young farmers – The Lakeland Auctioneer

Recently I sat in the kitchen of a hill farming family. They had spent the last two days gathering hefted sheep from the fell. They were exhausted. With a few thousand sheep from various farms now having been removed from this common alone, under environmental de-stocking schemes, their ancient hefts all but destroyed.

It had taken two days to find their sheep further down the fells, in different valleys, among steep and dangerous crags many miles from home. With visible emotion they described how they and their dogs had almost worked themselves to death. How they were scared for their lives, the dogs’ lives and the sheep that were grazing in places that they were neither acclimatised nor accustomed to. This is one of the detrimental effects of de-stocking, but it is not recognised nor understood by some conservation organisations, landed estates or those making the schemes.

Other hill shepherds have shared the same story with me. Fighting through growing swathes of bracken, increased tick infestations, sheep replaced by expanding wild deer herds. And all of this slowly but surely intensifying pressure on the sheep flocks and the shepherds that are battling on.

Farmers are a stoic lot, head down, keep going, don’t grumble and don’t let the buggers get you down. But the time is fast approaching when the critical mass of sheep we need to ensure a future for hill farming in Cumbria, and the continuation of the managed landscapes that farmers get so little credit for, may be fast approaching.

It appears that due diligence on the schemes has been limited. This is at a time when demand for sheep meat is rising, the supply is falling and the effects of the loss of hill sheep to the national industry could well be catastrophic in years to come. Auctioneers will be chasing a dwindling supply of lambs to sell to an expanding ring of customers. Agricultural suppliers will have less demand for their services as farmers reduce livestock or just give up. All of this must surely hurt the local rural economy. Perhaps this is looked upon as acceptable collateral damage in the name of nature?

All of this need not be happening, but it is, and it might be just what many of the large, landed estates and the most tunnel visioned conservation organisations want to happen. There is more money for them in environmental schemes than sheep and shepherds.

Some of us sit in partnership and stakeholder meetings like a stuck record constantly giving this narrative, but we’re being swallowed up by the nature and net zero noise. Or worse, people from other organisations contact me privately to express concern or even agree but dare not say so publicly, having to toe the line.

So farmers, auctioneers, rural business and country folk, the time has come. Either speak up or hold your peace. There may not be much time left. We will rue the day when my friends like that farming family are forced to throw in the towel for their own health and sanity.

In the meantime, my belief is that we need a moratorium on the schemes and our rural land use framework in Cumbria. We need to halt tunnel-visioned de-stocking policies, where nature and net zero trumps everything. We need to find the sweet spot that gives us viable sustainable livestock farming in improved landscapes in true partnership.

56% of UK farmland sold last year was bought by non-farmers. What is that telling us about our food security. What is manifesting is real-time destruction of Cumbrian hill-farming, the local economy and our rural communities. Death by a thousand cuts. Does anyone care? I’m not seeing it.

I do a bit if singing at weekends, sometimes in our band The Soul Survivors, sometimes as dynamic duo Only Smith and Day, and sometimes solo. Music replaced rugby many years ago when my body was starting to break, and it amazes me that a rotund old lad with a goatee beard gets bookings, but it happens!

Two weeks ago, OSD, me and guitar player Rob, played Egremont Young Farmers Christmas Social in the Market Hall. It took me back to the early 80’s when I was a member of Greysouthen YFC

Our Christmas Social was a bring and share supper in the village hall which was very handy for the Punchbowl pub on the other side of the road. My mate Bill would only eat the food his mother sent with him. The rest of us scoffed a vast array of farmhouse kitchen prepared sandwiches, pies and amazing puddings whilst Noddy Holder blasted out his trademark “It’s Christmaaaaaaas”! in the background.

As was evident at the Egremont do, my generation are now club leaders and Presidents. Indeed, Jimmy Crichton did a sterling job handing out the club prizes and trophies before a large crowd of young farmers from many other clubs, who had come to support.

A while later as me and Rob worked through our first set, an eclectic mix of genres including a few Irish and country tunes so beloved of young farmers there came an unexpected request. Could we possibly do some reels and country dances like the Gay Gordon’s and a Strip the Willow? It took me back to my Greysouthen days when we too learned traditional dancing.

Luckily, we can play this music and as the first tones of the accordion tunes rang out, amazingly the young farmers took their places. Where else could you go from The Killers to a Canadian Two Step?

What a community. Teaching old fashioned values in the modern world. Prizes for stock judging, valuation and field day competitions. A floor full of people young and old engaged in a St Bernards Waltz and of course the consumption of a Christmas drink or two. Twas ever thus!

Right now, those young people entering the farming industry in whatever role they are taking, must be wondering what the future holds. DEFRA set off with every good intention, having a New Entrants partnership and working group. It was challenging and frustrating and despite sound advice from many in the industry, it went wrong and then seemed to disappear altogether.

I hope it returns in future, because we will need these enthusiastic young people to be our food producers and custodians of the land. They are so keen and committed to the industry and they need to be supported and encouraged at every turn. These guys are our future and if the Young Farmers movement has anything to do with it, they will be well prepared in many ways to approach their role with confidence, knowledge and respect.

As Rob and me packed our gear away at the end of the night, many of the young farmers were getting ready to head off to town, just as I would have done all those years ago. I was ready to get home to bed.

Happy Christmas to you all. Let’s see what the New Year brings. We must approach it with the same enthusiasm as our young people. Work hard and play hard, as long as you are able.