
FRIDAY 9TH AUGUST
Innovis Ram Sale
WEDNESDAY 14TH AUGUST
NSA South West Ram Sale - 15 Breeds - 3 Rings
THURSDAY 22ND AUGUST
24th Official Show and Sale of Lleyn Sheep FRIDAY 23RD AUGUST
101st Annual Show and Sale of Greyface Dartmoors
TUESDAY 27TH AUGUST
13th Annual Late Summer Breeding Sheep Sale of 4000 FRIDAY 30TH AUGUST
Annual Show and Sale of Whiteface Dartmoors
FRIDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
Show and Sale of Zwartbles and Dutch Spotted Sheep
FRIDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER
10th Annual Sale of Easycare Sheep
TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER
37th Autumn Sale of 4000 Breeding Sheep to inc. Main sale of 1500 Ewe Lambs
Further information – Russell Steer 07788 318701 2-3000 Prime & Cull Sheep Every Monday 1500-2500 Store Lambs Every Friday
Ruthin Auction Mart
PRIVATELY FOR SALE
QUALITY BELTEX X TEXEL, BELTEX X CHAROLAIS AND TEXEL SHEARLING RAMS • Large selection available • Very well grown • Bred for
Penrith Auction Mart 01768 864700
Tuesday 10th September
Prize Show & Sale of Mule Gimmer Shearlings and the Great Annual Show and Sale of Mule, Suffolk X and Continental X Ewes 2 – 3 Shear and Above Special Section for Euro Shearlings
Tuesday 17th September
Annual Prize Show & Sale of Suffolk and Continental Rams
Tuesday 24th September
Prize Show and Sale of North of England Mule Gimmer Lambs. Show open to all vendors NEMSA rosette for the highest placed NEMSA member.
Prize Show & Sale of Cheviot Mule Gimmer Lambs
Sunday 6th October
Evening Show & Sale of Crossing Bluefaced Leicester Rams and Females
Thursday 10th October
Annual Prize Show & Sale of Swaledale, Herdwick & Cheviot and other Hill Bred Ewes, Gimmer Shearlings and Gimmer Lambs
Tuesday 15th October
Late Autumn Fair of The Second Sale of North of England Mule Gimmer Lambs, Breeding Ewes & Shearlings of all breeds. Also the Annual Sale of Swaledale Rams also Bluefaced Leicester, Cheviot, Suffolk & Continental Rams.
Please refer to our website for the most up to date information regarding shows, sales & catalogues.
Andrew Maughan 07717 611952 Paul Gardner 07552 589141
•THURSDAY 15th AUGUST - STORE LAMB SALE
•FRIDAY 30th AUGUST - STORE LAMB SALE
•FRIDAY 6th SEPTEMBER - THEAVES & EWES (Show & Sale)
•FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER - STORE LAMB SALE
•THURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER - MULE EWE LAMB (Show & Sale)
• FRIDAY 20th SEPTEMBER - EWE LAMB - Any Other Breed (Show & Sale)
•FRIDAY 27th SEPTEMBER - STORE LAMB SALE
•FRIDAY 4th OCTOBER - THEAVES & EWES
•SATURDAY 5th OCTOBER - RAM FAIR *Show & Sale - MV Section
•FRIDAY 11th OCTOBER - STORE LAMB SALE
•SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER - HPLS HILL SHEEP
•FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER - STORE SHEEP inc Rams
•FRIDAY 8th NOVEMBER - STORE SHEEP
•FRIDAY 22nd NOVEMBER - STORE SHEEP
• SUNDAY 8th DECEMBER - FINAL ROUND UP
For any further information or to enter your Sheep into any of the above sales please speak to a member of our Livestock Team on 01629 812777 (option 3)
DUTCH SPOTTED SHEEP SOCIETY
Summer Sales
August Swatragh Friday 16th Welshpool Friday 23rd Premier Sale at Carlisle Friday 30th/Sat 31st September Melton Mowbray Saturday 7th Lanark Thursday 19th Junction 36 Saturday 21st Thainstone Tuesday 24 September
Easycare Sheep
BREEDING SHEEP SALES
AT THRAPSTON LIVESTOCK MARKET
1st Autumn Sale of Breeding Sheep Saturday 17th August Commencing at 11am
To include a Flock Dispersal of Flock Aged Ewes
Catalogue closing date: Wednesday 7th August
2nd Autumn Sale of Breeding Sheep
Saturday 14th September Commencing at 11am
Catalogue closing date: Wednesday 4th September
