We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.John Davies: Spreading; tree trekking and zip wiring
WE finally managed to get away as a family for a few days at the start of October and went tree trekking and zip wiring, with the kids leaving me behind and making me feel my age. It was great fun and so relaxing.
At home, the excellent weather has allowed us to spread all the FYM and slurry, meaning we enter the winter with all sheds clean and pits empty. Ewes have been gathered off the Military range for their compulsory treatment period. We hold ours down for a few weeks to go to the tup.
I took a load of cows and Speckles, Mules and cross-bred lambs to St Merryn. They averaged just over £60, so I was
reasonably pleased. We’ve also bought some maize off the field. We have been tempted to do some for a while, but I’m afraid our ground is just too marginal. It cost us £25/tonne from the clamp, so we’ll see if it feeds as well as people say. From the contracting side, if the acreage grows locally, we’ll probably get the kit.
Promising hydro-electric scheme
We’ve had a renewable energy expert to look at the possibility of installing a small scale hydro-electric scheme. The initial survey looks promising. It would be close to the Pentwyn holiday cottages and would give us the ability to market them as carbon neutral which, I’m led to believe, could be a bonus.
I, like many of you I’m sure, was furious with the headlines and Prof Stern’s comments on climate change. With farming offering some of the solutions and not all the problems, it was very frustrating. We have to get our act together better and correct these inaccurate claims.
At the beginning of the month, I attended a Friends of the Earth meeting where the claim that intensive livestock farming was destroying the South American rainforests was put, based on our use of soya grown on former rainforests.
Like many others, I use very little bought-in feed to produce beef and lamb, most of the diet being grass silage, combined with wholecrop and home grown cereal – our requirements are minimal.
Come on Hybu Cig Cymru and the other levy bodies, let’s quickly get the facts out on sustainable livestock production.
POWYS
- John Davies farms between Brecon and Builth Wells, running a 240ha (600 acre) mixed unit.
- Progeny from the farm’s 120 suckler cows are finished on-farm, as are lambs from the ewe flock.
- About 32ha (80 acres) of cereals are grown, and John also does some contracting work, mainly silage.