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August-18-06 - August 2006

After one of the hottest July months on record comes a rather miserable August cold, grey but still very dry. The farm in Shropshire remains a desert with a desperate lack of grass and any possibility of a second cut of silage firmly on the back burner. The situation is so serious that we have had to move 600 ewe lambs to Rhug. Wheat, oats and bean crops are lighter than normal but the carrot and potato crops have benefited from being irrigated and although there is a slight quality issue on the potato crop the overall results should be quite good. The pigs long for some rain and mud!! The demand for anything organic at the moment is so strong across the board it is difficult to supply it fast enough to meet demand.

The demand from Waitrose for organic fat cattle has been so great that it has made us feel bad when we haven’t been able to altogether meet their increased requirements.

We have been lucky at Rhug because although some of the banks have burnt off the grass has kept growing and we have had a reasonable second cut of silage and still more to come. The cattle and the lambs are all finishing well and we hope to start combining next week. Our chicken flock have been moved onto new pastures and we have increased the size of the flock to meet the increase in demand. The turkeys are all growing well and are enjoying the freedom of their grass enclosures.

It is so difficult to see where the future is in farming but one thing is for certain we have to continue to drive the costs down to give us any hope of survival as well as this units have to get bigger to further give economy of scale. To this end we are planning to take in hand another 760 acres over on the Welsh coast near Caernarfon, which we will convert to an organic farm over the next two plus years. This will take the total size of the three farms under organic farming to 4200 acres. In turn we intend to increase the cattle and sheep numbers considerably.

Our retail sales through the shop are presently at the annual peak with a boost from the increased summer traffic, trade is 30% up on the year to date. The wholesale demand remains strong although this is to a limited number of select outlets, restaurants, farm shops and London stores. We were expecting this to tail off a bit through the summer months before picking up strongly in the autumn. Mail order ticks along, nothing fantastic although we expect the despatches to pick up when everyone returns from their holidays.

Rhug Bison herd are enjoying the summer and seem quite laid back about life generally, they continue to be the focus of attention from people visiting the farm and have settled down well in their new enclosure. The bison calves are growing rapidly and their coats are beginning to change colour from a bright orange colour to dark brown. The Bison can be seen clearly from the main road and I am sure it has attracted more people to stop, hence the increased footfall through the farm shop.

Written By: Lord Newborough

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