Chairmans Chat 2025

Hello all Country Linkers,

While walking around the garden, in between the showers, I've noticed that the winter aconites are going over, and are being overshadowed by the snowdrops in full flower. Narcissus are shooting up everywhere and, most important of all, the grass is growing again.

It's been very busy here getting ready for lambing. Although we've had a dry spell it's now back to working in the rain. I needed to take a free range pig to the abattoir and had to get the tractor out of hibernation to pull the box across the wet ground. We have been offered, and have taken, some winter grazing a few miles away. This has relieved the pressure on the hay stocks. The hard frosts we had earlier have done their job for the arable farmers, but it's not so good for the livestock and mixed farmers who need to go out in all weathers. It will be another month before they migrate back to Britain for their wintering grounds of St. Moritz, Provence, and the Caribbean.

I was hoping to take the last of the lambs to market on Monday but have had to postpone this for the time being. The reason for this is that the market I go to is now a Red market on Mondays when most of the fatstock go in, and a Green market on a Thursday for store animals. For those who don't know a RED market is where all stock going in has to go directly to an abattoir after being sold. This is to try and prevent the spread of Blue Tongue, a disease which affects sheep and cattle , and which came in via insects blown across the English Channel. This separation has had to be carried out at markets in TB areas for some years. The only exceptions allowed are for cattle going straight to sealed fatting units. Previously, at Rugby market, they graded all of the sheep as they arrived and any that were not fat enough would be sold as store lambs for further finishing straight after the fat sale. This suited me as I knew, when I took a load in, that they would all be sold one way or another.

I would have liked to have paid a visit to LAMMA this year, a big machinery show at the NEC, and look at tractors that I cannot afford to buy. Instead, I had to settle for a visit to a farm sale at the other end of the county. I didn't buy anything there and I'm not sure if young Kaleb did either. While drinking our coffee at the market on Monday we did, however, see an awful lot of very large machinery going in to Stoneleigh for the Dairy Tech event which was held on Wednesday. I may go to the Low Carbon Agriculture Show at Stoneleigh on 5th - 6th March, and thinking about paying another visit to the Paris show at the end of the month.

As the days start to draw out, and the temperature rises, the grass and other crops start to grow more quickly. My sheep are finding more to eat outside, and the oilseed rape crops that surround me may finally grow away from the pigeons that proliferate after having a wild bird seed crop grown for them last year. I still don't see the sense in growing that!

I'm glad to see that the groups are sending their Spring/Summer programmes to Vicky for uploading to the website. If you haven't sent yours in yet now's the time to do it. Remember, the website is our front door so programmes and reports of your group's activities over the last 6 - 12 months will attract interest and draw in new members.

As your groups hold your AGM's please don't forget to update Liz (Goodwin) and Vicky (Hutton) with contact details where your Group Leader / Chair, and the secretary have changed.

Liz can be contacted by email on nationalsecretary@country-link.org.uk and Vicky can be contacted on website@country-link.co.uk

Finally, I have been contacted by Nigel (Swain) to say you still have time to get your booking forms in for the National Weekend in Kent from 9th to 12th May. Last date for bookings TO ARRIVE is Friday 28th February 2025. Links to the forms are below:

Weekend Information
Booking Form
Information for pet owners

Hopefully it will be warmer and drier in a month's time.

Dick Stephens - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

Happy New Year everyone.

Oxfordshire Country Link had an enjoyable Christmas Dinner on 18th December, followed by a visit to Worcestershire for their dinner dance on 20th December. Sixteen people attended. We all took to the dance floor with enthusiasm, with the last member finally leaving the dance floor at 12.30 am.

I've been suffering with the flu since Boxing Day which rather spoiled my short birdwatching sojourn to North Norfolk. I'm recovering slowly but this isn't helped by the freezing weather and frozen pipes!

