Western Daily Press (Saturday)
A glow of contentment and a bucket of freebies
A visit to The Dairy Show reveals farmers remain optimistic despite everything, says Ro Collingborn
WE’RE currently hovering between two farming seasons, autumn and winter. For north Wiltshire, with our heavy clay soils, winter means all cattle inside on full winter rations of cake, hay and silage.
What is called an ‘open’ autumn is thus very welcome, both for us humans and our cattle. If the cattle can stay out in the fields a few weeks longer, still eating grass with maybe a top-up of silage, it makes a world of difference. Added to this is the fact that autumn grass can be good quality, being high in protein. Looking across our valley, it’s lovely to see the fields so green at last and haven’t we all enjoyed the recent gloriously sunny days?
This year, a dry autumn will be exceptionally welcome as our cows have been on full winter rations for over three months due to the summer drought, which led to the disappearance of any green grass in favour of completely dried-up white pastures. My husband always says, “If you make a lot, you need a lot” and this has been very true this year. First cut yields of silage were phenomenal, almost filling clamps, but the second cut dried up to a dribble. At the time, this didn’t seem too much of a problem, as there appeared to be plenty of winter feed. Since that date, many farmers have had to cut into their winter feed, and are very worried about how they will make up the difference, with feed supplies now so expensively short.
Also due to the drought, some pony paddock owners called in our local contractor and were wondering how they could make the cracks in their newly acquired field disappear. Without taking advantage of their ignorance, he told them all they needed was rain. When they didn’t believe him, he told them how as a small boy he loved his toy soldiers and the cracks in the field behind his house were just right for the First World War trenches. Summer holidays over, he went back to school and forgot about his soldiers. When he went back to play with them, after a considerable amount of rain, the ruts had disappeared, but so had the soldiers. “I was a very poor general,” he said, “as I lost a whole battalion without a shot being fired.”
I set off for the South West Dairy Event, now renamed The Dairy Show, with great enthusiasm. As usual the car park was bursting because this show is amazingly popular, attracting very many dairy farmers from all around the region. This makes it a great place to catch up with friends. Over the years, you get to know the stallholders, who are full of useful items and offers; accountants are here, green energy suppliers, rural estate agents, dairy sundries of various kinds. This is a show for cattle and as I went through the lines, I appreciated the pleasant smell of warmth and straw. Outside the big halls are the machinery sellers, with rows of shiny new machinery; this is also where the cattle feed companies tend to be, offering refreshment.
As we start serving our cows midNovember for our autumn block, it’s a great place to buy semen and I visit as many stands as possible early in the day. I am very fussy when it comes to breeding cows, having the responsibility of a herd established in 1910, which has only brought in any female cattle once back in 1953. I want medium-sized cows, with a good fore udder, level back, good feet and legs, good temperament, high fertility and importantly, good milk quality, and the teats must be the right length. I now find these traits very prevalent in our herd as I have been breeding them for such a long time.
A reasonable amount of milk is also an advantage, but I am looking for a good all-rounder. If the bull carries polled genes, A2A2 milk for lactose-intolerant customers and the gene that is good for making cheese – kappa casein – these are also all plus factors for me. Added to this long list of requirements, my husband prefers black cows. Nowadays that is tricky, as Holstein cattle tend to be white!
As you can imagine, my search is quite lengthy and it’s soon round to coffee time. This is a very hospitable show, and every stall has an offer of tea and coffee and generally a few freebies – a woolly hat, cow key rings, advertising pens etc. One semen company has a large wheel divided into segments of prizes that can be won. They helpfully hand it to me, and the wheel stops at an offer of £50 off their semen. Now that is a good prize.
I point that out to a neighbouring company who are sticking on their prices, and get offered £100 off to do the deal. That can’t be bad!
The dairy company Kingshay have a large notice board with a big beer glass printed in the middle. Farmers are given stickers according to the size of their herds, and told to put their sticker each side of the glass at various points to show if they are pessimistic or optimistic about the future of dairying. This was very interesting, as despite increased costs which are punishing, nearly all stickers went on the optimistic side with some very optimistic.
This did surprise me as a recent farmer survey by the Farm Safety
Foundation found that 92% of UK farmers cited poor mental health as the biggest problem they faced, with many farmers feeling undervalued and misunderstood by the Government and general public. However, I think the optimism shown at The Dairy Show might go hand in hand with the recent increase in milk prices, which do make a huge difference to farmers who have been struggling with the low prices of recent years.
Also, it’s an optimistic show for dairy farmers, the hospitability is so generous that it’s impossible not to get a free lunch, with top-ups whenever you feel peckish again. You are seeing friends, as well as your suppliers, and farmers normally leave this show with a glow of content, weighed down by a bag or bucket of freebies.
Ro Collingborn has been dairy chairman of the Women’s Food and Farming Union, on the Milk Development Council, the Veterinary Products Committee, the RSPCA Council and was a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust director.