30) farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm Update: Soggy

 farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm UpdateSoggyPut simply, January has been pretty horrid.  I’m sure even those of you not directly working in agriculture will have felt it:  a double whammy of Covid putting a solid dampener on everything and some truly grotty, manky weather.  Where I am in South Essex, we didn’t even get the brief elation of a snow day or two to break up the dreary monotony.  Instead we are working through our wettest Winter yet.The end of 2020 gave us quite an unexpected surprise – a late Christmas present in the form of a calf we’ve named Iris.  I’ve gone for flowers as the heifer (girl) calf naming scheme, having toyed with naming them after ex-girlfriends (perhaps a touch un-PC, and I decided that idea might not play well with a future potential spouse!).Iris curled up at just around 12 hours old, with her mum, 238.When the cows were pregnancy detected (PD’d) at the start of November (before the herd came here) a record-keeping mistake had obviously been made with Iris’s mum, 238, since she wasn’t due until March at the earliest (but the calf was definitely full term).  Consequently, we were not at all set up to deal with new life on the farm.  For one, the cows were down on a soggy marsh – not an issue for the grown-up cows, but not ideal for a newborn.Still on her first day, but frothy mouthed after a good feed of milk.The paddock the cattle were in also had ditches.  Dad was the first to see Iris standing with her mum, a few hours old.  But when Mum & I excitedly made our way to the field, the calf was no-where to be seen, and mother-cow was merrily making her way back to the herd to graze.  Panicked, we frantically searched before finding Iris slid half-way down a ditch in the reeds.  She was fine, and Dad, Mum and I then spent a couple of hours moving the herd to a more appropriate field (drier ground, without ditches and close to the farm!).Gosh she is just so gorge!I am making no apology for calf-picture spam in this month’s article.This is the first time we have had new life on the farm in 50 years or so, and I can’t begin to describe how incredible it feels to be starting that farming system up again (the Youngs’ farming heritage was in dairying).  Also, given how helpless human babies are, it’s a little bananas that so soon after birth calves are standing.  I can’t wait for the rest of the herd to calve, since poor Iris needs some playmates.  I regularly see her gamboling all over the field, attempting to stir the older cows into playing (very occasionally with a modicum of success).Looking considerably more grown up at a month old.  Doing her eartags was not enjoyable, and I think she looks so much less cute with them.  But it’s the law, so not much choice there.  The cows are loving this diverse forage that they are on though (they are remaining outwintered, i.e. we are not intending on bringing them into a shed), and Iris is already beginning to eat grass and hay.The months of January and February are the typical conference season within farming.  The year starts with two concurrent conferences in Oxford:  the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), and the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC).  The ‘real’ one is where I feel more at home:  lots of talks about agro-ecological farming practice (which is exactly what I do), biodiversity loss and climate change.  And where the attire of choice is jeans and hoodies.  OFC on the other hand is a more conventional affair, heavily featuring tweed and chinos.So it is a sign of just how much times are changing within farming that I, along with fellow regenerative farmers, Nikki Yoxall and Johnnie Balfour, were invited to speak at OFC in our capacity as Soil Association Agroecological Ambassadors.  It was super to see conventional farmers no longer dismissing our farming techniques out of hand (mob grazing, rotational herbal leys and agroforestry), but instead actively, curiously listening.Zoom conferences… This is taken from my Instagram stories.  If you don’t already, please do head over and follow me @farmingGeorge.  I regularly do series of video stories about my day to day life on the farm.Besides my debut at OFC, I also presented at three ORFC events, primarily speaking about farming techniques with regards climate change.  I really enjoy getting the opportunity to speak, but this year was certainly a strange, more sterile, affair.  Talking directly into your laptop camera whilst flicking through slides and hoping that your invisible audience remains engaged is tricky.  Although there are some benefits:  the sessions are slowly now being added to ORFC’s YouTube channel (YouTube.com/OxfordRealFarming) where anyone can watch them.  The session I participated in with the Beaver Trust (entitled Farming & Climate Change:  How Beavers Can Help) I thought was particularly interesting and well worth watching (when it is uploaded).The biggest issue with these conferences being virtual is the lack of the social element.  Watching sessions is great (although I struggled sitting at my desk watching presentations for long stints), but not being able to head out to the pub in the evening for a few pints and consequent relaxed & free-flowing farming chat was a big shame.  The organisers did a terrific job in the circumstances, but I have fingers crossed that some level of normality will be achieved by 2022.Covid is also wreaking havoc with my ability to perform research.  I have already had to cancel a few farm trips.  Even though they are obviously outside and for genuine work purposes, with the number of cases so high and vaccines now being rolled out, I don’t feel that I can justifiably risk travelling all over the country.  The big problem here is how it is affecting me visiting small scale dairy farmers, to work out the nooks and crannies of their systems, and figure what I am going to implement in the dairy that I am intending on establishing at the start of next year.This year is just sooooo wet… Hopefully when these trees establish they will make a huge difference to how water is managed on the farm.As February begins, the last trees (3,000 willows) are due to arrive in order to plant up the final two belts of my agroforestry.  I am going to be ecstatic to put this planting phase of the project to bed.  Hopefully this month can dry up somewhat after the washout of the last few, and perhaps I might start being able to contemplate some Spring field-work.  Wish me luck! Contact details:George Young07792 508 611George@FobbingFarms.co.uk@farmingGeorge