News and Views from the East Meon farming community
Winter jobs and beware poachers!
During the winter months, the East Meon farming community will be busy catching up on farm maintenance, reflecting on their work so far and planning their spring workloads. Winter sees us hedge trimming, servicing machinery and managing woodlands. Any grain that we have sold (wheat and barley) is collected from our stores – we help to load it into lorries that transport it to its next destination. Winter is also a good time to plan budgets.
The mild autumn has ensured constant growth for the autumn-sown cereals and oilseed rape. Ironically, a spell of colder weather is now needed to slow down these crops and clean out any diseases that are present on the lower leaves. This is important as big lush crops can become expensive and difficult to manage during spring.
The winter months give us time to attend various training courses, most of which are mandatory. Operators of crop sprayers are required to be registered with the National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO) which is essential for our farm assurance scheme. NRoSO runs regular training days in various skills, ranging from environmental stewardship to practical applications and sprayer MOTs. Yes, like our cars, crop sprayers must have a yearly MOT inspection too! We must gain at least 10 training points per year to remain on the National Register of Sprayer Operators ( NRoSO), so training and refresher days are an essential part of our working lives.
Agriculture has become a highly regulated industry and it is a much more professional sector than it was a generation ago. Codes of practice apply to the environment, we must comply with ‘cross compliance’ measures for soil care, hedgerow management, animal welfare and trace ability, water regulations and many more.Rules and codes of practice can be quite challenging at times, but they are part and parcel of running a modern farm business.
We and our neighbours are suffering regular incursions from poachers trespassing in vehicles. They drive over newly sown crops, causing considerable damage. The perpetrators have no qualms about cutting through fences as they pursue deer, rabbits and hare. Here at Bereleigh, this has resulted in an increasing number of gates being installed and deep ditches being dug around the estate to prevent such vehicles from gaining access to the fields. If you see anything unusual please report it by phoning 101 and if it’s a crime in progress phone 999.
TomTyrwhitt-Drake, Bereleigh Estate
Your pleasure, my living!
Quite understandably, many people want to walk in our beautiful countryside with or without dogs.
Autumn is the time when female sheep (ewes) will become pregnant and they can easily lose their lambs when chased or disturbed too much. If a dog chases or bites livestock, the owner can be responsible for losses incurred.
Even the best behaved dogs have a chase instinct, it is the owner’s fault if it is not under control!
This is a simple list of things to consider.
- Enjoy a visit to our land and footpaths, but be aware that sheep and cattle may be in a field, even though you cannot see them.
- By law, dogs should be under control at all times – preferably on a lead!
- Be aware that dogs can spread and pick up diseases. Neospora (abortion) and cystic tenuicoliss (a tape worm), both cause damage to sheep and cattle, and can affect humans.
- Pick up your dog poo and dispose of it sensibly, and worm your dogs regularly (get veterinary advice).
Landowners and livestock farmers do not want to be kill-joys, we only wish for consideration, so that everybody can live and work in the countryside without conflict of interests!
George Atkinson, Lower Farm
