The Farmers Mart Apr/May 2016 - Issue 45 | Page 55

Sheep

Dispelling the myth of the
flat-capped farmer
»»WITH THE REALITIES OF
modern farming incorporating
the latest technology and
innovations, the National Sheep
Association (NSA) says it is
keen to dispel the outdated
stereotype of the flat-capped
farmer whose main intention
in life is to hold up traffic in his
tractor.
James Manning is fighting
this stereotype on the front line,
as a forward thinking farmer,
and now a TV presenter on
BBC 2’s Harvest 2015, and
Channel 4’s First Time Farmers.
He is hoping to inspire other
‘farmers of the future’ in the
new Next Generation area
at the NSA Sheep Event on
Wednesday 27th July, at the
Three Counties Showground,
Malvern, Worcestershire.

“I believe one of the biggest
challenges we face is attracting
young enthusiastic people into
the industry, people who are
going to take us forward into the
future,” says James. “For those
sorts of people to be interested
in the industry we have to
showcase what we do, across
all sectors. I think the general
public needs to see agriculture
as a young, exciting and vibrant
industry to be a part of.”
For the 2016 Sheep Event,
NSA is capitalising on its Next
Generation project, which
includes an ambassador
programme that selects a
group of 12 young sheep
farmers each year to take
part in technical training and
personal development. More
than 20 NSA Next Generation

Ambassadors will be at the
event for visitors to speak to,
plus an interactive map, to
highlight clusters of young
sheep farmers to set up future
discussion groups, and an
opportunity to practise media
skills.
Says James: “The great
thing about farming is that it’s a
passion, not just a job. It’s our
responsibility to try and portray
that to new entrants and the
wider public, so they buy into it
as well.”
James’ advice for the next
generation is simple. “Open
your eyes to everything. Take
on as much knowledge, even if
you think it’s complete rubbish,
and try and understand your
chosen profession to carve out
a career path.”

Forage bred, performance-led
»»INVESTING IN NZ GENETICS
definitely pays dividends for
Cumbria farmers, say Brothers
Jimmy and Tom Stobart, with
higher performing lambs leading
to improved profit margins.
The brothers chose the
Primera terminal sire from
Innovis, and over 60% of their
Primera cross lambs reached
average 43kg target finishing
weight off milk and grass by
weaning at 12 weeks, compared
with just one third of their
Continental crosses from their
Texel Mule ewe flock, while the
entire crop of Primera crosses
finished by October, a welcome
achievement since last year 50%
of the Continental cross lambs
were finished off concentrate.
“Feeding concentrate to finish
lambs is no longer viable along
with dependence on support
payments,” says Jimmy. “We

thought the sheep enterprise
was doing okay but we got a bit
of a shock when we worked out
the costs and then removed the
payments.
“We decided there and
then we wanted to develop
a successful sheep business
that could move away from
tradition, stand on its own and be
profitable. While we are limited
as to what we can change on
a 2,000 acre SDA hill unit with
80% in moorland, we agreed
we’d reached the point when
we had to introduce an open
mind to doing a few things
differently and the first things
we’ve identified are introducing
new Primera genetics and a
better grazing system. Added
together, this is a way of
improving output per ewe from
reduced inputs,” explains Jimmy
who has spent time shearing in

New Zealand whileTom
has just returned
from down under
where he broadened
his experience in
sheep grassland
management systems.
“The Primera evolved from
progeny tested stock in New
Zealand, and we watched the
performance benefits they left
in other flocks. Two seasons on
and we’ve found the Primera
crosses easily lambed – they
have narrow shoulders, and
they all lambed within the first
10 days. They were soon up
and sucking, the first draw at 12
weeks averaged 350g/day daily
liveweight gain.”
They also investigated
through two seasons making
more of grazed grass using
a rotational system, which is
showing positive results.

www.farmers-mart.co.uk Apr/May 2016 55