Nature has the ability to readjust and compensate
THIS is the time of year when Harvest Thanksgiving services are held in our local chapels and churches. It is when we give thanks for the past 12 months and what nature has provided for us in food and sustenance, for both man and animal. It seems that this is not originally a Christian tradition, but one started in pagan times.
Even after a challenging 12 months, every year brings its blessings and something to be thankful for and celebrated.
Who can forget the Beast from the East, arriving at the height of lambing in March and causing all sorts of problems from frozen pipes to stunting any early spring grass growth. The summer then saw arguably the worst drought since 1976 with dairy farmers in particular being affected through reduced silage crops and having to use this winter’s feed early. And then last week we had the worst floods in West Wales since the storm of 1987. The best summary of all these extraordinary weather conditions came via my neighbour John Mercer (NFU Cymru director) who observed that the Cothi went from being frozen over in March, to a dry river bed in July, to a raging torrent in October.
Nature is something totally beyond our control, and despite the dramatic weather events this year, in a global context they have been relatively minimal in their effect. You just need to watch the nightly news to get that. Nature also has the great ability to readjust and compensate – August turned out to be a great month for grass growth, extra silage crops were grown, and silage pits filled for the winter months.
As farmers we are pretty resilient and mitigate difficult situations with pragmatic (but often expensive) contingency plans. At Llandre we went in with creep feed early for the male lambs and 400 lambs were sent away a couple of months earlier than usual. The cost of the creep feed was £9/lamb, but better weights, better conformation and earlier sales went some way to recovering that unplanned and unwelcome cost.
As for many families 2018 brought us personal ups and sad downs. The last few days have certainly been a great celebration with the birth of our first grandchild, Gwilym. So, yes, as always, this year I will be going to our Thanksgiving Service in Cwrt-y-Cadno feeling blessed and thankful for the world I live in.