Farming News

Summer – a distant memory

As autumn takes hold, the dry days of summer, the heat wave and drought seem a distant memory. In my childhood, I’m sure we had loads of long, hot summers with water short on the farm and vivid memories of being scolded by mum or dad if a tap was on too long! Two weeks of hot weather this summer did seem to send the sensationalist media into apocalyptic mood – however it was hot and the animals did not enjoy the extreme heat.

The lack of grass was ok as animals don’t eat loads when it’s hot, but water was a major issue. Greenwell is watered by two springs: one rises and falls with the seasons and usually provides plenty of water; the other is slow and consistent, but never stops. Only on the driest years do we lose the main one - this was one of those years. There was plenty of water for the house, but with cattle and sheep drinking it and watering the garden, it runs short quickly! Fortunately, most of the young cattle had running water near the river and the cows on the common had plentiful water. But we couldn’t use lots of fields for grazing, and grass earmarked to be cut just didn’t grow. So, we will be short of winter feed, although there is still time as the ground is warm and the rain has come - it will just be late. Further east, the dry weather meant farmers harvested their cereal crops in record time. However when it’s so hot the machinery becomes a cocktail of hot, dry, straw dust and grease which is so easily ignited. Combine fires subsequently caught many unharvested fields alight which is devastating. Some crops also became too dry and farmers had to wait to harvest until dew formed.

We managed to get to a few local shows this summer. I judged the Whiteface Dartmoor sheep at Totnes Show and although the family got a bit bored as I pondered over woolly exhibits, it was a lovely day. Chas and Dave showed our team at Okehampton Show as we were away, and Gem and the boys helped me at Chagford Show. We didn’t win much, but were in the running in some strong classes. The main thing was the boys both got a rosette in the classes and in the young handler contest.

Our Great Gather event was a real success; 40 members of the public joined us for this historic spectacle. I, various family members and my neighbour Bill walked the large group about a mile into the centre of our common adjacent to Greenwell. From the high ground we watched my brother Neil, the lads helping on quads, my niece Bryony on her horse Lady and eight sheep dogs at work as they gradually encircled a huge area, gathering the flock of hundreds. At the same time my family team of helpers and Bill gave a running commentary on how a gather works; how the common works, the way the sheep, cattle and ponies sculpt the iconic Dartmoor landscape; the history of commoning and the archaeology. Usually being in the actual gather, I struggled to juggle talking to people and instinctively tried to give instructions to the eager but inexperienced helpers – mostly to slow them down so we could keep up! However, we achieved a mutually workable pace, everyone spread out and we brought the flock in safely. We’ll definitely do it again next July.

Mat Cole, Greenwell Farm