RUSHALL FARM FACT FILE

Introduction
Physical Features
Staff and Machinery
Land Use
Rotational Farming
Set-a-side
Stewardship
Woodland
Animals
Suckler Cows
Sheep System
The Principles of Organic Farming
Local History Study – Rushall Farm in Bradfield, Berkshire: 1241 - 2004

Introduction

Farmer: Mr J.Bishop
Landowner: W.Cumber & Son (Theale) LTD.
Address: Rushall Farm
Scratchface Lane
Bradfield
Berkshire
RG7 6DL
Grid Reference: SU 589726
Size: 422 hectares (1 hectare = 100m x 100m or 1046 acres) includes 67 ha (165 acres) of park land on the Englefield Estate (which we are paid to graze) and 40 ha (100 acres) of woodland. Also included is 33 ha (83 acres) of land in it’s second year of organic conversion, 16 hectares of this is water meadows and there is another 17 hectares of gravel top which is currently down to spring barley undersown with clover.
Tenancy: John Bishop is the manager of Rushall Farm. Most of the land is owner occupied, but some is share farmed, and some tenanted. The farm owner, William Cumber, lives on the main farm at Marcham in Oxfordshire, Manor Farm. This 1500 acre farm recently sold a dairy herd which was milked robotically and a large pig unit which included some rare breeds (Black Berkshires and Gloucester Old Spots). Manor Farm runs a large beef herd and finishes all of Rushall Farm’s beef animals. A new chicken unit of approximately 6000 birds produces free range (but not organic) eggs for Waitrose. A variety of cereal crops are also grown.
Recent changes: On 1st July 2000, Rushall began farming organically. Rushall farm is Soil Association registered as organic.
The Current Economic Climate: The weak Pound in comparison to the strong Euro has made the market favourable for export and generally there has been a high demand and consequentially a good price for exported beef & lamb which is also reflected in UK prices. The single farm payment is based on the Euro so last year farmers received a substantial increase because of the weak Pound. The reduction in fuel prices to figures similar to late 2007 will mean a saving of approximately £10,000 to Rushall Farm compared to fuel prices in 2008. The poor global harvest of 2007 saw cereal prices hit record highs but a much better 2008 global harvest (not in the UK however) resulted in a drop in prices. This has continued through 2009 to an all time low in demand and prices.
Darwin 2009: Rushall Farm feels that as 2009 commemorated 150 years since the publication of the Origin of Species it is important to point out how much of modern day farming is reliant on artificial selection techniques in both crops and livestock that have helped to improve yields and adaptation to abiotic and biotic factors. Whilst selective breeding was around a long time before Darwin it was his theory of evolution combined with Mendel’s work on genetics that gave us the mechanism which explained the changes observed by selectively breeding organisms as diverse as wheat, pigs and chickens.

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Physical Features

The farm is located in the Pang Valley part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It occupies land stretching north from the river Pang between Bradfield and Stanford Dingley. There are some steeply sloping areas.

Soil types
There are many different soil types here. These include rich, wet alluvium immediately beside the river, loams, gravels, sands and clays. Beneath all of these soils you will find chalk. An exposed chalk face is Berkshire’s first RIGS (regionally important geological site). It is one of only two places in the country where the K-T boundary is visible (this is the point 65 million years ago when the mass extinction of the dinosaurs took place). Analysis of the chalk at Rushall Farm from this period shows an iridium peak.  Iridium is only found in large amounts in meteorites which adds weight to the impact theory as a mechanism for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Altitude
Altitude ranges from 55 – 115 metres above sea level.

Rainfall
Rainfall is typically around 660mm per year. However in the last few years we’ve seen a change with very dry spells being interspersed with heavy downpours. Warmer winters are also producing more open (outdoors) grazing for livestock although the winter of 08/09 and 09/10 have been more in line with what was expected of the winter period 15 to 20 years ago. This has resulted in poor overwinter grass growth. The half of the area farmed which is in stewardship and predominantly wet is now a high fluke (parasite) risk area

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Machinery

There are 2 fulltime at Rushall Farm including the manager. A third person works for half the year and a contract shepherd works 2 days/week. Extra staff are taken on for lambing and during harvest. The farm works for a contractor during grass/maize silage making and during the harvest when we combine an extra 400+ acres producing 600 tonnes of grain which we dry and store for 2 neighbouring farmers.

The vehicles which we have at Rushall Farm are listed below.

• 5 tractors include 2 reasonably modern John Deeres, an older John Deere, a Case and a Ford. Turbo the tractor driver has asked Santa for a Fendt 936 Vario this Christmas
• Pickup
• Clio van
• Combine Harvester
• An all terrain telescopic forklift or teleporter. This is a JCB 536 and is an ex-demonstration model costing £39,200 in 2008.
• Balers, trailers, plough, seed drill and various harrows and other implements for working down the soil.
• There is also an 800 tonne grain store and drier.

As farm profits are low at the moment the current policy is to repair existing machinery rather than renewing. This means that repair costs are accepted as being high but the cost of depreciation is very low (£7784 in 2007). The purchase of the new teleporter in early 2008 saw this figure rise to over £17,000 in 2008 (25% depreciation on £39,200) and dropped to £14,000 in 2009.

