William and Andrew Cowx: Planning issues for lambing and building are concentrating the mind

Thankfully, by dusk it had nearly all thawed and it looks like getting wetter – oh, for the green shoots of spring.

Still two weeks away from the start of lambing we have had quite a few lame ewes with the hard frosty ground, but the sheep look well on the whole. We have lost two ewes with prolapse, usually our biggest problem before lambing. Depending on the weather we will start bringing the ewes inside at night in about 10 days time.

Our farm is in an ESA with two years still to run and we have just had a scheme approved to rebuild two lengths of stone wall totalling 400 metres, and 200m of hedge coppicing/planting/kest restoration and double fencing.

We will get contractors in to build the walls as it is quite a big job, but have started to do the hedge ourselves as we want to get the planting done next month before we start lambing.

We had thought about hedging our SPS against a fall in the Euro, but I think we will just wait and see

These environmental schemes have done a good job in getting stone walls rebuilt and hedges replanted that would otherwise have remained neglected - many such schemes can be seen when going around the countryside.

Today I was invited to a lunch hosted by the H&H Group to hear Kate Barker, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member give a short presentation and answer questions on the economy. I think it is a wait-and-see situation with the election coming up.

Inflation is expected to fall slightly with perhaps an interest rate rise at the end of this year or the beginning of next. The problem is with some of the Eurozone countries and what effect that would have on the euro. I think she thought both these things would balance the equation and the Euro/Sterling exchange rate would remain about where it is now for some time.

As the exchange rate is important in maintaining our livestock prices and SPS I hope her assessment proves correct. We had thought about hedging our SPS against a fall in the Euro, but I think we will just wait and see.

For the past two years we have tried to get planning permission to convert a barn on the farm into a house and we have finally succeeded. Lake District National Park Authority planners are very reluctant to give planning permission unless you can prove you have a very strong case for extra accommodation, so this is one of our main objectives this year.

Next time, hopefully, I can report lambing and calving are going well and the grass is greener.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment