BUS INE S S ON THE FARM


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ON THE FARM WITH RICH AT RISBURY


Each month Richard Thomas will join us to talk about life on his family farm in North Herefordshire, where they farm beef, sheep, arable and apples. Their ethos is to try to farm in a more regenerative style for the benefit of future generations.


I write in mid January and the year already seems to be flying by. The cold snap that came after Christmas was really welcome and was certainly a nice break from the drudgery of all the wet weather and flooding in December. We even enjoyed a bit of sledging in the snow. My nephews built a jump for their sledge and my son built a snowman in the garden. Thankfully they only suffered bruised bottoms and cold hands, good fun had by all!


It is warming up now and the snow has all but gone. The cold weather meant that I had to move to one of my backup water sources for the handful of cattle we’ve got outside. I opened up a gap in the fence that excludes them from the brook and they were able to drink from there for a few days. I know there are concerns about animals drinking from watercourses, but they needed water and I haven’t spotted any dung pats down by the brook, so thankfully they’ve only been using the access to drink and spending the rest of their time eating hay and loafing in the field.


The sheep are on hay too, and will be until the end of February, together with some deferred grass that I have saved for them.


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They will start grazing again properly in March, prior to lambing in April. The farming year continues!


January also heralds two farming conferences, The ‘Oxford Real Farming Conference’ (ORFC) and the ‘Oxford Farming Conference’ (OFC), both held, rather obviously in Oxford and both about farming. The ORFC titles itself as bringing the real food and farming movement together, with a collective aim to change our food system. The OFC, which is the one I attended, has similar aims, is focussed at industry, as well as farmers and is perhaps more traditional in its target audience.


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