NSA South East Region visit to Isle of Wight

Friday 25th September saw four car loads of NSA South East Region Members head over to the Isle of Wight for a series of farm tours on island, and the trip promised a full and informative day from the outset!

Godshill was the first port of call, for a farm tour curtsey of Angus Baird. Angus is an NSA Committee Member and farms 200 acres on the Island. Angus has 120 Suffolk  Mules which he puts to the Beltex ram which lamb in the last week of March. Additionally, he has 700 Easycare ewes which he leases and 230 Aberdale cross Romneys. Angus also contract shepherds 120 Aberdale Texel cross Swaledale ewes which are then crossed with a Charollais ram which produce lambs to sell in April. These go to Farmer Jack’s Farm Shop at Arreton on the Island to which he supplies 20-25 lambs per month there on in.   

The second farm tour of the day was at Chillerton by kind permission of Steve and Jane Burden. The farm runs 600 ewes, made up of North Country and Sufflok Mules. Steve and Jane also have 100 pure bred Wairere Romney ewes. All of the lambs are either finished straight off the ewes or off turnips, and are either sold directly to ABP or through Salisbury or Frome Market.

Sid & Jinty Brown’s at Wootton was the final stop of Friday’s tour. They have 160 Polled Dorsets, which run alongside a herd of 70 Simmental suckler cows.

As promised, a social trip meant an overnight stay on the Island and allowed the group to meet with a number of local sheep farmers, making for an enjoyable evening all round.

The following morning saw the group head to Carisbrooke, where they were greeted by Neville Smith. Having overcome an outbreak of Maedi Visna, Neville is now extremely careful when replacing his ewes to ensure cross infection does not occur. He farms 500 North of England Mules and lambs everything outdoors. There are 350 acres of grass, with much in a HL Stewardship Scheme shared with a 40 cow suckler herd with 450 acres of arable.  

The excellent weather meant the group were able to enjoy some of the fantastic views the island has to offer on all of the farms visited. This concluded with a trip up to the top of the Tennyson Downs, looking out over the Solent to the New Forest and further along Westward to the Isle of Purbeck.

Bob Blanden, NSA South East Region Manager, says: “This was an outstanding

visit for the region, which we hope to repeat next year with possibly even more members joining us. Members from other NSA regions would be most welcome too.”