I'm pretty frustrated by the lack of understanding about how food gets from field to fork.
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This is a column by Victoria Ballantyne who, with her husband Jason, owns Clynelish Farm in Brora
Summer has finally arrived in Sutherland! Whilst many of you will have been enjoying the sun for the warmth it brought to the skin, we have been needing some warmth to move our grass along. That said, it needs to come with some rain or we are no better off.
The North of Scotland is the only place in the UK that has had just about enough rain this Spring, with crops in the rest of the country on the verge of failing and pasture systems for animals drying up. It is a very serious situation which has received virtually no media coverage as smiling weather presenters gush over “another warm, dry day”.
Given the recent revelation that food production is in fact a critically important part of our society, there is still a pretty frustrating lack of understanding about how it gets from field to fork.
In my last article I wrote about the Government’s plans to sign a trade deal with the USA and the implications of this. The new Agriculture Bill was passed in late May. An amendment requiring imported foods meet the same environmental, animal welfare and hygiene standards as those produced in the UK, was frustratingly voted down by MPs. This was the first electronic vote in Westminster and was once again largely overlooked by the media who seem unable to report beyond Covid-19.
The USA are insisting on limited labelling as part of the deal. So you won’t know if your chicken has come from the USA, where there is only guidance (not legislation) around animal welfare, or if your beef has hormones in it. And whilst you can choose to buy British in the supermarket, you won’t have a clue what you are getting when you eat out, have a take-away or buy a ready meal.
I usually stay away from politics and I have no devotion to any particular party, but the current Westminster government is willing to sell out not just farmers, but consumers also, in order to make Brexit look as though it was worthwhile. They could have gone about this another way, but they are sidling up to the USA, a country on the verge of descending into civil unrest, largely due (in my opinion) to the language and attitude of an unhinged leader. Is this really where we want to go??
With that off my chest, an update from the farm!
Lambing and calving weather was great and the ewes and lambs are now on a “leader/follower rotation”. This means 230 ewes with twin lambs being moved to a new field every two days. Coming behind every two days are 45 cows and calves.
The ewes are in peak lactation, with almost 50 per cent of their own body weight suckling them, so they need the best we have.
The 50 yearling cattle, which we need to put on as much weight as possible, are on the same system with the ewes with single lambs following them. With the new subdivision in place the fields are now about 7ac/3ha, making the whole system work better.
Only a handful of our 76 cows still to calve and only one has needed assistance. The last dozen went on strike for a week but have just returned from the picket line and are popping out calves again. Shearing is also just getting underway.
June will be another busy month, and as I’m not doing B&B, it is nice to be more involved on the farm this year.
We will be hosting a live virtual tour today at 2pm on the Go Rural Scotland Facebook page.
