Splendid isolation – upland farming on the North York Moors

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An upland farmer follows the annual cycle of the seasons with the weather determining tasks on a day to day basis.

I have lived on the North York Moors for 30 years, often a prisoner in paradise; the work is determined by the demands of the animals and environment for whom I am a custodian.

The annual cycle

The annual clock is set by the dates when the sheep and cattle are mated – mid-November for the hill sheep so they lamb in April when the weather is improving and December for the cattle so calves are born the following autumn preferably before the clocks go back and the cows are housed.

The winter routine slowly winds up from the cattle coming indoors requiring daily feeding and bedding as necessary. The sheep are normally only fed in adverse weather. Winter days are filled with maintaining boundaries, in particular replacing fence posts, cleaning out ditches, as well as gathering and processing firewood to satisfy the insatiable biomass boiler. A variety of meetings, which can seem neverending fill out the quieter times covering a range of topical farming and environmental issues.

As the New Year commences the hill sheep, which have been on the farm for mating return to the hill. There is little grass remaining for the replacement gimmer (female) lambs so they receive some additional feed and may be housed if space allows and the ground conditions are unsuitable. The workload ramps up as lambing approaches, the ewes are fed pellets with the ATV from the start of March; two local shepherds help to gather them off the Common in mid-April at the point of lambing, they come indoors for supervision and after giving birth spend a few weeks on the fields before returning with their lambs to the moor until another round-up takes place in late July for shearing and weaning of the lambs. It is a relief when they go out with the workload evaporating, but equally it is pleasing when they return and can be accounted for, the unfenced road across the moor is a constant concern.

The reality when the sheep go out of the fields to graze the moor is that the workload doesn’t disappear, rather thoughts turn to making hay for the next winter, it sometimes feels that the summer is spent getting ready for the for the winter to come, although thankfully snow and ice have been manageable in recent years, but when they do appear the work focus shifts to ensuring everything has feed and water.

A September Day

I was asked to describe a day, which at this time of year is changeable, because the routine chores take little time. In the main, the business is run by the computer in the house and the telehandler in the farmyard. I start with emails over breakfast and most mealtimes are accompanied by a check on relevant events on the web: the weather, NFU updates, ordering supplies and invoices/banking are daily themes. Connectivity can be variable and this seems to be the Third World for mobile telephony, which can be viewed as “manna from heaven” with a few irritations – sometimes the lack of interruptions in this day and age are a benefit, certainly for a recluse in the uplands.

Outside and the order of play is to let the border collie loose, he doesn’t wander thankfully and happily follows me around the farm. There are 2 hens, which are pets primarily, they get some grain and then search for natural morsels for the rest of the day. Some of the springs supplying the fields are currently dry, thankfully the supply to the house and buildings are running, so I fill a trough for 40 lambs, this has been the case for several weeks now.

Multi-tasking next – a walk to check the cattle is combined with taking the knapsack sprayer to apply herbicide to some docks and thistles enroute, I treat the whole farm with a backpack, this way the weeds are targeted which increases the effectiveness while minimizing the chemical usage so the clover damage is negligible and the environmental impact is limited, oh and the dog gets a walk too. The downside of the walk is finding water surfacing and making a boggy patch despite the lack of rain, as flows have dried up sediment in the drains has congealed and blocked the channels. The cows are settled, after emptying the sprayer it is back to the house for a coffee and a failed attempt to enter 2 rams for sale at the auction next month – the internet banking will not connect.

There are choices now, I could mend some gaps in the dry stone walls, but none are serious enough to be urgent and while the results are satisfying it is not a choice job, so instead the mini excavator is fired into life and trundles to investigate the boggy patch. Draining is rarely straightforward and the timescale is always unpredictable. A dig finds an old stone drain bleeding water, thankfully there is a pipe nearby to divert it into. Having found a source and a solution it necessitates a walk back to the farmyard to collect some bits of pipe and connectors which should provide a fix. The pipe is laid to join the source and the outlet, surrounded with stones which were excavated and laid nearby to reduce the ingress of dirt and the likelihood of blockages then the excavator levels the site, although it will need to be harrowed when it dries out. Mission accomplished for now at least, lunch has been earned.

Having got the excavator out the next job waiting is a gateway which is rutted, but before tackling that there are store lambs waiting for feed, the grass is still in short supply so they are bleating for pellets to fill them up, it is not cost effective, but necessary to maintain their condition and hasten their departure to market.

After removing the topsoil in the gateway with the excavator it is another walk back to the farmyard for the telehandler which shuttles back and forth 5 times with several tonnes of hardcore. The operation highlights the fact that the gate is no longer level, thankfully the bottom hinge is adjustable and it doesn’t take long with a spanner before the bubble in the spirit level is centered.

After tea the routine tasks are topping up the water and creep feeder for the lambs once again. The collie is rewarded with his tea for trailing around all day.

Tomorrow it might be the turn of the stone walls, then weighing some lambs in the hope that they are marketable to keep the cash flowing to cover the feed costs and leave a little more grass for the remaining stock. Errant animals and irksome machines combine with the weather to create a life filled with problem solving and fixing things.