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Land Use

Rushall Farm started to farm organically from July 1st 2000. We were able to sell our produce as organic from the 1st of July 2002 (conversion to organic land takes 2yrs). A further 32 hectares completed conversion in 2009.

The approximate figures above demonstrate the changes in land use since going organic. Essentially the land has changed from being 60% arable to 60% grazing (more clover & grass leys). This change reflects the need to increase soil fertility through the use of nitrogen fixing plants such as beans and clover. Animal manure from the grazing livestock is also an important addition to sustainable production in an organic system. The amount of pasture on the farm has also risen as a way of providing safe parasite free grazing for the livestock. Low stocking rates are essential in organic livestock systems. Because of a long-term reduction in the price of cereals both pasture and land under stewardship has become more available at low cost. Although in the case of stewardship land appropriate management systems are not always easy to work out because of the quality of the land.

Rushall Farm has relied on organic grassland on Englefield Estate to overwinter pregnant ewes. This is now out of organic farming. We still rely on Manor Farm Marcham for finishing lambs on clover leys.

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Rotational Farming

'Crop rotation' is the practice of regularly changing the type of crops grown in a field. Alternatives might be 'continuous cropping' or 'permanent grazing/grass'. Rotation helps combat problems like pest build up and fertility loss which happen with continuous cropping. It is therefore particularly important in organic system where we need to maintain soil fertility which we do through growing beans, adding manure and clover (an essential ingredient) in the leys. At Rushall farm we use both White and Red clover. White clover self seeds and can be found in a ley for many years. Red clover is very productive over 2 years. It is a bulkier plant with high protein content which makes it very good for silage. However you shouldn't feed it to ewes about to be tupped (mated with the ram) as it contains oestrogens which prevent ovulation thus making it difficult for them to conceive.

Crops that we grow at Rushall include:

• wheat (for milling into flour, fetching £300/tonne in 2008 , £250/tonne in 2009, £188/tonne in 2010)
• barley (for malting, fetching £300/tonne in 2008 & £250/tonne in 2009 and £170/ tonne in 2010)
• oats (for porridge etc., fetching £275/tonne in 2008, £200/tonne in 2009 and £124/tonne in 2010)
• beans (animal feed, fetching £300/tonne in 2008, £250/tonne in 2009 and £210/tonne in 2010)
• triticale (a wheat / rye cross) (animal feed, fetching £265/tonne in 2008, £170/tonne in 2009 and £148/tonne in 2010)
• red and white clover and grass leys (grazing, silage and hay) The crop and grazing rotation at Rushall Farm is generally over an 8yr period where 3 years of white clover is included or in very productive fields a 6yr period including 2 years of red clover.

The length of this rotation is restricted by the build up of weeds particularly Couch grass, Docks & Thistles. It is being rectified with a summer fallow with heavy cultivation. Some marginal land where the soil is poor (heavy clay, sand or gravels) is permanent grazing because it would be impossible to grow crops on these fields.

The need to overwinter 300 ewes means that serious consideration is being given to:

1. grazing turnips following fallow.
2. Ploughing grassland into spring cereals rather than winter cereals.

In both cases the “golden hoof” of a sheep would be tested. Essentially whilst the sheep were feeding they’d be manuring the ground and building soil fertility.

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Set-a-side

Set-a-side was introduced by the government to reduce over production of food. Land that is set-a-side cannot be used for food production and these fields are usually left empty. In 2007 set-a-side was a minimum of 8% of arable land. Much of the set-a-side at Rushall Farm was some distance from the farm itself, near to the M4 motorway. In 2008 around 12% of our arable land was in set-a-side. Aside from receiving payments for not farming this land, the set-a-side scheme also benefits wildlife. Organic set-a-side can also be used as a time to clean up the field using a fallow. However in 2008 there was a worldwide shortage of grain and thus there was no requirement for set-a-side. This shortage resulted from poor harvests in the wheat belts of Eurasia and North America, an increase in demand from developing countries and also a change of land use from food production to bio fuels. In 2009 there was again no requirement for set-a-side and this situation looks set to continue.

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Stewardship

Stewardship is an environmental scheme run by the government which helps to encourage environmentally friendly farming. Under this scheme the farm has received money from the government for planting hedges and managing one field as a grass/wildflower meadow. These areas provide good wildife habitat. There is now 300 acres of stewardship land that is managed much of it is parkland conversion at the Englefield Estate which has a native mix of grasses. There is also water meadows by the Pang (at Lone Barn & the Dairies) and the Kennet (at Ufton Nervet). These sites have low levels of grazing and no feed is brought in. This should encourage wildlife and a diversity of herbage. Their use is restricted by the quality of herbage and during the last 2 years liver fluke has been a major problem on wet pastures when grazing sheep hence the suckler cows tend to graze these areas.

