Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Cows can be part of the solution
Rural banking, women in farming and the joys of a good agricultural show have been in the thoughts of Wiltshire farmer Ro
THIS morning I was banking online – we aren’t offered much choice nowadays – and a message flagged up “How can I find a bank near me?” If I had been able to respond, my reply would have been “Move.”
Gradually all the local banks have closed, so anyone living on a farm or in a village will be miles away from any bank. Most people don’t use cheques nowadays, though many mature farmers who don’t use computers rely on them.
Gradually too, business is moving online; not many invoices arrive in the post now, which would be a good thing, if it didn’t mean I have to print them all out. Also, it’s easier to miss a request for payment when so many emails arrive every day.
Most of the population is now chained to a mobile phone. Being alone in a restaurant or in the local pub is less of a problem if you can take your phone along for company – it used to be a book. For teenagers, texting is the normal communication route, often replacing conversation.
Many or most business conferences, AGMs and committee meetings are now conducted on a computer via programmes like Zoom or Teams. In many ways this works well economically as it’s generally faster and helps an individual’s carbon footprint if the car is left in the garage. Also, a cunning listener can nip off for a cup of tea, a loo stop or just text a few times on the mobile phone. Seems like good time management!
All this could be why farmers love to go to agricultural shows to actually talk to their fellow farmers. Women in Dairying recently held their Annual Conference on an exdairy farm. This organisation was founded with the aim of uniting women within dairy, to exchange knowledge and experiences, building up skills and confidence, leading to innovative thinking and vision for the future of dairying.
There are currently 14 groups throughout the country – not one in Wiltshire yet, though maybe we could change that!
This year’s annual conference on September 27 was really well attended by a roomful of younger women, and me. It was pointed out that dairy discussion groups tend to involve men, rather than women.
Elizabeth Stockdale, from NIAB, reiterated Emily Ball’s point that historically a single arable crop uses up more soil than is being created, with a lack of diversity.
She has recently led the UK farmer-levy funded Soil and Soil Heath Partnership which focused on developing practical on-farm tools for monitoring soil health.
My immediate thought was “That’s called a spade.” Elizabeth said that it’s diversity above ground that is very important and if you are gentle with your soil, the organisms will come back.
When I asked “Where have all the mushrooms gone?” The answer was very interesting. If the grass or crop has adequate levels of phosphorus to provide sugars, apparently mushrooms aren’t needed to fulfil this function.
My thought is that it’s livestock farming that has given us good carbon levels, insect and bird habitat and the manure from livestock which enriches the soil.
Climate change policy so far has been to encourage a change to a plant-based diet.
Growing crops and vegetables disturbs the soil, and they tend to be mono-crops needing sprays and pesticides, all of which will release soil carbon into the atmosphere and lead to species eradiation and loss. Meat and dairy contribute far more to our health, than the plant-based alternatives.
Much of our UK grassland is only suitable for grazing. Could it be a Catch 22 situation? In any case, dairy farming in the UK is way ahead of the global average for use of resources where one litre of our milk uses 1.25 kgs and globally it’s over double at 2.8 kgs.
Back to the conference, the last speaker, Navaratnam Partheeban, a farm animal vet, spoke about racial diversity in agriculture where the racial makeup in the UK is vastly under represented.
Only 0.8% of workers are black or Asian; the veterinary profession is even worse, with 0.3%, whereas taking the UK as a whole, one in three children are from ethnic minorities. Food for thought! It made me wonder how we could widen our school visits to the farm, by reaching out to a town or inner city.
It should be possible, if coach sponsorship was available, as hiring a coach could be a prohibitive expense for the school.
Finally, Hannah Prees, an ex-vat inspector who has up to 200 prisoners working on her farm, won the Woman of the Year award. A worthy winner who has 10,000 followers on Instagram.
She says it’s very rewarding to get comments from the prisoners like: “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Early October time means that a majority of dairy farmers here in the South West head off for the South West Dairy Event. There’s always a full car park with a queue.
Generally, the same stands are here year after year, so you know what to head for. One problem, or reward, is that you will bump into a lot of other farmers you know, varying from next door neighbours to much further afield.
This year we headed for the cattle shed, and met Tracey Marshall from the Greenway Herd which we had previously visited in Devon. They had the only British Friesians in the show, which were rather sadly classed as “Any other breed”. However, this section was dominated by the British Friesians and Greenway Solo Billie Jo EX91 took the championship in her last year before retirement. I was pleased to see her daughter, Greenway Bombardier Billie Jo, a first lactation heifer with an excellent udder, winning the Junior class.
A Holstein cow we much admired at the Devon Show, Thuborough Freda 610, took the overall reserve interbreed title. This fine cow is owned by the Ley family who farm in Holsworthy.
There were 57 showing classes on the day, with the national shows for the Channel Island breeds, so plenty to look at.
This dairy event is always very hospitable, though you can have too much coffee in one day! Old Mill accountants must do hundreds of pork and beef rolls, and our local abattoir Jarrett’s also came up trumps. It’s a show to do business as, with so many dairy and machinery stands you can definitely find what you want, as well as the things you want but can’t afford yet. With the good attendance of show cattle and the many offerings next to The Royal Welsh, it’s my favourite show.
Ro Collingborn is a Wiltshire dairy farmer and 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 a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust director.