Farming

When the farm’s quiet - it’s time to go cycling...

Stuart Luxton takes a virtual spin on the continent

Hello again everyone. We are now in 2021 - what a year last year was. If you were told this time last year what was going to happen in the next 12 months, no-one would have believed it.

Unfortunately for me, during the last two months I have barely seen the farm. In December I was busy at the shop, but in January I stayed away from the farm almost completely. Dad was very poorly before Christmas, he spent six weeks in hospital and with an increased level of virus in the locality, I couldn’t risk taking it back and infecting anyone. My sisters were still there and we felt that as it was one of the quieter times of year, I could be dispensed with. Thank you to everyone for looking after it so well. Last month I wrote about re-wilding the moor and I received an interesting email from an Oke Links reader. I didn’t mean that re-wilding was undesirable. My main point was that sheep play a valuable part in managing the vegetation, but once moorland sheep are not financially viable they will be gone, the shepherding skills will be gone and it is likely that invasive species such as western gorse and bracken would soon take over.

The fields have been very wet for the last two months. It’s at times like this that you are glad you have plenty of winter cattle housing. I shudder to think how much of a mess the fields would be in if 400 cattle had to live outdoors in this winter monsoon. Hopefully spring is not going to be far away, before we know it we will be in March. Next time I write lambing and calving will be in full swing. It is always such an exciting time of year, even if it can become a little tiring. The shop had a very good year last year and this January has been more of the same. Usually it is a very hard month, quiet, with not much to motivate you. This month has been so different, there is a definite switch to shopping locally, cutting back on travel and packaging, which has to be a good thing. In the latest lockdown it is very noticeable that people are shopping less often, but buying a full week’s shopping. A local farmer has just started selling milk from a vending machine right next to the shop, the customers bring their bottles back and buy the milk to refill them 24hrs a day. It means reduced food miles and no disposable packaging. Have you ever wondered what a farmer does in his spare time? I’m guessing probably not. If you remember back in the summer I spent some time cycling - this winter I have been spending some evenings cycling online. I go out in the shed and connect my bike to a trainer via a computer and cycle. It seems absolutely perfect for a lockdown situation, no risk of spreading the virus, good exercise and using meeting software so you can chat as you go. Okehampton Cycle Club use this facility once a week. A few weeks ago a friend suggested giving racing a go. In the last month we have raced in Austria, France, USA and the UK with a team of people I have never met in real life, from Ireland, France, Italy and the UK. A couple of weeks ago I managed to meet one of my best mates from university. He was in South Wales - I never left Okehampton, but we cycled in France - who would have thought it? Bye for now. Let’s hope that the weather will pick up soon and things will soon begin to return to normal.