Jennifer MacKenzie is an agricultural photo journalist with almost 30 year's experience. Operating from her base in Cumbria, Jennifer undertakes mainly industry-related freelance writing and photography.
Cattle Shed ensures viability of Lake District Farm
Building a new cattle shed has helped ensure the future viability of a
beef and sheep farm in the heart of the Lake District.
John Birkett’s family has farmed in the Lake District for generations
and now he and his wife Maureen farm two holdings under numerous constraints
at Little Langdale in the beautiful Langdale Valley near Ambleside.
They have a herd of 30 registered Limousin cows at the owner-occupied 65-acre
Wilson Place as well as running a total of 1,200 sheep, mostly Herdwicks
between Wilson Place and Birk Howe, which is tenanted from the National
Trust.
 |
| John and Maureen Birkett |
The running of Birk Howe was taken over from John’s father George
in 2000 and the Farm Business Tenancy stipulates that the farm’s
240 acres carry no more than 10 cattle alongside the Trust’s flock
of 535 Herdwick ewes – and no cattle from the end of October to the
end of May.
Until 2005, all the cows and calves were housed in traditional stone buildings
at Wilson Place.
“We had invested money in the farmhouse at Wilson place where Maureen
ran a bed and breakfast business for 25 years and when we got Birk Howe
we knew we could keep more cattle in order to get more money from farming,” said
John, who runs the farm with weekend help from son Andrew, who is keen
to farm and who works for a neighbour. Daughter Julie is a compliance planner
for the national park.
“We had been thinking about a new building but we were always so
much short of the money to pay for it.
“I read about Farming Connect Cumbria and I decided to apply for
planning permission early in 2004 before I made a grant application.
“Without the new building we would have either had to reduce cow
numbers or get rid of them altogether and we would not have been able to
increase our sheep numbers to compensate because we are in the ESA. We
wouldn’t want to give up farming.”
The Farming Connect Cumbria programme, managed by Harry Martin and run
under the umbrella of Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency, draws to a close
this year after injecting almost £7.5 million of capital as well
as technical advisory work into the county’s farms since its inception
just over three years ago.
The Birketts were successful in getting the maximum grant for the basic
building and work started in June 2005 with Alan Mason, of Caton, completing
the build in time for winter housing that year.
 |
| Cattle Shed blends with the farm’s existing buildings |
To comply with planning requirements of the Lake District National Park – as
well as the farm being in a European Special Area of Conservation – the
100ft by 40ft building had to have stone-faced walls to blend with the
farm’s existing buildings, as well as Yorkshire boarding and a specific
roof colour.
The building, which is open sided to the north at the feed barrier, has
a 12ft feeding passage with the remaining area able to be divided into
up to five pens, giving flexibility for a calf creep area and for segregating
and handling cattle.
It is situated away from a beck, which runs through the farm, and prior
to the building being erected an environmental assessment of the farm was
carried out.
A novel suggestion made by the Farming Connect Cumbria grant panel was
a rainwater collection system, which, although it was not grant-aided,
the Birketts installed, and its three-year pay-back is almost up.
With rainfall being in plentiful supply – some years it is as much
as 120 inches – and water costing more than £1.20 a cubic metre
the 7,000 litre water tank has almost paid for itself over the three winters.
The cattle housing is fed water from the mains and the tank and when it
is full it supplies four days of drinking water for the cattle.
As well as the two farms at Little Langdale, the Birketts have fell rights
on Little Langdale common and two other lots of rented land at Brantwood
and Coniston which total 115 acres.
“We’re working in a system that we can’t change. We have
been farming in the Lake District ESA since it started in 1993 and at Wilson
Place we have 20 acres of herb-rich meadows which are SSSIs that can only
be spread with farm yard manure.
“It takes about a third of the time to feed and bed the cattle compared
with in the old buildings. We run a simple system, feeding the cows big
bale silage which is rolled out along the feed barrier,” said John.
Freeing-up his time has meant he can go back to dry stone walling work
which he did before taking on the tenancy of Birk Howe, which helps to
supplement the farm income. It also gives more time to look after the sheep.
As well as the building giving excellent ventilation – there have
been no cases of pneumonia in the calves and providing better welfare,
the versatile pen area makes handling simple.
“We are in a two-year parish for TB and we had a reactor which meant
we had to test all the cattle three times in six months. We can set the
gates up to get the cattle moving around the building from the crush. Our
vet is happy – he says it works.”
“It’s a lot safer and easier and now the cattle know they can’t
escape they are a lot quieter being handled this way.”
Another benefit to improved cattle welfare is that they are thriving better
in their new environment.
Calves are sold at eight to 12 months old as bulls or any heifers not retained
as replacements and recent prices have highlighted the improved conditions
selling consistently at prices around £600 to £800 through
Penrith market.
Easy access to the building means that it can be mucked out by machine
instead of with a fork by hand as in the old buildings.
Manure can be left in the building all winter and used to better advantage
when it is required for spreading, particularly after making silage, saving
on fertiliser costs.
When it is cleaned out in the summer months it can provide temporary cover
for straw which has been delivered to the farm. It even provided stabling
for the Clydesdale horses when they came through Cumbria to their new home
from Scotland!
