22,000 COPIES DISTRIBUTED FREE THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHWEST Sept/Oct 2016 | Issue 62 WIN A BALENO ASCOT LADIES JACKET WORTH £169.95 Vigo Presses Riverford Veg Box Review What are we putting into the mouths of our children? Could you re-home some chickens? Articles from River Cottage, FarmLink, Lye Cross Farm and The Organic Feed Company Competitions courtesy of Baleno, Avon Bulbs and Unwins Plus: Country news, diary, green issues and wildlife rural issues | livestock | equipment | poultry | fieldwork | diversification | gardening 1 The Artists’ Garden Art Exhibition 2 – 18 September Celebrate September – Food, Arts & Crafts Weekends 2 – 4, 10 – 11 & 17 – 18 September Real Ale & Cider Weekend 23 – 25 September Apple Day 2 October Autumn Woodfest Sponsored by Stihl 8 – 9 October Great Torrington, Devon. Tel: 01805 624067 Book tickets online at rhs.org.uk/rosemoor RHS Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262 R_Autumn 185x270_Advert.indd 1 24/08/2016 15:02 inside this issue Country news 4 Lye Cross Farm 6 A farmer's view GET IN TOUCH thelandsman Rural issues 7 Think Media (UK) Ltd After the vote The Granary & Sawmill Property 8 Tickenham Court Lower Bradley Washing Pound Lane | Clevedon North Somerset | BS21 6SB Review 10 Riverford Veg Box www.thelandsman.co.uk twitter.com/landsmanlife FarmLink 11 What are we putting into the mouths of our children? Editorial Green issues 13 Rebecca Hacker What does Brexit mean for sustainability? [email protected] The Organic Feed Company 15 Art Editor The advantages for organic feeding Christy Walters Livestock 16-17 Designer Pregnancy diagnosis in sheep, pigs and cattle Laurie Edwards Competition 18 Production Win a Baleno Ascot Ladies Jacket Rachael Ellway Veterinary practise 19 [email protected] The liver fluke T. 01275 400778 Poultry 21 Advertising Could you re-home some chickens? Sandra Hardie [email protected] Equipment 23 The Artists’ Garden Art Exhibition T. 01460 55105 New equipment 2 – 18 September Contributors Fieldwork 25 Benjamin Barber BVetMed (Hons) MRCVS Spreading it about a bit! British Hen Welfare Trust Making a country living 26-27 Celebrate September – Food, Arts & Crafts Weekends Colin Knapman BSc (Hons) Bowhayes Trees FarmLink 2 – 4, 10 – 11 & 17 – 18 September Gillian Dixon Competition 28 Ian Dixon Win a Lilies Bouquet from Unwins Jeremy Hobson Real Ale & Cider Weekend Keith Wheaton-Green Competition 28 Nick Green Win a selection of bulbs from Avon Bulbs 23 – 25 September RHS Garden Rosemoor Diversification 29 River Cottage Vigo Presses Riverford Apple Day Stephen Davy-Osborne Gardening 31-35 Stewart Horne Bring interest to your garden 31 2 October The Organic Food Company Squashes 33 Vigo Presses Grow it, eat it 34 Recipe – Warm salad of mushrooms and roasted squash 35 Autumn Woodfest Sponsored by Stihl Printed by Mortons of Horncastle Ltd Wildlife 36 8 – 9 October Printed on 70gsm Woodfree paper Let nature look after you Disclaimer Book review 36 Every effort is made to ensure accuracy of The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel dates, event information and advertisements. Wild Hares and Hummingbirds by Stephen Moss thelandsman accepts no responsibility for events that might be cancelled and can accept no Country diary 37-38 Great Torrington, Devon. responsibility for the accuracy of any information or claims made by advertisers included in Our country year 39 Tel: 01805 624067 this magazine. The views expressed do not Quince Honey Farm necessarily reflect the views of thelandsman. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part Book tickets online at rhs.org.uk/rosemoor without written permission strictly prohibited. © Copyright 2016. Think Media (UK) Ltd twitter.com/landsmanlife RHS Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262 3 R_Autumn 185x270_Advert.indd 1 24/08/2016 15:02 country news Wet grassland for farming and wildlife The Avalon Marshes is the part of Somerset’s Levels the designated areas. Although less important for and Moors that lies between the Isle of Wedmore in the conservation these areas are vital to the viability of north and the Polden hills in the south, although the farming. Grassland consultant Charlie Morgan shared name was first coined for the nature reserves created his expertise and experience, particularly focussing on from former peat workings near Glastonbury including soil management and how to maximise productivity at Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath and Westhay Moor. Over the same time as minimising inputs. the last four years it has benefitted from Heritage The second course focussed on the conservation value Lottery funding through the Avalon Marshes Landscape of wet grassland, and in particular fields lying within Partnership scheme. the raised water level areas. Cath Mowat from Natural Much of the focus in the Avalon Marshes has been England shared her expertise on how to conserve on the nature reserves which lie at its heart and on the