December 2022

Posted on by Edwin Brooks

COW CLUB AGM – Saturday 19th November

A write up from Sue Beresford: 

What a great turnout. As people drifted in, cuppas were made and the fire lit as we chatted and got better acquainted. The meeting started proper at 3.30pm, magnificently chaired by Ed. It was a gratifyingly lively meeting with many people contributing their thoughts and ideas. We are particularly grateful to Peter and Lou Searight from The Lynchmere Society for their input and for the many offers to help with club admin.  

Once the meeting came to a close, we tucked into really tasty, build-your-own burgers, beef or mutton (from Hollycombe Home Farm), cooked over the fire.  Delicious!  And, of course, a drink and more chat.  A big thank you to everybody who brought a pud (Beryl’s lemon pud was a delight!) and we hope you will all come again next year.

A special thank you goes out to Ed Jenner for the use of the Rusty Barn at Hollycombe Home Farm (check them out here:  https://www.hollycombehomefarm.com/events) Altogether, a successful afternoon (…and home in time for Strictly ! – if that’s your guilty pleasure)

Meeting minutes can be viewed in our Google Drive folder.
Meeting Minutes

HERD NEWS

An update from Gareth Hopkins

After approximately five months on the commons, the main herd were taken off on Wednesday 7th December. They have done a good job eating gorse, young birch saplings and brambles. 

They are now grazing Roundabouts Field, enjoying some good grass which will be supplemented with some hay as and when required. We took them off the common now to avoid the significant increase in walker numbers over the Christmas holiday period, as this can be stressful for the cows.

In November the vet pregnancy tested the 11 cows, but unfortunately only Dawn – one of our young heifers – is pregnant. She is apparently due to calve in February/March. So if all goes well, we hope to welcome our first calf in over three years. It is unlikely that most of the older cows will get pregnant now, so we will need to consider replacing some of them. Of course the main reason for having the cattle is for conservation and the older cattle are very effective at this.

 In the last news letter we let you know that we have bought some new stock from Wales in early July. Three steers for Cow Club and three for my own herd. They had to be kept in quarantine until early November while they awaited a post movement TB test. The test results were negative so the Cow Club’s three young steers have now joined the bull and heifer at the fields next to the barn. These new cattle have settled in well and have got noticeably bigger in the five months they have been with us. 

Beef

One of our Heifers has had an ongoing health issue (a labial polyp or growth) and also Dave was not entirely happy with her temperament, so we removed her from the common some time ago and she has been keeping the bull company in the fields. The vet was not keen to operate, and because of her temperament we do not want to keep her so we have booked her in to be sent to slaughter in February. We will be taking orders for beef boxes in January. 

MEMBERSHIP

We are trying to better organise membership and subscriptions to reduce the admin workload, thanks to Jeanette who has come forward to help with membership admin, and also to Cherry for taking time to look into tech solutions. Currently Basil who looks after the website is working on a system that will take payments and look after membership data for us. We are aiming to have this system in place in time for everyone to use it in January. Hopefully it will make things a lot easier going forward and really cement our membership as being at the heart of what we do.

At the AGM we discussed the financial situation of the Cow Club, which honestly is not very good. We talked about a couple of options for the future. One option might be to make the Cow Club part of The Lynchmere Society (TLS), which has a bigger budget than us and has always supported us with the majority of our operational budget. Combining with TLS would mean that our running costs were covered by them, and revenue from memberships and beef sales would go to them too. This could be a really good option as we do not graze other land and are really only concerned with Lynchmere Common’s conservation. It’s possible that it would give us less freedom, but this may not be an issue.

Another option would be to ask TLS for a higher grazing fee (the amount they pay us to graze the commons) to cover the costs of what we are doing (they have already increased our fee from £6000 to £7500 per annum). We could also increase membership and/or membership fees and try to sell more beef. The beef sales are not hugely profitable due to the costs involved – they help, but funding the project mainly from beef sales is not really an easy option regardless of how many cows we buy in for beef. These decisions are very much ongoing and it’s an emergent discussion. We will of course consult members before any further action is taken. 

On that note, despite our wish to keep the price per kilo of the beef the same as last year, our brilliant AGM attendees voted for a small increase in line with inflation.

AND FINALLY

A reminder of why we do this, and why it’s important. Apart from making a grand Sunday roast, sumptuous stew or delicious bolognese, our beef is locally grown and full of all the goodness and trace elements you will ever need!

