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October
2003 |
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NEWSLETTER |
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When
I bought the farm in 1972 it was condemned by the Ministry
of Agriculture as a non-viable holding i.e. one that could
not support a family. As a farming enterprise that has not
changed. We kept beef cattle for 30 years. In our best
years the farm income never exceeded one weeks rent of the
cottages. In 2000 we bought cattle in November and sold
them twelve months later for £40 less per head than we
had paid for them. The show that we now put on for our
guests is no more than theatre.
When Andrew Howe moved into the flat above the farmhouse
it seemed to be the answer to our prayers. He kept geese,
hens, ducks, sheep and pigs and loved socialising with our
guests and talking country matters. It took us three years
to realise that he had a past as a reformed alcoholic.
Eventually it caught up with him and an astonishing Jekyll
and Hyde transformation took place. Andrew the farmer was
our friend and helper. Andrew, lying on the floor in the
flat, semi conscious, surrounded by a pile sherry bottles
was an unrecognizable and intolerable noose round our
necks. He has gone to pursue the gipsy life by the
road-side and we pray for his happiness. |
| John
Moore now lives in the flat. He is a semi-retired mechanical engineer
with many practical skills. He will be
helping me with jobs around the farm and will
spend part of each week away as a short term
sub-contractor at nearby power stations. |
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| We
now have to totally re-think how we manage the farm. For
the last two years our neighbouring farmer has run his
beef cattle on the farm. We charge him no rent but he
helps with cutting hay etc. It worked well the first year
but last summer was a disaster. Cattle that have been fed
on the farm over winter associate people with food. You
don't have to drive them. You just call across the valley
"come on boys" and they will follow. Our
neighbour's cattle arrived in April straight from market
with with no pre-programming to follow a call. Indeed
their reaction was exactly the opposite. People spell
trouble, head for the nearest fence and jump over. We are
now starting to repair the devastation they caused,
snapped barbed wire, broken walls etc. |
| All
the sheep round here belong to Simon. He keeps them
not because they make any money but simply to train his
sheep dogs. The last dog he sold (the Ferrari) made
£10,000, which Simon claims is the highest sum ever paid in
England for a sheep dog. His reputation is so high that it
is said he can buy a puppy in the morning for £200 and sell
it that evening for £1,000 simply because his reputation as
a judge of potential in dogs is so high. Simon can be
seen working his dog on the farm most days. |
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| Gary
Smith has been shooting over the farm for thirty years. His
first training was as a game keeper but he now works as a drugs counselor. |
| We
encourage Gary to shoot squirrels which cause a huge
amount of destruction in the woods. He usually goes
home with a couple of pigeon and a pheasant. He
regards rabbit as too easy a target. We ban the
shooting of deer, fox and partridge. He has just
installed feed hoppers in the woods to lure more
pheasant from the adjacent Bathurst estate. |
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| Caroline
Silver is a forceful lady
who would make an impressive Master of Foxhounds. She looks
after our two horses. They are sometimes kept on the |
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farm
and sometimes in her paddock in Amberley. Her own draught horse
Jasper is now so lame with arthritis that even the walk from
Amberley to Westley Farm is too much. She knows that Jasper
is on borrowed time but is determined to keep him in
retirement until his quality of life becomes unbearable. We
have therefore not seen much of the horses this summer. |
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Julian Usborne October 2003. |
| Previous
Newsletter (April
02) |
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