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| Background |
We are a small (400 acre/165 Hectare) mixed farm just outside
the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The farm is composed of three
smaller farms which made up the Letham Estate in years gone by.
The farms were Letham Shank, High Letham and New Water Haugh.
Letham Shank is the main farm now with High Letham being used
for storage of grain, straw, fertiliser and machinery. New Water
Haugh which at one time had The Manor House and it's own Snuff
Mill is now in ruins. My grandfather came here in 1923, my father
retired about 8 years ago but is still active at 80. The majority
of the work is carried out on a one man basis but an extra pair
of hands is required at harvest time. Fifty years ago there were
thirteen men in total working on the three farms. Some specialised
work such as hedge trimming, lime spreading and canola swathing
are carried out by contractor.
We are not currently in any 'stewardship' schemes, preferring to look after the countryside traditionally at our own expense. We are thus not pushed into protecting whichever species is currently 'at risk', to the detriment of others. In general, the wildlife is as healthy, now, if not healthier than it has been over the last 75 years. |
| The land varies from medium/heavy
silt/clay loam to alluvial silt beside the river and about 4 Ha
(10 acres) of lighter loam at the highest point of the farm. The
height varies from 0 to 225 feet and rises to give the farm a
generally south facing aspect. The average field size is only
about 8 Ha (20 acres) for arable fields and about 5 Ha (12½ acres)
for permanent grass fields. We take a perverse pleasure in the
fact that we have managed to keep almost all the original hedges
and field boundaries, even if it does make life awkward with large
machinery, and leads to us being penalised by the various EU rules.
The land being heavy and sticky can be difficult to work but once
a crop is established yields tend to be very good. All barley
straw is baled and stored for sale in January onwards, but most
wheat straw is chopped on the combine and incorporated where it
helps to improve the soil structure. |
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We still plough for most crops,
but tend to establish Canola (Oilseed Rape)and some first wheats
by minimal tillage techniques, using a home-made coil tine cultivator
with packer roller. In the past we have tried min-till and though
the quality of seedbed is high and easy to achieve, we found
grass weeds becoming a problem within a couple of years. Also
compaction at about 150mm depth was costly to rectify. We hope
that the purchase of a Sumo Trio in 2008 will allow min-till
to be used more frequently.The general cultivation plan in the
autumn is to plough for about 2 days, roll the ploughing down
when dry enough, and drill when the land is 'fit'. We have only
had one year in the last 12 when we could follow the plough directly
with the combination drill. Seed rates are generally between
150 kg/Ha and 210 kg/Ha depending on date and seedbed quality.
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| Harvest normally begins in early
August, very occasionally in July, but rarely goes into October.
All grain is dried on farm and all feed wheat, OSR and feed barley
is stored in the hope of a price gain. Malting barley is normally
moved within 14 days of cutting, depending on merchant. Sheep
are kept on fields which are too small/steep/wet to cultivate.
We have about 35 Ha of such grass which is also not registered
for IACS. Set aside is sown down to a grass/clover cover crop
for either 2 or 3 years to assist in improving wildlife cover and
soil fertility. |
| We also look after neighbouring land
totaling some 100 ha on a 'stubble to stubble' basis. The
cropping on this ground is similar to our own. |
| About 6 ha (15 acres) of silage
is made each year on grass that is grazed in the spring and left
from early June until late July. The target is about 150 4' x 4'
round bales, which is enough to feed the sheep until there is sufficient
grass in May. |
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::Copyright J. Cranston::
2000 -
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