I’m a farmer, ask me anything

[AskAFarmer]

As title! :)

Yes, fibre rings a bell. It’s a well known happening anecdotally, but I don’t know the science behind it. Should find out really.
Anyway they were prolapsing like it was going out of fashion, so we won’t use it again.
They looked grand on it though, it’s a shame.

What do you do with dead animals? Presumably you can’t just put them in the wheelie bin.

What do you do with dead animals?
Presumably you can’t just put them in the wheelie bin.

Be cheaper if we could!! No, they get picked up by the ket fella (who goes by many names across the country) and incinerated. You have to pay and keep careful records. You’re not allowed to bury them either.

In some areas the hunt will collect fallen stock (the proper term for dead farm animals) and they get fed to the hounds. Same for lots of horses that have to be put to sleep.

No questions here, just wanted to say thanks for starting this thread!

My Grandad was a farmer, born and raised!. He died suddenly 2 years ago (may be outing) . This thread has brought back alot of fond memories of my grandad and all his hard work managing his farm.

they get picked up by the ket fella

We call him the nacker man. Funny, I hadn't realised it was a regional thing!

@AskAFarmer I just s needs dconfirmation really of why you shear sheep off the back of a ‘conversation’ (it was all one way really) I was stuck listening to between a vegan and another person, about how cruel sheering sheep is. Having spent a childhood on and around farms, I was pretty sure what they was saying was complete bullshit but didn’t have the words to say so. Incidentally the said vegan is now back to eating cheap meat from the supermarket Veganism doesn’t bother me, hypocrites do.

We shear sheep for welfare reasons, we don't make any profit from it anymore, and it's hard work and time consuming, so what other reason is there?

Yes some sheep occasionally get nicked/cut by the shears but it's always accidental and avoided where possible. The sheep never seem to notice when it happens, and it's still preferable to being eaten alive by maggots which is what happens if we don't shear them.

I just s needs dconfirmation really of why you shear sheep

Various reasons - all welfare related.

First thing to note is that it costs between £1.20 and £1.50 to get a sheep sheared.
The average price for a lowland was fleece is about 60p, and about 40p for a hill ewe.

So if you have a flock of 1000 lowland ewes, your shearing bill will be around £1400.
The wool board will pay you around £600, minus transport.
So it costs the farmer around £800 plus 2 days labour to get his flock sheared.

So it’s not the money!

Shearing is essential in most breeds to:

• prevent fly strike
• prevent overheating
• stop the ewes going on their backs
• maintain comfort for the ewe

Fly strike is horrible. It’s when the sheep gets a bit of muck somewhere on their fleece, and a fly lands on it and lays it’s eggs. The eggs hatch into maggots, and burrow down until they reach the skin, where they then eat into the sheep. It only happens in warm weather, which is why they’re fine with fleeces on in winter.

The only welfare concern with shearing is when farmers don’t shear.

Thanks @Scrowy, all excellent points I already knew but couldn’t get out at the time. I think I was stunned by the stupidity. Her argument was shearing sheep was unnatural and that in the wild it wouldn’t gave happened and therefore, the sheep would be distressed by something unnecessary. It was all a bit batshit to be honest.

The farmer my DH works with has Dorset Downs and I’m determined to get a spinning wheel this summer and get hold of a fleece before he gets rid of them to give it a go.

Alas, I don’t ever think I’ll be overhearing that conversation again otherwise I’d be copying all this down!

Domesticated sheep have been bred for thousands of years to have lots of wool because until recently it was extremely useful and valuable. You can't easily undo that kind of breeding in a couple of decades without compromising the sheep's ability to survive cold British winters.

They have been bred to produce wool, just because it's not valuable any more doesn't mean we should ignore that breeding and let them suffer by going 'au natural'

There are some breeds like Easy Cares that shed their own wool, but it makes a huge mess which has its own separate issues.

I agree entirely. Thanks guys, I like being right

I have always been in total awe of how farms and the countryside work together to coexist. I think I’m general, we could learn so much about the relationship between Farmer and Mother Nature.

Thank you OP for a fascinating thread, which I've spent the best part of an hour reading.

I get really frustrated that 90% of the food I buy in Tesco is foreign. I look for UK origins but find Chile, Peru, Morocco..... which of the supermarkets is better? Lidl and Aldi have been mentioned - what about Waitrose? M&S?

and START THAT BLOG

Lidl and Aldi are the best mainstream place. Waitrose are good for lamb, we supply them not sure about other stuff though as I don’t shop there.

Ideally, find individual suppliers and fill the freezer. If we haven’t killed a pig we use a local hog roast company for sausages, buy 50 at a time and freeze them. We usually have a load of lamb chops etc. Bags of mince in 500g portions from farm shop.
Lots of allotments/local companies do veg boxes now. Free range eggs are easy to buy from smallholders.

Yes it’s a faff and yes it’s slightly more expensive (sometimes) but it really does make you regulate your intake and appreciate the real value of what you’re eating.

and START THAT BLOG

But I’m answering questions here from people who are interested in the answers, that’s easy!
Would a blog not just be me sounding off into the ether?

The farmer my DH works with has Dorset Downs and I’m determined to get a spinning wheel this summer and get hold of a fleece before he gets rid of them to give it a go.

Well if he tries to fleece you (ba-boom) for £20 or something (as I would ) tell him the wool board only pay 75p ish for a Dorset Down

Thank you OP for a fascinating thread, which I've spent the best part of an hour reading.

You’re very welcome, I’m glad people have found it interesting. Makes a change from trans, brexit and LTB I suppose.

(All of which I regularly spend hours reading 😂)

No, it wouldn't be sounding off into the ether.

I'd like to think it would be Emmerdale Farm in the good old days - you know, old-fashioned tales of farming folk. That used to get millions of viewers, all of whom were interested in the goings on of farming life.

Fabulous thread
For those of you keen on some 'hands on' farming for yourself/kids I would thoroughly recommend a farm stay B&B (over Easter best for lambs).

I did it with my two when they were little and they did all sorts of jobs such as collecting eggs, bottle feeding orphan lambs, checking the sheep, feeding the pigs. It was a real eye opener for us all. They also saw lambs born out in the fields and in the sheds.

There are thousands online, so I narrowed it down by looking at organic farms and the couple we stayed with were lovely.

I will add to that Parsley and remind everyone that Open Farm Sunday is coming up again next month on the 9th June. Basically lots of normal farms (including arable) open up to the public for the day.

Go to farmsunday.org/ to find a farm near you that you can go and visit.

Thank you for that info. I will be taking a look

Nahh he’s already told me he’d get nothing for them if he sold them so he can’t fleece me (wicked pun btw )

Any more for any more? :)