A short video (10min), beautifully shot, from the SDNPA’s Heathlands Reunited project

More detailed info:
Farm Wildlife – Lowland Heath

A map showing local heathlands within the SDNPA if you would like to explore

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

July 2022

Posted on by Edwin Brooks
The Herd on Lynchmere Little Common

Those who walk on Lynchmere Little Common will notice that the cows have been back at work for the last few weeks, catching up on some much needed conservation duties controlling the bramble and birch. They kept close to the water trough during the heatwave, but whilst in amongst the trees they did not seem overly affected by the heat, unlike us!

As you will be aware, last year’s grazing reintroduction was a real success. The Cow Club team worked hard to stay extra vigilant, checking the cows two or three times a day. We were conscious that that over the Christmas period the footfall on the commons reaches its peak.
Although the cows coped very well and there where no problems, we did have to ask quite a lot of people to control their dogs better. As always the majority of dog walkers were responsible but we urge our supporters to let us know if they see any dogs out of control or bothering the cows. We have decided to trial an adjustment to our grazing regime to keep the the cows off the commons over the Christmas holidays and avoid any potential stress to the animals by the increased footfall and large numbers of dogs at that busy period. 

As last year, our system is to keep cows to alternate sides of the road (Lynchmere ‘big’ and ‘small’ commons). Our highly visible signage shows which common is currently being grazed, so that anyone wishing to walk on a common without meeting cows has the option to use the other side. 

Could you be a ‘Cow Looker?’

While the cows are out grazing the commons they are being checked several times daily by our stockman Dave, Gareth our director, myself and Sue. We would really love to get our wonderful members involved with checking on the cows too, especially those who already enjoy walking on the commons and seeing the cows.

We would like to set up a training day for ‘Cow Lookers’. This will be a simple rota of walkers who can learn the basics of checking the cows and what to look out for, and feed back by posting a quick message in a WhatsApp group that we will set up for the purpose. Anyone could do this task after a morning’s session with Dave, and it can be a fun activity for families too.

If you are interested in finding out more, just get in touch and we will let you know some options for dates that we can introduce you to the cows while they are on the Little Common. 
The Bull’s arrival

Keffolds Kinsman – our new bull – arrived on 23rd January to meet our 12 females and get to work. The majority of our girls are starting to get on a bit and haven’t had calves for many years now. This combined with the fact that they didn’t lose any weight in the mild winter makes getting pregnant more difficult. Kinsman was born in May 2019 so is just over three years old now and beginning to look like a real bull. He has a good temperament but will probably get a bit grumpy now that he is in the field with just one cow.

Pregnancy
In early June we had the vet round to pregnancy test the cows and were disappointed to discover that only one of the 12 was pregnant, and a further two might just have got pregnant. So we got the cows tested for two diseases which can prevent successful pregnancy (Neaspora and BVD). We were very relieved to get negative results. Kinsman remained with the cows until 10th July when they returned to the common, so hopefully when we test them again in a few months time we will have better news. 

Newcomers to the herd

Because we haven’t bred any calves ourselves over the last three years, we need to build a beef supply and introduce some new cattle into the herd. On the 9th June, five steers and one heifer were delivered to the fields in Lynchmere. It had proven impossible to source Belted Galloways locally, so we ended up buying these cattle from the Danlan herd in Camarthen, South Wales. They set off their home farm at 5am on the Saturday morning to avoid the heat of the day and arrived with us at about 11am.

The Danlan herd has been a closed herd for 10 years, which means that no cattle have been brought into the herd and they use artificial insemination rather than introduce new bulls. This means there is a far less risk of disease.Three steers are owned by the Cow Club, and two steers and a heifer are owned by Gareth. Cow Club has the option to buy the heifer Ethol, if we decide to replace some of the older cows who prove not to be fertile. The cattle will be kept separate from the rest of the herd until they have a second TB test in three months time. They were of course tested before they were allowed to be moved.Currently the new six are a bit timid, but once Dave works his magic, we are confident that they will become easy to handle. Once they have fully settled in and been thoroughly assessed we might possibly let them join the cows on the common next year. They are pictured above in a neat line!In April 2022 Gareth gifted the bull Keffolds Kinsman and the heifer Dawn to cow club. Dawn was born in February 2019 so is three years old, she has been grazing with the herd since March 21, (see photo). Dawn is a very placid animal, so ideal for the common (she is pictured above).Beef 
We still have a few cuts and joints of frozen beef left. If you would like some of this fantastic quality meat please reply to this email and we can let you know what’s available. 

