A Visit to the Presidents
of the 2015 Royal Welsh Show
and the Lady Ambassador.
|
2nd June, 2015.
Along with a dozen other members of the press, I eagerly accepted an invitation to visit the Presidents of this year's Royal Welsh Show, David and Nancy Morgan, their daughter Sue, and Hannah Barry, the 2015 Royal Welsh Lady Ambassador.
From the moment of arrival, I was struck with the immaculate appearance of
the farm. The farmhouse, old enough to have ceiling beams and wood panelled
walls, was tucked away behind enticing barn conversions. A garden archway
gave glimpses of a lawn beyond, and a huge tree sheltered a picturesque old
hut on the edge of the garden. Mr Morgan told me with a smile that I couldn't
drive away with the mowbot that kept the lawns immaculate. ;-) (A lawnmower
that does the job on its own is just what busy people need in the summer, and a
symbol of what we were to see.) Undulating fields rose to woods that formed
the horizon, except for a glimpse in the west of the distant Black Mountains.
The fields produced grass for silage and maize for animal feeds.
After coffee, and an introduction during which Mr Morgan described his
farming experiences for us to ask questions, we set out to see the enterprise.
The farmyard, like the surroundings of the house, was immaculate. (That word came to mind constantly!) In the first
barn, we saw young homebred heifers looking very comfortable in large pens
with deep straw. Then came the "maternity unit" - a spacious barn also full of
deep straw - where cows that had calved in the last week nursed their calves -
taken away at the age of five or six days.
There are, of course, cameras to keep an eye on calving.
Although most
calves were Holsteins like their mothers, some Belgian Blue semen was used to
produce calves reared for meat. Also, a study of genetic factors was gradually
produced more long-lived cows; the current average age being about six.
Then we came to a barn full of milking cattle. They normally live indoors all
year round, with top-quality home-grown maize and silage forming most of
their diet. They had no straw bedding, but lay on sawdust, and were so clean it
seemed to be enough for comfort. Fascinated, we watched as a cow who felt
the need to be milked came into a pen where a bowl of food automatically
moved in front of her and a robot milker found her teats.
I admit to preconceived notions. There is the story of the dairy farmers who
receive less money for their milk than it costs to produce. There was no sign of
the Morgans suffering this! Everything we saw was not only immaculate; it also
told the story of huge investment into up-to-date technology for a successful
business. "Long-term investment," Mr Morgan commented.
My previous experience of dairy farming in the 90's concerned a Holstein
Friesian herd, brought in twice a day - too early in the morning for my liking! -
with milking machines attached by hand. The farmer did his best to prevent his
grazing getting poached by keeping the cattle in when the ground was soft from
rain, so inevitably the cattle shed got dirty. Most cows of course were
artificially inseminated, yet I recall seeing a cow and a bull together in a large
pen.
Forget those days! This is 21st century dairy farming!
I've been critical of what I've heard of dairy cattle kept indoors, because it
sounds as though the cattle suffer from lack of exercise and access to grassy
pasture. I guess that, like stabled horses, these cattle would appreciate a
holiday in a field when the weather was good, but I couldn't see any evidence
of them disliking life in their huge airy shed. In fact the previous day the
weather had been so wild that they had surely been much happier inside!
I was curious about the economics of keeping cattle indoors. Every horse
owner knows that it costs a lot more to stable horses than to keep them out at
grass. How could it pay to keep the cattle in? According to Mr Morgan, it
depended on the farmer and his system. Half found it cheaper to keep milking
cows at grass, and the other half not.
One cow tried to enter the milking area, but it rejected her. On enquiry, I
discovered that the sensor on her collar revealed that she had fed so recently
she wasn't due for more food yet. These sensors told all sorts of things - not
only how much the cow ate, and how much milk she gave, but how much
exercise she had - a very telling point for indoor cattle. Mr Morgan agreed that
if the cows had no exercise, it would be just as bad for them as life as couch
potatoes is for us. Groups of cattle were separated by barriers and only the
milking was automatic - a few stockmen were going quietly about their work.
When we expressed an interest in the farm's chickens, we were led past little
huts reminiscent of kennels, where calves rested on deep straw or came out in
individual runs. I asked how long their mothers called for them when parted,
and was told it was only a day or two. (Just what I expected - when mares and
foals are separated they only whinny for each other for a few days, and if later
turned out together, show no signs of any special bond.)
Beyond them was another huge barn, with solar panels powering indoor
lighting. We entered a small room where computers controlled the chickens'
environment, and one by one, looked through a window into the interior. One
person after another reacted with: "Ahhh!" Cute 5-day-old chicks were
scampering around. It was some chicken shed - there were 35,000 of them!
I asked what breed they were, but Mr Morgan answered that they are a
commercial hybrid whose ancestry he didn't know. Since they were all yellow,
they would be white when their feathers grew. Line after line of automatic
feeders were tilted because that encouraged the birds to feed. Chicks gathered
in big huddles by the walls, but in the middle of the wide spaces between lines
of feeders, they were up to something else - chicken races!
The birds had only been in for a few days, so the shed looked clean and
spacious, but when I enquired about eventual crowding, I learned that although
the birds will eventually find themselves with little space, they would be big
enough for meat in only another 32 days. They are crowded for a few days
only - much less than I expected! - and birds of this breeding develop bones
strong enough to support their weight for that brief time. The other problem
associated with broiler birds is that of sores on their legs and feet from the
inevitably dirty floor. I didn't ask about this, but I doubt sores can develop in
such a short time.
Out in the open air, I looked around at fields and woodland and asked Mr
Morgan if he owned all the land as far as the eye can see. I'd forgotten the
Black Mountains - not visible from that point - but the Morgans owned
everything else. What did Mr Morgan do with the woodland that edged the
fields? That is left to grow, and would in time be harvested for timber.
So I was left with a host of extremely good impressions. Forget the usual idea
of farmyards being mucky – as I said before, the word that constantly came to mind was
immaculate! Also I have of course heard horrible things about the intensive
farming of animals, so, at the top of my list, where was the cruelty?
Animal rights groups and vegans produce videos so frightful that frequently I
can't bear to watch them. On other occasions they can contain a lot of
exaggeration, even faked abominations. Here all these ideas about intensive
farming were turned upside down! From now on I will judge each enterprise
separately!
Mr Morgan told me that, given the chance, the cattle would go out briefly, then
come back in. In a perfect world, I expect the cattle and chickens would
indeed appreciate outings into the fields in fine weather. In a less-than-perfect
world, they appeared content in the conditions they were in. The chickens
could run around at speed without fear of predators, and the cattle were
monitored by their sensors to make sure they had enough exercise to keep
them healthy. If I could be certain that the meat and milk I buy had come from
farms with such high standards, I would forgo my current insistence on free
range and organic food.
Most of all, I enjoyed meeting such good-natured and hospitable hosts. When
they bade us goodbye, I felt how pleased I would be if I could return at some
time.
Rosemary Cooper.