Sheep farming crisis

Meeting the Royal Welsh Goat.

We’ve just returned from our annual visit to the Royal Welsh Show where Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he is going to reduce red tape for farmers which is great news following our recent sheep inspection. All sheep were counted, tags checked and paperwork examined in detail so stress levels were high but following a five hour inspection, we passed with flying colours. A week later we were informed that an inspector was coming to inspect the inspector who did the inspection. When he arrived I asked (tongue in cheek) if there was going to be another inspection to inspect him, I was told that it was possible from Europe. So yes Mr. Cameron, I think it’s a cracking idea!

Public support

We recently heard that Tesco have taken another shipment of New Zealand lamb when our lamb is at peak season. At the time of writing this blog, with our lamb prices at rock bottom, we are still awaiting a response from Tesco regarding it’s lamb sourcing policy. Explaining the situation on social media resulted in an overwhelming positive response from the public, reaching over 100,000 people. We really appreciate the support, thank you. At the end of the day, the consumer has the power to make change through informed choices. Showcasing our produce is what shows like the Royal Welsh do well and supermarkets need to follow suit with produce labelled and displayed effectively to aid customer choices.

No sexism here, whilst the girls were shearing….

Courses on the farm are very popular and we’ve recently added team building days to the list. Last month we had members of the armed forces rounding up sheep, shearing, wool rolling, spinning and sampling our home produced cider. A great day was had by all…..hic!

Kingfishers chilling by the river

With no holiday planned for this year, I’ve put up the tent by the river and escape to it whenever time allows. I was joined by this lovely couple last week. Wine cooling in the river, cooking on an open fire and noisy otters joining us in the evening, it really is idyllic.

On a final note I would like to congratulate son Sam and his team mates who are now the junior Welsh tug-of-war champions. They will travel to Ireland in September to represent Wales in the world championships. Good luck lads!