AT STRATFORD LIVESTOCK MARKET
Field Sale of Store & Ewe Lambs
Wednesday 7th August Commencing at 2.30pm
Catalogue available online, postal copies by request
Field Sale of Breeding Sheep
Wednesday 11th September Commencing at 11am
Catalogue closing date: Monday 2nd September
For further information please contact: Jake Wagstaff: 07487 526803 Alastair Brown: 07885 804450
BELTEX
Skipton:
SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER AT 10AM SHOW & SALE OF BREEDING SHEEP & STORE LAMBS Show & Sale of Shearlings, Ewes & Gimmer Lambs & Store Lambs Show at 9am, Sale at 10am Entries Close 2nd September at 12 noon
TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER AT 4.30PM EVENING SHOW & SALE OF RAMS Show to commence at 3pm, Sale at 4.30pm Schedule available. Entries close 3rd September at 12 noon
WEEKLY SALES THROUGHOUT AUGUST, SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER
TUESDAY 6TH AUGUST
First special sale of 2,500 YEARLING EWES 1000 Texel x Mule, 1200 Suf x Mule
TUESDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER
Second special sale of 3,500 YEARLING EWES Suffolk x Mule, Texel x Mule
TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER
First special sale of 7,000 EWE LAMBS
Suffolk x Mule, Texel x Mule
To
ewe
All enquiries to: Hereford Market Auctioneers - 01432 761882 www.herefordmarket.co.uk email: hma@herefordmarket.com
FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER
WELSH MULE SOCIETY SALE
10,000 YEARLINGS & EWE LAMBS
To be sold at Hereford Market at 10.00am
THURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER
1,200 BEULAH EWE SOCIETY SALE
Please note new sale day Sale at Builth Market at 11.00am
TUESDAY 24th SEPTEMBER
300 BEULAH RAM SOCIETY SALE
Please note new sale day Sale at Builth Market at 11.00am
THURSDAY 26th SEPTEMBER
3,500 EWES
EPPYNT HARDY SALE
At Builth Market, sale to commence at 11.00am
TUESDAY 1st OCTOBER
120 BLUEFACED LEICESTER RAMS
On behalf of the Wales & Border Crossing Club Sale at 1.30pm Evening sale
SATURDAY 12TH OCTOBER AT 10AM SALE OF BREEDING SHEEP & STORE LAMBS Sale of Shearlings, Ewes, Rams, Gimmer Lambs & Store Lambs Entries Close 30th September at 12 noon
CHARMOISE SHEEP
Climate change is adapted and mitigated by lowering co2, less methane. THE BRAMAIN FLOCK IS THE LARGEST FLOCK, 300+ EWES IS SIGNET RECORDED AND IS CONSISTENTLY USING NEW BLOOD LINES DIRECT FROM FRANCE
Has a good selection of sheep for sale at Welshpool 26th September Also always available on farm Shearling Ewes, Ewe Lambs, Ram Lambs & In Lamb Breeding Ewes
For more information please contact: David Eglin, Bramcote Mains, Bulkington CV12 9JX Web link to sale brochure: bramcotemain.wordpress.com/2022/8/ Email: bramcotemains@outlook.com
Kivells Exeter Shearling Rams 14th August 2024
Kelso Shearling Rams Harrison & Hetherington
Date
SKIPTON AUCTION MART
NORTH YORKSHIRE AUTUMN BREEDING SHEEP CALENDER 2024
Sale Description
FORTNIGHTLY SALES OF 5,000 – 12,000 STORE LAMBS including large consignments of Continental x and Suffolk x ewe lambs
Saturday 3rd August
Show & Sale of PEDIGREE DORSET SHEEP
Wednesday 7th August LINGFIELDS SUMMER SHEEP FAIR
Special prize sale of Suffolk x Continental x Mule & Masham Breeding Ewes + Suffolk, Texel & Continental Rams
Tuesday 20th August Annual Sale of 6,500 SHEARLING GIMMERS, MULE, MASHAM & CONTINENTAL
Monday 26th August
Special Sale of BREEDING SHEEP inc EWES & RAMS
Show & Sale of PEDIGREE KERRY HILL SHEEP & Special Sale of SUFFOLK & CHAROLLAIS RAMS
Saturday 31st August 49th Sale of JACOB SHEEP 133rd Sale of WENSLEYDALE SHEEP
Sale of RARE & MINORITY BREEDS OF SHEEP
Sunday 1st September Annual Show & Sale of VALAIS BLACKNOSE SHEEP
Friday 6th & Saturday Sale of PEDIGREE BELTEX SHEEP 7th September Sale of PEDIGREE BLUE TEXEL & BADGER FACE TEXEL SHEEP
