Archived News

13th March 2016

It's been a busy season for undertaking rural skills such as hedge laying, pond maintenance and tree and hedge planting.

Much of the UK network of hedgerows are over 100 years old and are managed by trimming, coppicing and hedge laying.   Laying a hedge every 20-30 years helps to maintain a stock proof barrier where livestock graze, producing re-growth from ground level and extending the life of the hedgerow.

Where hedges are no longer required for their original purpose of field enclosures they can still benefit from management to prolong the life of the hedge, provide habitat for birds, plants and insects and to maintain wildlife corridors within the countryside.

The upright stems within the hedge,  known as pleachers,  are cut at an angle leaving enough of the bark and sapwood for the plant to continue to survive whilst new growth emerges from the area which was cut.  This new growth thickens out and fills any gaps at the base of the hedge and produces the next generation of pleachers.

Once the pleachers have been laid at an angle, stakes are positioned at regular intervals along the hedge and the tops are woven with Hazel 'binders' to consolidate and hold the hedge in place. 

There is an immense skill to hedge laying which is being passed on through agricultural colleges, land based training courses and regional hedge laying groups.

Fred Hoade has been passing on his knowledge of hedge laying for decades whilst this is the second season that Tom Chappell has been learning this traditional craft.

Tom has been a student at Merrist Wood College and has been offered a place at Harper Adams and Cirencester Universities to read Agriculture, we wish him all the best and hope to see him in the future continuing to layer hedges.

The Surrey Hedgelaying Group may be contacted about their availability and pricing for hedgelaying of traditional native hedges on 07702522905.

The weather has been good for beet harvesting and we lift the crop as and when required for sale.  We are more fortunate on the lighter soils to be able to continue to harvest compared with other producers who have experienced some difficulty accessing their crops on heavier and wetter ground.

A small group of Belted Galloway cattle are calving this March and April, so far two heifers and a bull calf: Primrose, Blossom and Bud.

In the past we have had two calving periods in spring and autumn which enabled us to put any 'not-in-calf' (NIC) cows back to the bull but created a period of 2-3 months of calving twice a year.  This takes a disproportionate amount of time on the farm when there are other elements of the arable and beef enterprise to maintain.  We are in the transition towards just a spring calving period which should result in a more compact and busier calving in spring 2017.

At the end of this month Carsluith Ethelred and Mister M will have their fertility tests also known as a bull MOT.   A bull that tested fertile a year ago may become sub-fertile or infertile since they last worked, we hope that won't be the case for our two but it's better to discover any problems prior to service than when the cows are pregnancy tested months down the line.

Back