Bankroll that shakes the barley
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Version 0 of 1. Visitors to the agricultural show are converging from the county’s lanes, now edged by ferns, sorrel, campion and horse daisies. The blades of wind turbines are rotating in the north-west breeze and a blue sea is glimpsed off the north coast. Barley has formed ears and cut silage fields show pale among the darker greens of pastures and woods. At the showground sheep shearing fascinates spectators as each competitor deals with 10 animals, upending them and clipping. Today’s winner shears off the fleece quota in barely seven and a half minutes. A farmer in the audience recollects earlier days, before the use of electric shears, when wool was a more valuable commodity and it took 10 minutes to do each Devon and Cornwall Longwool sheep, then a common variety in this county. Soon, despite the attractions of fairground, food and trade stalls, shiny new machinery and the flower marquee, our attention wanders towards the parade of prizewinning stock. Animals decorated with rosettes, led by white-coated handlers and marshalled by bowler-hatted stewards, move on to the main ring and Princess Alexandra, who is to present the trophies. Close to the groomed cattle breeds we admire the variation in size, form and colour. The curly dark coats of sturdy Rubies, or North Devons, contrast with the sleek brown hides of South Devons. A champion Charolais bull with beefy rump dwarfs the dainty Jersey cows and short-legged Dexters. Black and white Holsteins stand tall with bony frames and milky udders. Away from the ring, near the valuers’ stands, there is talk of lower prices for cereals, milk, fat lambs and bullocks, of the possibility of a standstill or even reduction in rents for tenanted land. In our home parish the largest farm is already managed less intensively; cereal fields, previously treated with expensive sprays and chemical fertilisers, have been resown as pasture. Instead of buying costly young stock at markets the farmer has invested in South Devon cows and a Limousin bull who will produce calves for fattening on the farm. Twitter @GdnCountryDiary |