What A Treat

Whilst crop walking on Thursday I was treated to a very close up view of a Barn Owl adjacent to one of the farm tracks. It seems that the numbers of birds of prey are actually increasing. Is this due to the improved habitat that farmers are putting down? Grass margins planted for nesting birds are providing food and habitat for small mammals which in turn provide a feed source for birds and mammals higher up the food chain. Could there ever be a point in time when we will need to control some species of raptor? Now that would be a debate hotter than badgers and TB!

Farmers Are Outstanding In Their Fields Again

The May Hill Producers Group met at Overbury to talk about sheep. The group meets twice a year, under the strict supervision of Lesley Stubbings, to compare physical and financial performance of our respective sheep flocks. We are very lucky to have a world re-nouned sheep expert like Lesley advising the group. Lesley travels the world looking at everything sheep orientated, from breeding selection, through to research about worm resistance and a multitude of other topics impacting our sheep industry. The group had a look around our sheep flock, starting with the lambs, then breeding sheep ending up at Park Farm looking at the buildings and the rams. After lunch , we got down to the nitty gritty on how the sheep are performing and who we can try and make them break even. Lamb price is very depressed at the moment following the health scares (and therefore fewer exports) and the supermarkets importing a lot more lamb from abroad. We all learnt something and a great time was had by everyone, as lets face, it most farmers are nosey and want to know what everyone else is doing!