I took a leisurely drive to a village near Holt on my way to Norfolk to see pink-footed and Brent geese, short-eared owls, marsh harriers and the like. I noticed the changes in the landscape en-route. From the rolling countryside, and mixed farming, of North Oxfordshire and West Northamptonshire, to the slightly less rolling landscape, arable land, and building site of East Northamptonshire. Then on through the Nene Valley, flooded land around Oundle, and into Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. I knew Peterborough as the home of Perkins engines as we had all Massey Ferguson at home. It was also home of the East of England show, the last of which was held in 2013. The last event at the showground was an equine event in 2022, and the site is now destined for housing.

I visited the show twice. The last time was many years ago with another Country Link member funnily enough, we stopped at the NFU stand for tea and biscuits. We were served by a gentleman in a tweed suit, chatting to him I asked if he was in farming, he said "not exactly". He was more of a grower and supplied 80% of the asparagus for the British market from his farms in East Anglia, and farms in several other countries around the world.

Leaving Peterborough I headed on to Whittlesey and into Fenland. The contrast with the rest of my trip was startling! Entering the flat landscape of dykes, ditches, fences (instead of hedges), lorry and container parks, vegetable packhouses, and wind turbines all the way to King's Lynn. The roads are raised above the silt land although in some parts they appear to be sinking.

I stopped off at Welney, a WWT centre, where I spotted a short-eared owl, a barn owl, and tree sparrows, all while enjoying tea and cake in the second floor café. It is sited on the One Hundred Foot Drain built in the 17th century. It was built by a Dutch engineer to bypass the River Great Ouse for the 4th and 5th Earls of Bedford and in exchange for 90,000 acres to relieve flooding. It had to be completed by Parliament as more work was needed and they had to settle for 40,000 acres. It is tidal even though it's 19 miles from Welney to King's Lynn and the sea, and it still functions despite the best efforts of the Environment Agency.

Travelling from King's Lynn to Holt the North Norfolk landscape is not so flat, and it gently rolls towards the sea, I noticed a lot of sugar beet in the Fens and Norfolk. I was surprised to see quite a few sheep grazing, and lambs being fattened, behind electric fences on land previously used for spring barley. When I first became a regular visitor to North Norfolk, some 30 years ago, a lot of coastal marsh land was grazed by sheep and cattle, and winter migrating birds. Since then most of the animals seem to have been banished in favour of birds, and arable land changed to solar panels. It seems to me that with 9 million people starving to death in 2023 that some people in authority may have got their priorities wrong!

Due to the failure of junior management, I arrived back home to be greeted by frozen pipes. At this time of year, and at the first hint of a freeze, the water pipes that feed the troughs need to be drained by hand after use to ensure they can be used the next day.

This place runs on buckets, string, small bales, and small bags, so carrying buckets of water becomes a way of life. In the freezing conditions however, even wearing work gloves, I had to limit myself to 30 minutes at a time. While you may feel like carrying on for longer I have found it can be a hard price to pay. A cup of tea in between allows the hands to warm up before carrying on. I have acquired a very lightweight and very warm pair of gloves which I wear when walking Daisy for an hour or two, although I have a feeling they wouldn't last for 2 hours working outside.

Some members have asked me how tall was the tree that took down the power lines. I'm not exactly sure but the two poles that had to be replaced are 11 metres in length. If you look at the photos with the 'chat' from August 2024, the one taken behind the baler shows the tree and pole in front of the tractor.

For those of you who are worried about my lack of cultural activities I managed to get to the Birds exhibition at the Natural History Museum where I learned that feathered birds have existed for more than 100 million years, and they survived the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

I was also treated, by another member, to a Ben Elton concert on his first tour for over 20 years. I can thoroughly recommend it.

I am slowly recovering from the flu/virus that is going around. As the nights are drawing out, and it was not so cold today, I managed to catch and treat 8 sheep with foot problems.

It seems I spoke too soon about the Environment Agency. I have just heard that the area around Welney has flooded.

Don't forget there is still time to book a place for the Spring Weekend in Kent. This is a place that we haven't been to before and there are some interesting visits to look forward to. Follow the link below for the information and booking forms:

• Information
• Booking Form
• Info for pet owners

Dick Stephens - Chairman