[Eceni]

Hi people,

And thank you for being here.  I used to be a vet (specialised in anaesthesia/intensive care), then became a novelist (still am) and now my partner and I live on 28 acres of beautiful south Shropshire hillside and are learning regenerative agriculture from the ground up - seems to be one of the keys to mitigating the whole climate and ecological emergency, so feels important both to do it and to do it well enough that the trad/industrial farmers around us can see that it’s useful.

We’re slowly moving to regenerative farming - the last of the sheep leave at the end of the year - and undergoing organic transition.  We’ve got a reasonable growing area (learning curve is pretty much vertical) and a friend is starting an organic tree nursery on the flat land when the sheep move off. 

 I went to look at the Rare Dairy recently (north of the county) and their Shetland dairy cows… as a displaced Scot (desperately wanting to go home, but may have to wait until after independence), they seem like a rather lovely option. BUT, wife and 2 of the grandkids are much better on A2 milk.  I saw that there are some homozygous A2 bulls but not at all sure about finding homozygous A2 cows — if anyone has any thoughts about that, please do let me know. Otherwise, we’ll probably head for Jerseys where there seems a wider gene pool and more choice of other things like BB Kapa Casein.

Anyways, that apart, we have a very old working cocker spaniel, 3 cats and 3 hens and two ponies: dam and her now 2yo foal.  I got interested in behaviour while I as a vet and so all our animals are R+ trained - and the elder of the two ponies *hates* being ridden, so all my ideas of TREC competition are out of the window.  I’m thinking she might end up being useful around the farm, but she was pretty badly handled before we got her and I’m not keen on the ‘instilling learned helplessness’ techniques that are most horse training, so if she hates it, she can keep on being a rather elaborate grass-mower.

That apart, we’re endeavouring to build a community that might withstand the coming supply chain collapse/other culturally catastrophic things.

And very happy to have found you.

[arobwk]

Hi [member=222152]Eceni[/member] - welcome to the forum.  I'm personally not actually familiar with the term "regenerative farming" and what it really entails. And pray tell, if you wouldn't mind, why are sheep not part of that picture, but cows are !?

[Fleecewife]

Hello and welcome [member=222152]Eceni[/member] from our smallholding in Scotland.


I await your reply to arobwk with interest.  It seems to me that smallholding comes in waves. I believe that after the First World War holdings of about 4 acres were provided for ex servicemen to feed their families.  Then in the '70s there was the boom of Hippy smallholding, going back to Nature in Wales and aiming at self sufficiency following John Seymour and his bevy of young ladies. Then when they had either gone home or stayed the journey and become permanent fixtures, smallholding in general quietened down, or so it seemed to me. We sneaked in under the radar when all else was quiet, as I think did many people on TAS.  No longer was self sufficiency the main aim, the lifestyle was more important, or as my (farmer) father scatheingly put it 'oh you're a HOBBY farmer'.  Now we have a wave of regenerative smallholders coming on the scene in the wake of Isabella Tree's book on Rewilding.
It will be interesting to hear your story and follow your progress. I think there are some large pitfalls for those who jump on the bandwagon without doing the research; it sounds as you have been doing yours, so as I say I shall be following your progress with great interest.

[Rosemary]

Why wait until after independence? We need good folk now. As Alasdair Grey said "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" Come home and build it with us.

Re Shetland cattle; we have kept and bred them since 2010. Love them and can talk about them for hours. There ARE Shetland cattle carrying the A2 gene. Albin Smith at Wharncilffe Shetlands has stock that carry the gene; there's a breeder in Wales who has been breeding for the A2 gene. You may not get A2A2 cattle at the first pass, but you can breed them for yourself. One bull in the RBST Gene Bank is A1A2 - Hengae Fearsome.
Sadly, the Shetland Cattle Herd Book Society is remarkably (but not surprisingly) unsupportive of A2, even refusing to sell me semen from its semen bank to have it tested for the A2 gene and failing to allow breeders to record A2 status on pedigree records. But it can be done. In fact, you've reminded me to get my bull tested - I expect him to be A1A1 but 

[Eceni]

hi people

[member=152775]arobwk[/member]  - there are probably better sites (certainly the FARM GATE podcast is excellent) but this is a good review of Regen Ag : https://regenerativefoodandfarming.co.uk/ Also this from the outstanding Caroline Grindrod: https://rootsofnature.co.uk/regenerative-agriculture-my-approach-caroline-grindrod/


Also - it's made it to the pages of the FT, which has to make it... a thing, right? (!)  https://www.ft.com/content/06626f2e-f32a-4021-a94b-6cd2cecd9747

[member=4333]Fleecewife[/member]  - sheep can definitely be a part of it, but not at the stocking densities that sheepwreck the land which is what’s been happening here for an age or two. We’ll let the land recover, start building soil health and see where we go.

[member=13]Rosemary[/member] - thank you… we’re still sorting who’s going to help - I’m still primarily writing novels and not remotely up for daily milking on my own… but local friends seem keen, so I’ll keep exploring. I imagine the gene pool of Shetlands is too small to start subdividing into A1/A2 so they’ll likely be hoping it’s a fad that will fade. Which is might if supply chains fail with the falling fossil fuel availability…

Good to be here - thank you all

Farm Gate podcast is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/farm-gate/id1490590788

[Eceni]

Why wait until after independence? We need good folk now. As Alasdair Grey said "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" Come home and build it with us.

I'd go home in a shot, but my wife has 5 grandkids all within an hour's drive of where we are, so.... it'll be hard to move. When independence happens, the tug north will be unassailable, I think, but in the meantime, we'll see what we can do here.

Re Shetland cattle; we have kept and bred them since 2010. Love them and can talk about them for hours. There ARE Shetland cattle carrying the A2 gene. Albin Smith at Wharncilffe Shetlands has stock that carry the gene; there's a breeder in Wales who has been breeding for the A2 gene. You may not get A2A2 cattle at the first pass, but you can breed them for yourself. One bull in the RBST Gene Bank is A1A2 - Hengae Fearsome.
Sadly, the Shetland Cattle Herd Book Society is remarkably (but not surprisingly) unsupportive of A2, even refusing to sell me semen from its semen bank to have it tested for the A2 gene and failing to allow breeders to record A2 status on pedigree records. But it can be done. In fact, you've reminded me to get my bull tested - I expect him to be A1A1 but 

This is really interesting... I really do want to head down the A2 route, but also love the Shetlands (also the NDS... which seem almost as lovely) BUT rare breeds have such tiny gene pools anyway, that deciding to narrow down to an even small gene pool seems... not hugely wise. 

not in any rush, though the more I look into it, the more entrancing it becomes.