Cotswold Sheep Society Newsletter Registered Charity No. 1013326 June 2012 Hampton Rise, 1 High Street, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, GL7 5JW Tel.: 01285 851197 [email protected] www.cotswoldsheepsociety.co.uk Council Officers Chairman – Mr. Richard Mumford Vice-Chairman – Mr. Thomas Jackson Secretary - Mrs. Lucinda Foster Treasurer- Mrs. Lynne Parkes Council Members Mrs. M. Pursch, Mrs. C. Cunningham, The Hon. Mrs. A. Reid, Mr. R Leach, Mr. D. Cross, Mr. S. Parkes, Ms. D. Stanhope Editors John Flanders, The Hon. Mrs. Angela Reid Spring at Cwmcrwth Farm (Towy Flock) EDITORIAL John Flanders This edition of the Newsletter contains a number of reminders of events that Council have organised and members are encouraged to support them. Council, in preparing a programme for the year, endeavours to provide subjects that meet the interests of all members, but if there is no support the question has to be asked whether there is any point in having these events. On a lighter note, I am delighted that Rob and Fiona Park have written about their flock of Cotswolds; it is always good to have a few more breeders in Wales. They also produce bacon and pork from the Oxford Sandy and Black rare breed pigs and I can vouch how tasty it is (mail order is available I understand). Sadly, despite my request in the last Newsletter, no one else has come forward to join Judy and me in The View From Here; similarly having tried to have a Young Handlers Section no contributions have been forthcoming. This year Davina Stanhope, Richard Mumford and Robin Leach are standing down from Council and I am grateful for the work that they have all put in on behalf of the Society. THE VIEW FROM HERE West Wales John Flanders The fine Spring weather, and for us plenty of grass due to the wet Winter, meant that the ewes had a good crop of grass at turn out; however, the cold spell in mid- April slowed down grass growth with the result that the ewes were struggling for a short while to maintain body condition. It is well known that the terrain impacts upon the level of grass growth and this was clearly displayed in the Spring when the higher ground had better growth, whilst the lower land near the valley bottom was slow to get started. Lambing went very well this year and we are really pleased with the lambs that have been born. At this stage some of them look exceptionally good, but as we all know they have a habit of changing, whilst the “ugly ducklings” turn out to be real crackers or should that be quackers!! The lambs from the tup that covered our neighbour’s Lleyn ewe have a predominance of Cotswold in them. For some strange reason our neighbours do not want to borrow any of our tups next tupping season. I really cannot imagine why! The farm is registered under the Farm Assured Welsh Livestock Beef and Lamb Scheme with inspections taking place every 18 months or thereabouts. We were inspected for the fourth time and, as on previous occasions, passed with no non- compliances. It is my understanding that there is a move to reduce red tape – do not believe it. The number of questions asked has increased by at least 30%. We entered the Rare Breed Longwool Section at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s Spring Festival and did quite well by winning the Shearling Ram Class and Best in Section. Having been there before, as visitors, it did not seem quite as busy as previously, but nevertheless it is always a good show. After a good few weeks of wet weather the sun has started to emerge and the ground is drying adequately for spreading fertiliser. I suppose the next job will be shearing followed by haymaking. Gloucestershire Judy Wilkie Another lambing completed and a very wet one. With only nine ewes now, shelter is not a problem any more and they are all able to stand in the barn when it rains during lambing. We are lucky to be at 600 ft fairly and dry underfoot after a few days, but in Sodbury Vale and further towards the Severn, it has been a much more difficult and worrying time. Now out in the paddocks the lambs rush into the pig hut creep feeder every time it rains and the ewes stand outside under the hedges until it stops when the lambs rejoin them. Several friends with commercial flocks have had losses due to the constant rain causing the lambs becoming chilled. This year I decided to revaccinate against the Clostridial diseases and the ewes had the two injections and were therefore fully protected before lambing. Next year they will need only a single booster before lambing. I have not used it for many years but last year lost a ewe and was not sure why she died so felt it was time to remove another variable. The ewes all lambed unaided as is usually the case and had thirteen lambs. Not the highest lambing percentage but all good sized lambs. Then my eight year old granddaughter’s bottle reared ewe sat on her nice ewe lamb when it was four days old. After a few tears Lily announced “that’s farming” so I reminded her not to name it until it was at least a week old. It is a sad fact that very often the biggest or best lamb will be lost and the weedy runt who will never be much good will hang on until eventually it is big enough to go. The grass is now growing very fast and the next thing to watch for is fly strike. I shall spray the lambs and shear the ewes as soon as practical and take my wool sack to my nearest neighbour when I finish doing them. At least with hand shearing a small number it is possible to get on with it and not wait for a shearer. The shearers always go to the farms in the valley first as it is warmer than up here. The wool rises and is easier to shear and the flies are more of a problem off the escarpment. Although the local rook and jackdaw population is much reduced this year I am still filling the creep trough in the evening to reduce th birds raiding the feed as soon as it is topped up. TOWY FLOCK Rob and Fiona Park Some people call it “living the dream” and I suppose in reality dreams are not always rosy and perfect. Rob called it retirement but he’s worked harder in the last few years (at least physically) than he’s ever worked in his life. I would call it a change! We used to have day jobs which involved sitting in an office for lots of hours and feeling stressed. Now we work lots of hours mainly outside and feel stressed. What’s changed? Everything! Having kept a few rare breed Oxford Sandy and Black pigs for a number of years on about 3 acres, 5 years ago after a lot of hunting Rob fell in love with a run down traditional Welsh farm in West Wales with about 50 acres and 2 holiday cottages. Selling our business in Gloucestershire we set about building our farm. To help generate an income we renovated the holiday cottages and converted the remaining barn in the house courtyard into another one. Holidaymakers started to visit and enjoy the local attractions of gardens, castles, beautiful countryside and quiet beaches. Sadly we had not fully appreciated the farm would immediately eat up any income we made and much more! Rob decided early on the animals would be rare breeds and as I had always loved Highland Cattle we bought 2 heifers from the local show winning herd. Thinking after a while we needed to build a fold we returned and bought 2 more and sent 2 to visit the bull. Having joined the HCCW (Welsh equivalent of EBLEX)we began to visit more agricultural shows to see our friends show their beasts and to identify the next rare breed purchase for Cwmcrwth Farm. Searching the RBST website and the show pens we chose Cotswold sheep and Golden Guernsey goats, I promise you it was not just a beauty parade. We quickly understood why Golden Guernsey goats are rare; nobody wanted to sell any stock. We had better luck with the Cotswold Sheep Society members. This sounds as if we were feeding an addiction buying more and more animals but if I explain to you that Wales’ farming heritage unlike England was lots of small family farms of about 50-100 acres. Each farm would have kept a few pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens and grown their own crops, true self-sufficiency for the family and neighbours. Having researched the farm’s residents through the census returns and read a little local rural history in our own way we are trying to preserve the heritage of Cwmcrwth Farm. Admittedly we are not sticking to Welsh native breeds but we have always been careful to choose animals which are suitable for our land and reasonably easy to birth as we are not experts. Maybe the Cotswolds do not entirely fit this brief as Wales can be quite wet at times and claggy mud does not really sit well with a Rastafarian hair style, but the holidaymakers love them! Having been told for many years sheep are always looking for an excuse to lie down and die we decided this time not to go for the award winning animals in the first instance.