A Month on the Farm

by Lisa Buchanan

~ June ~

The rain has not come – at least not in any meaningful way – and so the grass is nowhere near what it should be. What is heartening is seeing that our regenerative way of grazing – moving the cattle daily from paddock to paddock – is allowing the grass to recover in a way we wouldn’t have seen under the old system. Biting grass down tight is not the way for the soil, for insects, for birds, for cattle or for our bank balance!

We did have a great idea to keep the steers fed. Cattle were once forest dwellers enjoying nibbling green leaves on trees and munching their way through woodland pastures. So, the lovely Nobles, who own Spring Wood, kindly said we could graze the boys in there. It was a brilliant idea – except they knocked over poor Nick Pendleton’s beehives (which I didn’t know were there until I saw the disaster zone and the poor man ended up horribly stung when he went to see if they had survived - thank goodness, they had!) and then, after four days, the boys decided they were bored. Bored? In a wood? They escaped. Leysa Noble found her inner cowgirl and heroically rescued two from Clapwater Lane, putting them into a field, and the rest we found happily grazing down by the river. The boys clearly hadn’t read the book about their digestive heritage! None of this was good for our stress levels, but never mind – they have joined the big herd so we have over 80 cattle in this group, which is quite an impressive sight!

By 14th May, nearly all our Bluetongue restrictions will have been lifted. We have just five more girls to calve, one of whom is infected so we don’t know whether she will manage a live birth. We shall keep everything crossed.

The highlight of the month was hosting Fletching School. The children were delightful and seemed interested in all we showed them, especially the cattle – large bulls never fail to fascinate – and nothing beats a dung beetle safari and worm counting. Jenni Orwin and her colleagues are simply wonderful, and I was assisted by Leighton – on whose every word the children hung – and the fabulous Christina Coleman, who is so inspiring about our natural world. We hope to build a close bond with the school so the children can see Black Ven in every season and I hope come, to love this ancient farm as much as we do.

Meanwhile, the farm looks glorious. The dawn and evening chorus are breathtaking. The white cascades of hawthorn in the hedges and the delicate green of the unfurling leaves creates a beauty beyond words. The larks are singing and the swallows are home! What a time of year!

Lisa Buchanan