farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm UpdateDung beetles!Spring seeding for harvest 2021 is finished!As I write that statement at the start of April I can barely believe it, given the heinous Autumn and Winter that we have just gone through. It wasn’t the smoothest seed-drilling campaign. I think the word bitty describes it best, i.e., we would get one or two fields done, try to move on only to be hampered either by weather, or the next field simply not being in a fit state.However, we got it all done in March, including the peas and the lentils. And 31st March saw us sowing a small (0.8 hectare) trial of flax for linen, for a girl I met last year, Rosie Bristow (@straw_into_gold). I’m sure there will be much more on this flax trial in future articles, and indeed there may also be an opportunity for some volunteering to rod the crop (rodding means pulling up the crop, which is one of the steps of its harvest).Flax seed!The flax being sownWith the majority of field work now completed (just the winter bird food yet to sow), we have had the chance to concentrate on some of my trees in my agroforestry project. I have done the first formative pruning on most of them (which is frighteningly severe!), and we have begun staking the trees to ensure that the root ball of the tree doesn’t move. I do still need to get a gang in to give me a hand at laying a few thousand weed suppressant mats though…. If anyone fancies volunteering for a day or two with that, please get in touch.Lots of the trees have come out into gorgeous bud and blossom now, which begins to make the project feel very worthwhile. And there is even the first fruit forming: figs on the tiny fig whips! These trees are far too young to fruit (I want them to concentrate on rooting and growing for a start), so I will strip that off, but it is still exciting to see. The aroma from some of the plants is tremendous too; most especially for me from the blackcurrants – a delicate smell reminiscent of my childhood when I visited my grandmother.Tiny figs on the little whipsTalking of agroforestry, the first weekend of May (1st and 2nd) sees the inaugural ‘Anglian Agroforestry Farms Open Weekend’. Wakelyns Agroforestry (David Wolfe, Martin’s son) & Maple Farm (Mike Mallett), both in Suffolk, and Whitehall Farm (Stephen Briggs) in Peterborough are participating too, demonstrating more established systems. Whilst Shimpling Park Farm (John Pawsey) & Fellows Farm (Ben MacKinnon, also of E5 Bakehouse) alongside me are showing newly established plantings of agroforestry. It promises to be an excellent weekend, and we have all been delighted with the uptake of interest in the event. If anyone wants to know more, please do email me. Although as a date for the diary, LEAF Open Farm Sunday will be taking place here again (Covid-permitting) on Sunday, 13th June.One of the most exciting things this past month was a discovery I made whilst down with the cows. As you do, I was on my knees crouched over a day-old dung pat, interrogating the life that it held – which is usually just those weird yellow-orange flies which seem to be perpetually fighting or mating (sometimes both at the same time).Flies: an important part of an healthy ecosystemBut then I couldn’t believe it… Something that very much to my untrained eyes looked to be a dung beetle! I can understand why a layperson might not be especially excited by this, but it is actually one of the most promising signs of success in terms of the way I am farming. My sighting and picture have now been confirmed as aphodius prodromus (a dwelling dung beetle) by the ‘DungbeetlesUK’ WhatsApp group of which I am now a member. There’s a WhatsApp group for everything!My first dung beetle. Since this, I have spotted at least on other type of dung beetle. Super exciting!Ecosystems build from the bottom up. You know that your system is working when you begin seeing a proliferation of larger mammals and birds, since higher levels of the food web obviously feed on the preceding levels. Dung beetles feed (unsurprisingly) on dung. So why is it a surprise to have dung beetles present?It is commonplace for farmers to worm their cattle and other livestock, much in the same way that most people also worm and flea their cats and dogs. In fact many of the commonplace spot-on treatments for dogs and cats contain a chemical called imidacloprid which is a neonicotinoid insecticide – neonicotinoids have been in the press a lot due to their detrimental effects on wildlife, yet can be used by untrained animal owners on their which seems somewhat alarming!That aside, pour-on wormers (synthetic anthelmintics) for cattle actually remain in the animal for well over a year (the actual length of time is unknown and thought to be considerably longer), and the product is excreted out in the animal’s dung. This dung is then contaminated, and since the insecticide used is broad-spectrum, it kills any life attempting to consume that dung: namely in this instance dung beetles.We haven’t used synthetic anthelmintics for five or six years on the farm. However the type of cattle Dad previously bought in would have likely been treated for worms at their previous holding. Now that we have our own herd, we have much greater control over this (and I know the cows weren’t treated for worms where they came from). So hopefully it is clear why I should be so thrilled at seeing my first dung beetle – a key sign of ecosystem recovery.I was almost tripped up a few weeks ago with my cows, since they had an outbreak of mites, and had rubbed large areas of their coat away to the skin. I was advised that I should use a pour-on treatment, which happened to be the same sort of product which would worm the animal and kill any life feeding on the dung.I asked around a few experienced farming friends, who are farming with ecology front and centre like me. They advised that the mites were likely just an issue at this time of year. I was surprised to have the mites since the cows were outside, but something had allowed them to be infected. I was told to have a bit of patience and the mites should clear up on their own.Pleasingly, this is exactly the case. The bald patches on my animals have all regrown with new hair (albeit still quite short at the moment), and I didn’t have to compromise on something exceptionally important to me.It is still imperative that I take worm burden seriously with my herd. We are managing them for worms by regularly moving the herd (we aren’t quite moving daily yet, but are getting there), plus we ensure that naturally anthelmintic plants such as chicory, birdsfoot trefoil and sainfoin are present in the paddocks that they graze – this should naturally help kill worms in their guts, and prevent proliferation of worms. I will also be doing annual egg counts from their dung.A contented, holistically managed, cowThe regular movement is vital, since it prevents a cow grazing where another has defecated, stopping that cow being infected with the worm. The life cycle of a worm is around 40 days, so you can’t bring the herd back to grazing a parcel of land for at least 40 days. But once you get your head around these management techniques, they are actually pretty simple. And if it means not having to use toxic chemicals, and the presence of dung beetles, then that can only be a good thing!The start of April sees my employee Paul taking a week off. My intention is to have a somewhat quieter week as a result. That being said, I will be visiting a couple of farms with the aim of buying a few more cows and a bull, so fingers crossed for that!Contact details:George Young07792 508 611George@FobbingFarms.co.uk@farmingGeorge