area’s wet meadows; encouraging wild flowers, its rich archaeological heritage. However, most of the improving conditions for breeding waders and dealing area is characterised by wet grassland which has with problem weeds. been farmed since the area was drained. The loss of Both courses included trips out to look at examples this wet grassland to other forms of agriculture would of current practice, including fields near Mark and on fundamentally change the area’s unique landscape and Tealham and Tadham Moor. The key messages from the wildlife conservation value. courses are now being put together with advice on the So, working with FWAG (the Farming and Wildlife control of specific problem weeds in an edition of “View Advisory Group), two training courses were to help from the Brue” which will be available for farmers and farmers and landowners develop the potential of their landowners in the area. wet grassland. The first course focussed on developing the potential To find out more you can visit www.fwagsw.org.uk of the more commercial areas of grassland outside and avalonmarshes.org 4 country news Good things happen when you go organic! The Soil Association are asking you to go Organic this Organic means higher levels of animal welfare, September, and going organic is easier than you’d lower levels of pesticides, no manufactured herbicides think. Look for the logo this Organic September and or artificial fertilisers and more environmentally you’ll not only be helping to protect our vital wildlife sustainable management of the land and natural and reducing your exposure to potentially harmful environment - this means more wildlife! pesticides and chemicals - you’ll also be helping to support the farmers who work hard to grow our food Visit www.soilassociation.org for more information for generations to come. on events and offers. Major study reveals wild bee decline A recent study, commissioned from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) provides even more evidence that harmful neonicotinoid pesticides are devastating wild-bee populations. Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, and new research published today in Nature Communications, reveals the horrifying extent of the negative impact of damaging impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on pollinating these pesticides on wild-bee populations. insects, including bumblebees and honey bees. The paper surveys 62 bee species from the United There are a range of methods which farmers can use Kingdom and links population declines over this 18-year which do not require the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. period to the escalating use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Organic farmers use a system of production which has The results of this extensive new research on the strong benefits for pollinator populations – for example impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides on wild pollinators are a meta-analysis from Oxford University showed on dramatic. It adds to the strong and quickly growing body average, organic farms have 48% more species of of overwhelming scientific evidence which points to the pollinators than non-organic farms. Record turn out for Open Farm Sunday LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) is delighted to and embarks on its new five-year strategy, the focus confirm that for the second year running, more than a on public engagement continues with strengthening quarter of a million people visited a farm for this year’s the reach of Open Farm Sunday, 11th June 2017 Open Farm Sunday. The final visitor analysis released, and beyond. shows that more than half of the 261,000 visitors had On Monday 12th September, LEAF is holding its first never been to an Open Farm Sunday event before and Public Engagement Conference at The Auditorium, one in five had never visited a working farm before. Sainsbury’s, in London, titled How can we make a step The results of the visitor survey indicates that change in public engagement in food and farming? LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday continues to lead the way in engaging the public with farming and the breadth For more information and to book your free place of goods and services it delivers. visit: www.leafuk.org/leaf/home/leaf25/public_ As LEAF celebrates its 25th anniversary this year engagement_conference.eb 5 lye cross farm A farmer’s view by Nick Green Farming and food production has always been an important part of village life. Ways of doing things may change, and the people doing it might alter but the use of the majority of a rural parish area is still used for food production in one way or another. Consider dairy farming. Old farmers will tell you fifty years ago there were multiple dairy herds in a parish. Now there are very few. That said, more often than not, there are more cows in the same area in 2016 than 1966 but they are needed to feed an ever expanding population with dairy products.