Farming

A window into our isolated world at Greenwell Farm

Farming on Dartmoor can be a challenging experience...

My family have been farming cows, sheep and ponies at Greenwell Farm on the south west corner of Dartmoor since the 1930s, and I now live at Greenwell with my wife, two boys and fi ve sheepdogs. Life on the farm rolls with the seasons and every week is diff erent. These days no-one has the time to lean on the gate and chat, and I am aware that us farmers are constantly blocking the roads whilst moving our sheep and cows, or when we are out on our tractors we can be seen as a bit unapproachable and grumpy at times, especially when we are working the sheepdogs! The articles I write, try to give you a window into our isolated world and hopefully shed some light on our farming lives on this wet rock we call Dartmoor! Over the past eight months I have been struggling a bit with staff and was very much making do with help where I could get it. Just before Christmas, Dave started working for me and it is great to have reliable, consistent help again, especially during the winter season when so many animals are reliant on our daily feeding, cleaning and bedding routine. Many farms and businesses are struggling to fi nd good staff and it is not until you have to make do that you really appreciate the good ones! Dave is a local lad who grew up helping me during school holidays and weekends, and even did an apprenticeship on a group of Dartmoor farms of which we were one. He then worked for us for a couple of years before joining a fencing contractor and doing various other things. That was some ten years ago and after a chance meeting in the garage when I jokingly asked if he wanted his old job back, he got in touch and the rest is history! We must have trained him ok as he actually remembered some of the stuff we taught him. It is great to have seen him grow from a cheeky young lad with plenty to say, into a very capable, valued member of the team who has already taken the pressure off me in the short time he has been back. We have managed to avoid Covid until recently when Billy, our youngest, tested positive, although Gem, myself and Tom all stayed negative. It turned out that Billy was fi ne with no symptoms at all, just a full week off school! Gem had to go to work so it was socially distance farming for our Billy which he absolutely loved! He came out with me and he just pitched in where he could. It reminded me of the fi rst lockdown when we spent the whole spring with the boys on the farm whilst they were off school. It was great to see Billy enjoying the farm, but it also makes you appreciate how lucky we are to have a job which allows us so much space and interesting things to do in this amazing landscape. We were just very thankful that he was ok and we stayed clear, as we are so aware that many people have had worse encounters with the blasted virus than us. With a positive outlook to the spring, we are hoping to run our Greenwell Lambing Live event again towards the end of March. We have been closed to visitors for the last two years but can’t wait to open the gates and invite families, schools and anyone who wants to encounter lambing up close on a real Dartmoor farm here at Greenwell Lambing Live. We look forward to seeing you there! Find us on Facebook: Lambing Live Greenwell Farm or contact us at greenwellfarm@gmail.com. n Mat Cole, Greenwell Farm