Tuesday 10th September Sale of 6,000 NORTH OF ENGLAND MULE GIMMER LAMBS
Tuesday 17th September 2nd Sale of SHEARLING GIMMERS & Sale of all classes of BREEDING SHEEP + CHAROLLAIS RAMS
Thursday 19th & Friday 43rd Annual Sale of 20th September 600 PEDIGREE TEXEL RAMS & FEMALES
Tuesday 24th September 2nd Sale of 8,000 MULE GIMMER LAMBS
Tuesday 1st October Sale of all classes of BREEDING SHEEP Inc PENNINES SALE of CHEVIOT, LONK, GRITSTONE, WHITE FACED WOODLAND EWES & SHEARLINGS Evening sale of BLUE FACED LEICESTER SHEEP
Thursday 3rd October Sale of REGISTERED LLEYN BREEDING SHEEP
Friday 4th October 1200 TERMINAL & NON TERMINAL SIRES MVA & Non MVA TEXEL, SUFFOLK, BELTEX, CHAROLLAIS, BLUE TEXEL, ZWARTBLES, DUTCH TEXEL + TERMINAL SIRES & CROSS BRED
Saturday 5th October Sale of 3,500 SWALEDALE EWES & SHEARLINGS
For catalogues and more information please call 01756 792375 or visit our website www.ccmauctions.com
Available from N of England & Scottish Border Farms For Catalogues and Sales List contact: S J Dennis of RICHARD TURNER & SON Main Street, Bentham, Lancaster LA2 7HF
David Preston Lancaster, Lancashire 07527 785 845 david@dbwools.ie
Standard Wool
North Yorkshire and surrounding area
Yorkshire and surrounding area
Becky Burniston South View Farm Burnsall North Yorkshire BD23 6BX 07921 267904 becky@dbwools.ie
labels and string
Becky Burniston South View Farm Burnsall North Yorkshire BD23 6BX 07921 267904 becky@dbwools.ie
Mid-Wales
North Yorkshire and surrounding area
Gareth Thomas 07974 376995 gareth@dbwools.ie
Mid-Wales
North East Wales
Gareth Thomas 07974 376995 gareth@dbwools.ie
North East Wales Geraint Jones 07887 772804 Geraint@dbwools.ie
Geraint Jones 07887 772804 Geraint@dbwools.ie
Becky Burniston South View Farm Burnsall North Yorkshire BD23 6BX 07921 267904 becky@dbwools.ie
Southern and Central Scotland
Mid-Wales
Southern and Central Scotland
Gareth Thomas 07974 376995
Hugh Hamilton 07931 353961 hugh@dbwools.ie
gareth@dbwools.ie
Hugh Hamilton 07931 353961 hugh@dbwools.ie
North East Wales
Geraint Jones 07887 772804
Geraint@dbwools.ie
Southern and Central Scotland
Hugh Hamilton 07931 353961 hugh@dbwools.ie
Adler Captive Bolt Stunner just £215 + VAT
BRANNACH OLANN
Please email your order to sales@raytradeuk.co.uk and we’ll contact you for payment. Further information on Humane Slaughter products can be found at www.raytradeuk.co.uk/humane-slaughter If you have any other questions or wish to make a payment over the telephone please call us on 01635 253344 Adler Captive Bolt Stunner Package - Stunner, 100 Blanks, Carriage... just £249 + VAT
Please
At Premier Polytunnels we know lambing season is the most important time of a sheep farmer’s year, not to mention the ewe’s, so it is no surprise that having quality lambing facilities is at the top of the farmer’s list.
•
•
• Reduces stress in the flock
• Pregnant ewes and housed sheep are cheaper to feed
• Supplied as a complete unit ready for assembly
• Sizes from 16ft to 30ft wide, and lengths from 30ft to 90ft
• 50mm and 60mm diameter steel hoops for strength and rigidity
Lantra Farm Safety
Following the announcement from the Health and Safety Executive that they are no longer undertaking routine farm saftey inspections, Lantra is making the Farm Safety e-learning course free of charge to all farm workers
We are committed to ensuring farmers, and contractors, can keep up to date with best practise.
Consisting of 8 modules, covering topics such as falls from height and falling objects, livestock, and vehicles, this e-learning course provides you with the knowledge to run a safe farm.
You can find more about our training courses by scanning the QR code