We are planning to send one of our younger heifers off for beef this autumn. She is not likely to be a good breeding cow as she has a minor health issue, and doesn’t have the gold star temperament we look for in our grazing animals. We will be in touch soon with details of how to reserve a beef box. 

Membership Fees
We are currently working on a new way to take membership fees for Cow Club, if you haven’t paid a membership fee this year then please do go ahead and pay using the donate button on our website, we will be sending around specific reminders when the new system takes over as well. 
 
Thank you so much for reading, and for your continued support. Please do get in touch with any questions. We’d especially love to here from you if you’d like more information about training as a “Cow Looker’.

Reintroduction of Grazing in 2021

Posted on by Edwin Brooks

Let me bring you up to date with developments: back in 2019, our membership met and it was agreed that the animals who were involved in the incident would not go back onto public land, and so these animals were promptly sold. We did have cows who were not on the common at the time, and were living separately in the fields. These cows have borne us two more calves since then who have developed well into young heifers, and we are now approaching a trial grazing of Lynchmere Little Common around the middle of January. 

Below is more information about the changes that have taken place within the Cow Club and our plans for the new year. 

Grazing the Commons in January

David has been closely monitoring the behaviour of the herd over the summer and is very happy with their temperament. They were introduced to a field with public access back in September without any problems. With a new risk assessment, improved safety procedures and a different approach, David is confident that the animals are safe to be reintroduced to the commons.

We have decided to do this first on the little common, which has good access on and off from “Roundabouts” field (adjacent to the commons in Lynchmere). If there should be any problems we would be able to move the cattle more easily into “Roundabouts” where they are away from public access.

New Signs
The Heathlands Reunited Project has continued to support us by funding the new signs for grazing. We have permanent signs affixed to gates at points of entry. We also have larger warning signs with our new dedicated phone line number which will inform the public when the cows are on the commons and advertise that number.

One of the two new signs, these will be up whenever the cows are out on the commons. There are also permanent gatepost signs that will remain in place year round.
New Equipment
With funding from the Heathlands Reunited Project we have some amazing new equipment – a cattle crush and handling system are now installed at the barn, and will be invaluable in helping ensure the health and safety of our cows. We also have a top of the range new stock trailer to make movements easier and safer.
The new Bateson stock trailer, bought for us by the Heathlands Reunited project.
 
New Risk Assessment and Safety Systems
We have a new risk assessment, put together after extensive research and collaboration with other grazing projects. We also have new safety protocol in place. If you would like to see/discuss the work we have done here, please email us for for more detailed information. 
 

Your Membership
I hope this will be a new start for the Cow Club, and if we are to make it a success after all we’ve been through as a community, we will need all of your support. We did not accept membership this year as we weren’t completely sure of the road ahead. Now we are asking anyone who supports the grazing of the commons to come forward and become a member of the Cow Club.

The yearly membership fee per household is £45 per year. As before, you can become a member by making a donation of this amount on our website www.lynchmeregrazing.com and clicking on the ‘donate’ button. We will then automatically keep you on the mailing list going forward, and you will be invited to any events and kept up to date on a monthly basis.

Those who do not donate to join by the end of January will get a reminder and then stop being members (this means not getting the newsletter and invitations to events, info on beef sales etc.) If you’d like to be removed straight away, just reply to this email with the word “remove”, although we’d really appreciate any feedback you can give at the same time.  

Beef
We don’t have immediate plans to supply our members with beef, but we will be looking at doing this next year. We will arrange a meeting of members when social distancing rules allow to discuss this and gauge interest. The beef is sold exclusively to our members. 

A New Director

Posted on by Edwin Brooks

I’m pleased to say that we have an excellent new company director – Gareth Hopkins. Gareth is a long standing local resident with a background in farming and a lot of experience with cows. Gareth is helping in a voluntary capacity with all kinds of admin and with cattle movements, as well as offering guidance from his wealth of experience. We would still welcome a third director so please do come forward if you feel that this is something you’d like to get involved with. 
 

New Website

Posted on by Edwin Brooks

Welcome to our new website. The photos we have used here are from ‘The Remarkable Studio’.

Many of you will be familiar with the work of Peter and Lou Searight who live right on the commons. Peter takes fantastic photos, many of which are of the commons and some lovely ones of our cows.

To see more of these go to: theremarkablestudio.com