Austen Davies

Will the 8,000-cow dairy farm ever be a reality?

Nocton Dairies Ltd is a company with ambitious ideas. It has submitted a planning application to build and run the UK’s biggest dairy farm.

Last updated 5 March 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Clarification

In Austen Davies’ January column in Cumbria Farmer, it was claimed that Cumbria County Council’s chief executive Jill Stannard had a generous expense account, a luxury company car and eight weeks of annual leave. We would like to point out that she does not have a company car, claims basic expenses and has 29 days holiday a year.

Last updated 9 February 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Will the Animal Health Bill bring any benefits? I very much doubt it!

So, it has arrived; the draft Animal Health Bill has been published and various people are already crawling over it trying to work out what it means.

Last updated 9 February 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Salute to an inspirational farmer

Dinah Williams passed on to that great small-holding in the sky just a few weeks ago having chalked up a splendid ‘98-not-out’ – a great score by any measure.The Game Season is in full flow and we’ve seen some fine birds already – a splendid reflection of the care and dedication of that unsung hero of the countryside, the gamekeeper.

Last updated 8 December 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

The disposal of fallen stock directive – so what’s that all about?

Your Old Boar has always had a deep-rooted respect for the stoicism that is a necessary qualification for anyone involved in farming – or in food production per se, for that matter.Dr Rowan Williams has made a controversial contribution to the great Climate Change Debate by suggesting that, as a nation, we should ‘eat seasonally’ and cut down on food air-miles by boycotting fruit and vegetables flown in from Africa.September saw the passing of a very special lady at the splendid age of 98; that being one Dinah Williams. It’s not a name known to everyone – not unless you are familiar with the history of the Soil Association – but she was a pivotal figure in the field of agricultural and farming excellence throughout the 20th century.

Last updated 10 November 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Some things are inevitable: sun rise, politicians with a limited attention span and the UK's lights going out...

As one ‘matures’ with the passing of the seasons, one begins to form a kind of affinity with constancy, together with a great appreciation of consistency.

Last updated 13 October 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Farming? Rural affairs? Not in Hilary’s world...

Rocky the cockerel, from away down in the New Forest, is no more; bereft of life, he rests in peace. He is, to all intents and purposes, an ex-cockerel – a “Little Dead Rooster” as one of the Nationals rather indelicately put it. Rocky is deceased.Anybody heard any words of wisdom from the Met Office concerning the kind of weather we might ‘enjoy’ this winter? No? Well – even though the Old Boar’s equipment isn’t quite as sophisticated as some others – you can have my tan penn’ath for nowt...

Last updated 8 September 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Why doesn’t anybody care about the plight of the DFoB investers?

Just a couple of years ago the winter headlines were full of recriminations about failed Christmas club operator Farepak. July already – just where is this year going to? Apart from ‘round the bend’, that is.

Last updated 21 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Blame culture is a risk to your bank balance

‘Twas a delightfully balmy evening as your Old Boar rested his broad buttocks on the bench thoughtfully provided in Carlisle’s Lonsdale Street bus depot. I had arranged to meet a young lady travelling up from Warwickshire for a season of good, honest, Cumbrian gut-slogging; foolish child!

Last updated 29 June 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Let me tell you a story of dead fish, Euro madness and trawlermen in prison

It is likely, good reader, that you will, at some time or other, have come across Eric Bogle’s Ballad of Private Willie McBride or No Man’s Land, as he called it – or The Green Fields of France as it is sometimes known – and a very moving story it is. Dairy produce gets a pretty bad press these days despite the fact that milk, cream and cheese have been staples since Mrs Ugg found that if she mixed a bit of bile with her daily pinta interesting things began to happen. (It must remain one of life’s little mysteries as to why she did it!)

Last updated 12 May 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Depressing truth about mankind’s so-called salvation

I’m not remotely happy. Your Old Boar is feeling cheated and let down – not to say angry – because you, me, and countless others have been taken in by the lies of the experts. AGAIN.Environmentalists who had swallowed the green lie whole watched in horror as their beloved rainforests were cleared in order to grow fuel crops.

Last updated 14 April 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

On the subject of game birds, natural predators and other dumb animals

Life’s a game – or so they say – and at this time of the year your Old Boar’s life pretty well is game... game birds at least.

Last updated 10 February 2009
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

Irish referendum imminent; dioxin levels ‘safe’. Are these two linked?

Your Old Boar feels desperately sorry for the Irish pork producers – on both sides of the border – who got caught up in the dioxin contamination issue last month. And, indeed, for the cattle farmers as well.

Last updated 13 January 2009
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

Defra – one day I’ll wake up and discover that it was all just a bad dream

What you are about to read is a work of fiction, a complete fabrication, as obviously nothing like this could happen in a well run democracy.

Last updated 9 December 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

Our politicians really do need to get up to speed on bluetongue

Whenever we talk about bluetongue and its handling by the politicians, it is important to remember that, because this virus is spread via a midge rather than by direct contact with an infected animal, the ‘disease front’ would advance at about one kilometre a day, pretty well whatever we did.Just as there are lessons to learn from bluetongue, there are lessons to be learned from TB; especially as it has been announced that the Bovine TB Eradication Group has been launched.

Last updated 18 November 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

No happy endings for the selfish and short-sighted UK shoppers

Just a few short weeks ago we were proclaiming the high prices being achieved for beef and lamb – and stressing how important it was for them to remain that way given the ever soaring cost of fuel and feed.It’s beginning to look a bit grim not to say ‘desperate’ in the vegetable market right now. Whilst cereal growers continue to command ever higher prices on the back of world shortages, their veggie counterparts are being squeezed dry by the supermarkets as they try to balance a book that is increasingly weighted the wrong way. An acre is 4,840 square yards and a law was passed setting out its statutory size in the early 14th century under Edward I. It is, quite simply, one of Britain’s most historic imperial measurements – and it is to be banned by the EU in January 2010.

Last updated 18 November 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

What the global warming industry needs is a good blast of a proper winter...

Never is an awfully long time, so your Old Boar exercises a degree of caution in employing the word, but I really can’t recall ever seeing a September like it; I shall remember 2008 as being the year that every hedgerow and coppice seemed to turn crimson.

Last updated 14 October 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

HRH is right – we need to start working WITH nature, not against her

The Old Boar will miss the Terra Madre convention in Turin this autumn because senior management is demanding his attendance elsewhere.

Last updated 9 September 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

My granny would have told us to dig for victory, but what did she know?

We have, I believe, reached what the charismatic business gurus call a “strategic inflection point” – that is, a position on the curve of change where the balance of forces shifts from the old structure, from the old ways of doing things and the old ways of operating, to the new. Integrity. Dictionary definition: “The quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards.”

Last updated 15 July 2008
Published by http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk

Does anyone out there know: what is the point of the 24-month rule?

In March 2006, Margaret Beckett, as head of Defra, had the difficult job of hailing the end of the over 30-month beef ban as some kind of political triumph, whilst simultaneously announcing the introduction of the disgraceful 24-month rule – so as to standardise with procedures in Europe.

Last updated 17 June 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk