Huge value of mentoring scheme
Following government advice, and to slow the spread of the virus, the British Grassland Society team (myself, Celia and Sandra) are all working from home, and a number of our planned events have been cancelled or postponed.
The 13th BGS Research Conference on Multi-Species Swards, due to take place last week, has been postponed and will hopefully take place in October.
Our Spring Farm Walks, in association with AHDB and LIC, which were scheduled for April will now take place next spring and the summer meeting has also been moved to next year, so we will look forward to visiting Northern Ireland in 2021.
One event that did place was our Grazing Mentors Farm Walk at Hook-a-Gate, Shrewsbury.
A young farming couple, Duncan and Sarah Howie, explained how they moved their 300-cow dairy herd from an all-year-round calving pattern to autumn block calving with the help of mentors Matthew Ingram and Tony Evans.
With the use of fencing they created paddocks that are 3.2 hectares in size and are grazed for 24 hours. Being able to pick up the phone and speak to Matthew, for help and reassurance, was crucial for them when making the changes on their farm.
The Grazing Mentors Project, funded by the Prince’s Countryside Fund, has now come to an end but BGS may be looking to run a similar project in the future.
Tom Goatman, British Grassland Society chief executive.
