Supporting our Farmers

Every campsite is a wonderful experience. Each of them is different and unique.  This time I am at a small site in Shropshire near Much Wenlock. It is part of a working farm. There is no reception you just roll up, look at the admissions board and go to your allocated pitch. During the day the farmer will visit each site with information and for payment.

It was during this visit we got chatting (that has always been me, a chatterer). I learnt so much about farming. It is not an easy occupation especially for young farmers who want a career in farming.

At present they have young sheep which they buy in and monitor to sell for breeding later on. These are a cross breed sheep making use of the hardiness of the Welsh sheep with the quicker growing of the other breed. They used to have pigs but this proved uneconomical.  The cost of feed and labour etc was barely covered by the amount per kilo received when sold on.  All the pigs went and the barn is now used to store caravans. The wheat they grow is sold on instead of used to feed the pigs.

Considering the item in "Countryfile"  which looked at the pigs in Denmark many of whom have an antibiotic resistant MSRA virus (I cannot remember the strain number) maybe we should encourage more of our farmers to keep pigs.


Besides all this they have a few horses on livery, the half acre campsite and a small pond for fishing. They do not like Pearl swimming in it because it frightens the fish who all go to the bottom of the pond and are then difficult to catch.

Then there is is  problem with the wheat. The brown patches in the green fields are the result of some kind of worm destroying the wheat shoots. Because of EU regulations the crop is not allowed to be sprayed so there is nothing right now the farmer can do to
halt the spread of this worm until the next cycle of planting. All the money spent on wheat seed is lost.
So if like me you enjoy walking in the countryside try and support our British farmers whenever you can.