Monthly notes on farming activities in and around Sulgrave have now been appearing on this website for two years. The author of these fascinating and informative notes is Richard Fonge, seen above in his role as commentator at Kenilworth Agricultural Show. From 1947 until 1975, Richard farmed with his father at Stuchbury Manor Farm. He then embarked on a long and varied career as a Farm Manager, the last 25 years of which was spent managing a farm at Kenilworth. He retired in 2010 and returned to live in Sulgrave. Richard was recently elected Chairman of Sulgrave Parish Council.

Richard’s Notes for October:

October has been so far a wet month, with showers and heavy rain. This has resulted in no wheat or indeed any other crop being planted. Wheat can be sown if conditions are right throughout the winter, but for barley and oats it is now too late and fields to be sown with these crops will have to wait until spring. The fields up the concrete road have been cultivated, this is when a set of tines and discs have been drawn through the ground, thereby disturbing the soil and breaking up the stubble residue from the previous crop, and in this particular case incorporating the lime that has been applied.

Lime as you will perhaps remember from my first notes is needed to keep the P.H. of the soil at the correct level. With G.P.S. being a part of all tractors, and the soil being tested for its nutrient values regularly it means that the lime in this case is applied at the correct rate to all parts of the field. It may be at two tonnes per acre down to zero. Therefore our satellite has a saving on inputs in many situations and the soil gets the required amount.

On the Stuchbury footpath in the field above the grass, different cultivations have taken place. The first third of the field has been planted grass, then we have a rough cultivated piece followed by our strip of wheat and then finally a strip of sanfoin. These two strips and the grass are part of an environmental scheme.

Up Barrow Hill the new crops will be drilled directly into the bean stubble, an alternative way of establishing a crop. The barrow at the top is now covered with grass and general vegetation after the eviction of the Badgers a few years ago. Badgers are much more prolific than they used to be partly due to the amount of maize being grown in and around the parish, with most of it being grown to create energy through anaerobic digesters. There is also the definite connection between tuberculosis in cattle and the badger, a contentious and sometimes emotive debate that has raged for many years. This year there have been two outbreaks in cattle in the area, resulting in the immediate slaughter of those infected animals. Regulations dictate that fields have to be empty for sixty days before restocking, so that is the reason for the absence of cattle in the usual fields. I hope and pray that these herds go clear at their next test for T.B. These are very worrying and stressful times for all concerned.

Finally I had the pleasure of judging a Farm Environmental Competition in the north Banbury area recently, and it is very encouraging to see the unheralded environmental work that is being done.

Richard Fonge

Colin Russell with his 1939 Fordson Standard

Richard Fonge writes:

We are experiencing some wonderfully warm September weather after what has been in general a good harvest. The yields of wheat have been exceptional, with the wet of June coming at the right time to fill the grain as it was forming. Farming is so weather dependent to produce the food we need to live, and in this country we have a climate that allows us to produce such a wide variety of meats, vegetables and grain to satisfy our appetites.

In our parish of Sulgrave we have the soil type to grow the grains and the pastures to rear the beef and lamb and for dairying. Whilst we can grow vegetables in our gardens the land is totally unsuitable for vegetables and soft fruit production on a commercial scale.

At present there is a strong debate within society around the eating of meat, but what we must remember that to treasure our countryside as we see it now, is that we must strike a sensible balance. An eminent academic recently stated that we should plough up the pastures used for beef and lamb production and use them for vegetable growing. By doing so he showed his ignorance and lack of research into soil types.

The many walks we can take around the village pass through fields with a variety of crops and whilst we all have the right to choose our diet, please remember that farmers would not graze cattle and sheep for the fun of it.

The blackberries are abundant this year and I have noticed that the chestnuts have plenty of conkers. On the Stuchbury footpath a strip of wheat has been left unharvested, which is a bit of a mystery why, but I will find the reason for the October notes. The ewes have returned onto the grass field on that path ready to receive the rams.

Earlier this month an annual vintage ploughing match took place in the field on your way to the Magpie. Some two dozen ploughmen took part, keeping an old tradition alive. Their dedication to maintaining these old tractors and ploughs in working order has to be admired. It makes you realise how far we have come in the mechanisation of agriculture when you see today’s machines working the land or passing through the village.

Finally a friend of mine the Rev Dr Gatward is preaching at our Harvest Festival, he is a countryman as well as a priest, and definitely well worth a listen. The service will be held in the church on Sunday 6th October at 6.00 pm.

Richard Fonge

The Village Pound

Richard Fonge writes:

August is the main harvesting month and most of the crops are now safely in store. The one crop that we may see less of being grown is oil seed rape. This is a crop first grown in the early 1970s, that soon became an integral part of the corn growers rotation, as it made an ideal break crop from wheat and barley and the oil crushed from the seeds is widely used in numerous everyday products so making it a profitable crop to grow. But unfortunately it has a deadly enemy in the cabbage stem flea beetle, which attacks the plant at germination and the larvae are to be found in the growing plants stem, so restricting the uptake of nutrients to the flowers and therefore the yield. Nieonectonoid insecticides used as a spray used to be an effective control method against the beetle but have been banned due to the potential harm to the bee population. The beetle has the upper hand over the alternative insecticides, so many farmers are looking at alternative crops.

I was asked last month about the cacophony of noise coming from the lambs bleating in the field by the bridle path to Weston. This was due to the lambs being weaned from their mothers. At about eighteen weeks of age they are ready to be weaned and it only takes three days or so for both parties to forget each other. All animals are weaned or indeed wean themselves at a certain age from their mothers.

Field sizes are measured in acres and are still sold in acres despite the introduction of hectares with metrication all those years ago. 2.47 acres equals one hectare.

Two small areas of ground are worth mentioning in the Parish. Firstly the village pound, which is now a small patch of grass with a Silver Birch tree planted on it in memory of Mr Bill Henn a lifetime farmer in the village and Parish Council Chairman for many years. This area is found on your left as you leave on the gated road just before Manor View. Villages had a pound where stray stock was impounded and released back to the rightful owner on suffrance of a fine.

The second small field is the triangular one at the Magpie junction. This would have been used by the drovers for their stock to rest up whilst they themselves rested at the Magpie Inn, as it was in those days when the Welsh Lane was a great droving road from Wales to London. There are, or indeed were many of these small fields along that route where the stock were rested. Another point of interest is that along the Welsh Lane you will find farmers with Welsh names from time to time. Not all the drovers returned home for whatever reason.

The second droving road was from Banbury to Northampton market, with the stock being driven along from Thorpe Mandeville, to Culworth and onto Weston and Northampton. Therefore Culworth was a crossroads and that is why the road to Weston from Culworth is called Banbury Lane.

Richard Fonge