33) farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm Update: Kestrel

    farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm UpdateKestrelThe month of April has truly felt frenetic, but in the best possible way.  Rushing about seemingly nonstop dealing with cattle, trees, film crews and farm tours.  Plus squeezing in a podcast recording.  I’m tired, but it’s been exhilarating!One of the most important things I have had to sort recently was a bull for my cows – after all, the herd isn’t much use without one.  I have had a few prescriptions as to what I wanted out of my bull: 1) he must be quiet!  A bull is still always a bull, and must be treated with caution, but the last thing I want to do is add any overly lively genes to my lovely quiet Red Polls; 2) he shouldn’t be too large; and 3) I want him to be of a milky line.  Red Polls can have their genetics tested for this trait, and their pedigree names often reflect this: M0 for milky, M2 for beefy, and M1 for somewhere in the middle.Dad and I saw our first bull back at the start of March on the way back from a day researching grain cleaning and processing equipment in Scunthorpe.  Being the first bull I saw, I was clueless.  But this chap was huge!  Plus he had an arch to his back that I really didn’t like – and his offspring that I saw had inherited that unattractive trait.  What’s more, he had quite the wild glint in his eye, and inexperienced as I was (and to a large extent still am), I knew he wasn’t the bull for me.A few weeks later I travelled solo to Salisbury, via Newbury, to look at one bull, and two other herds (since I am also bolstering the number of heifer cattle in my herd).  The bull was at Boames Farm, farmed by father and son David and Simon Tompkins.  And I instantly loved him.  His name is Kestrel.  He has a very distinctive face, beautifully speckled torso, isn’t too tall or long, and most importantly seemed super quiet.Kestrel.  He might be a bit lop-eared, but I still think he’s a looker!Side view.  This is at Boames Farm with David and Simon Tompkins, where I bought Kestrel fromI had a lovely hour or so with David and Simon, looking at their herd and inspecting Kestrel’s offspring.  I then ventured to two farms in Salisbury, with Quentin Edward’s ‘Cools’ herd being rather exceptional.  He runs two herds, consequently with two bulls (alternating the cows between an M0 milky bull and an M2 beefy bull).  His M0 bull was super, but not for sale – although I have taken note for when I will need to switch bulls in three years’ time, in order to avoid inbreeding.  Quentin didn’t have any heifers for sale currently, but I may look to purchase some from him in the future.After another couple of trips looking at bulls in Norfolk, I knew that my instinct had been right with Kestrel, and I took Dad to go and see him for his verdict.  Since Dad originally was less keen on my choice for a herd of Red Polls (rather than another, beefier breed – he has come round now!) I was wholly expecting him not to agree with my choice.  But I was mistaken, and I did the deal with David, subject to some standard health tests.Some of the other bulls I looked at – they just didn’t click with meOn Thursday, 6th May, Dad drove the four-hour round trip with a cattle trailer in tow, borrowed from his friend Steve Wall, to pick up my bull.  Just before Dad arrived home, I moved the cows to a new paddock, since common wisdom dictates that strangers should meet in a strange field.  It was a slightly larger paddock than usual, to allow Kestrel more room to get used to the electric fence and his new female companions.Ensuring that the exit of the cattle trailer was visible to the cows, we lowered the tailgate and out swaggered Kestrel.  I was excited.  Dad was excited.  The cows were intrigued (but let’s call it excited).  And Kestrel’s testosterone levels piqued.  Within two minutes he had covered two cows, which made Dad and I laugh. At least it appears I haven’t bought a dud.Dad driving the trailer in with Kestrel on board, hyped to meet his new ladies!Opening up the trailer, borrowed from Steve Wall, to let the big boy outKeeping to cow talk: a couple of days before the bull arrived, Dad and I travelled to Northamptonshire to visit the highly regarded ‘Canute’ Red Poll herd owned by Alec Foster.  He had twelve yearling heifers for sale.  These are too young to be put to the bull – for a native breed such as Red Polls, good practice is to bull the heifers when they are around two years old, such that they have their first calf around three.As I expected from my phone chat with Alec, the animals were on the larger side, but quite simply they were stunning.  I couldn’t not have them.  So having been shown around the rest of his splendid farm and the older cows, we enjoyably haggled briefly before doing a deal and (virtually) shaking on it.  These cows will come to us soon, and be put to Kestrel in around a year’s time.Kestrel at his new home in FobbingCertainly seems happy with his new companions!The first weekend of May saw the inaugural ‘Anglian Agroforestry Farms Open Weekend’, as mentioned in my last article.  This impending event really spurred me on to finish a few of the odd jobs in my agroforestry field, Spratts.  Many of the trees required stakes and ties (which given the recent gales have been installed in the nick of time).  Plus I decided to get a team of ten in to help with putting down the remaining weed suppressant mats.The team worked valiantly for two days, but I called it quits at this point, still with around 1,500 trees left to protect.  This year’s spring drought has been dire, and made the task of putting mats down thankless, exhausting and very time consuming.  The ground was so hard that pegs required many hammer blows to sink.  What’s more, mallets and pegs were breaking!  However, as I write this in the afternoon of Saturday, 8th May, we have just had a satisfying half-inch splash of rain, so I will get the team back in to finish the job imminently.A useful side benefit of farm tours.  People seem to be able to actually get a good pic of me!  Photo credits to Tom Martin (@farmertomgb)The open weekend was a tremendous success – both personally, and also for all the other participating farms.  I hosted 66 people: four 2.5 hour tours over two days.  Taking in the inspiration for my wild seam, the benefits of herbal leys, my beautiful cows, less than beautiful heritage wheat trials, and of course the trees, before finishing up in my flour mill room.  Farmers, students, locals, and other interested parties made it along, which made for a really super weekend, with lots of probing but fun-to-answer questions.  However, I was very glad for the rest I was able to have with a Bank Holiday Monday.If you fancy coming to the farm to see the projects I am doing, there is still LEAF Open Farm Sunday coming up.  The date has been delayed, so please reset your calendars to Sunday, 27th June.  It will take place as a farm walk event, meeting in my farmyard at 1:45pm for a 2pm set-off.  So I really hope lots of folk can come!  Keep an eye on my Instagram and Twitter @farmingGeorge for further information.Contact details:George Young07792 508 611George@FobbingFarms.co.uk@farmingGeorge