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Woodland

The 40 hectares (100 acres) of ancient woodland at Rushall farm has a management plan. This plan sets out the work that is needed in the woodland, e.g. clearing the large trees from certain areas and planting new ones. Due to financial cuts that were made across the farm, little management work has been carried out in the woods in recent years, which is disappointing in view of all the work down in previous years. We had hoped that farming organically would make more profit for the farm and that some of the money could be invested in managing the woodland again. It looks likely that some work will be done in the winter of 09/10 to open up the canopy in areas to enable re-growth of the coppice. This will be undertaken in conjunction with the Woodland Trust

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Animals

The permanent grass and rotational farming systems used at Rushall Farm mean that the animals are a very important part of the farm. The soils at Rushall Farm are not fertile enough to allow continuous cropping so grazing animals allow the soils to rest while their manure adds to the fertility of the soil. Rotation of grazing animals, between cattle and sheep, is essential in the control of stomach worms. Effectively it works out at 35% cattle and 65% sheep at Rushall Farm in terms of grazing land they occupy and organic advice is to have this round the other way in order to clean up the pastures and control internal parasites. We alleviate this by finishing a lot of lambs in the autumn on clean pasture (previously used by diary cows) at Manor Farm in Oxfordshire and also at the Englefield Estate. The stocking density on this extensive system is approximately 1 cow per ha or 6-7 sheep.

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Suckler Cows

Suckler cows are raised for beef. The calf is left with its mother for almost a year and weaned in time for the cow to rest shortly before the next calving. The herd was based on a French breed called 'Saler'. This is a hardy and primitive breed of cattle used in France for beef and also producing cheese. These cows were chosen because the quality of their meat is high, and the calves are born reasonably easily which causes fewer problems for the mothers. Recently they’ve been crossed with Aberdeen Angus bulls. The Saler seems to be a feisty breed and the cross with the Angus has calmed down the offspring. Also Aberdeen Angus is a name the consumer knows so it makes the beef very marketable. Finally our Angus bulls (Eric & Ernie) were polled (have no horns, genetically) and this trait is passed on to their offspring which means we don’t have to dehorn them and generally makes it safer for all concerned. The offspring of this cross are now being crossed with a third breed of bull. These new bulls (there are 3 shared between Rushall Farm & Manor Farm) are known as Stabilisers. They are a cross of 4 beef breeds perfected over the last 22 years, that breed true. It is hoped that the Stabiliser influence will enable the resulting calves to grow quickly on lower levels of forage as well as adding hybrid vigour to the herd.

The cows graze in the summer and are kept indoors throughout the winter when they eat feed straw and silage (pickled grass). Sales of beef are predominantly to Waitrose but some are also slaughtered and processed at Laverstoke Park in Hampshire (Overton). Some are also sold through our own retail outlet at Manor Farm. Cattle going for slaughter weigh about 600kg with a carcass weight of 300kg they fetch £900-£1000 (i.e. £3/kg).

This year we have 70 suckler cows and their calves run as 3 herds with e three bulls Ivor, Bingo & Ianto. They calve Chrsitmas through to mid March and are on a health scheme. The calves are weaned in the autumn at around 300Kg live weight and moved to Marcham for finishing.

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Sheep System

The sheep graze outdoors for most of the year, usually on grass and clover. 500 of the 800 ewes are then brought indoors for up to a couple of months in the winter / early spring when they have their lambs (in March). Whilst indoors, their feed includes silage, and a mix of beans and oats which is high in energy and protein (18%). The primary breeding ewes are called Hartlines. They are very “milky” and good at producing twins. The ewes are scanned in January and are this year averaging 1.7 lambs each. This year any female lambs that stay on the farm as breeding stock will need two eartags as in previous years but one will be an EID (Electronic Identification) which will contain the flock number and sheep number). For the first time those going for slaughter (male and female) will also need an EID.

Rams are brought to produce good conformation lambs which will grow on to sale for meat. The meat rams typically used are Suffolks and Southdowns. Suffolks are crossed with Hartlines to produce wethers (castrated ram lambs) for meat whilst the females are used for breeding. These are crossed with Southdowns to produce an excellent finished lamb.

Virtually all the lambs sold for consumption go to Sainsbury’s with a small number going to Cumbers farm shop in Marcham. It is unfortunate that the lambs have to travel this far. The lambs are sold from 12 weeks onwards at 40Kg live weight which relates to 18Kg dead weight. The premium for Organic is 40p/Kg from January to August but only 5p/Kg during the September to December period. This is a result of more lambs coming on the market during the autumn. Consequently Rushall Farm needs to concentrate on marketing during the January to August period.

The wool from the sheep sheared summer 2008 was sold to the Wool Marketing Board. It is very much a by-product. The total wool clip (how much we produced) came to £1000 off 1000 sheep or 2.5 tonnes of wool (£1 per fleece) in 2008. The figure for 2009 was very similar.

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THE PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIC FARMING

• Co-exist with rather than dominate natural systems.
• Sustain or build soil fertility.
• Minimise pollution and damage to the environment.
• Minimise the use of non-renewable resources.
• Ensure the ethical treatment of animals.
• Protect and enhance the farm environment with particular regard to conservation and wildlife.
• Consider the wider social and ecological impact of agricultural systems.
• Maintain or develop valuable existing landscape features and adequate habitats for wildlife with particular regard to endangered species.

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