George Fussey 28 Lincolnshire
A willingness to gain more knowledge and expertise about the UK sheep sector led to George to apply for the ambassador scheme this year. “I’m a big believer in sharing knowledge, not just of sheep farming but of regenerative agriculture in general, an area of interest for me. I feel becoming an NSA Next Generation Ambassador is the perfect place to continue with this career and personal development,” George explains. After completing his agricultural degree at Harper Adams, George travelled, working on farms in Australia, New Zealand and Norway. On returning home to his family farm he was happy to use some of this experience and take on responsibility for the expanding sheep enterprise. The flock currently comprises of 400 Aberfield cross ewes run on herbal leys as part of the wider enterprise’s arable rotations.
Feb/March Update
It has been a challenging start to 2024 here in Lincolnshire. Mainly due to the weather, one of wettest Februarys on records playing a major part in this. The grazing of cover crops has had to be cut short by 4 weeks due to excessive rainfall. This has meant that the ewes have been housed an extra month. On a brighter note, we were very pleased with our scanning results this year, as this is something that we have been trying to improve on within the flock. Having got back from a fantastic first Next Generation session the focus turned to lambing. It was a bit of rocky start with a handful of ewes aborting due to campylobacter. But speaking to fellow ambassadors and local farmers, we have not been the only one with this issue. How ever we have come through the other side and lambing is now in full swing with some cracking lambs being born. The recent better weather has meant that ewes and lambs have been turned out as soon as possible and are enjoying the spring grass.
April/May Update
With a tough lambing period coming to a close on the second week in April, attentions turned to spring drilling and grazing management. Having had a cold, wet winter, we were ready for some warmer weather to enable grass growth. With all the ewes and lambs out on temporary grass and herbal leys we were able to start implementing our rotational grazing system. The ewes and lambs go onto this system after we have taken the 4 week weight of the lambs. The purchase of new digital plate meter has not only sped up this job but also made it much more accurate. The mobs are on a 21day rotation with a move every three days. Our aim is to get the sheep onto the paddock at 3000kg DM/Ha and then remove them at 1500kg DM/Ha. However in the last couple of weeks we have seen grass growth skyrocket and we are 250kg DM/Ha over our targets. So more sheep are required!
We are currently in the middle of sowing down new herbal leys in the arable rotation as part of the SFI scheme. We have also been keeping a close eye on egg counts, with the Nematodirus forecast indicating a very high risk in our area. Although freshly seeded leys help greatly with internal parasites, lambs have still had to be treated.
June/July Update
AS we have moved into the summer months it has been uncharacteristically wet here in Lincolnshire. Whilst this is bad news for the winter cereals it has been very good for grass growth and getting new herbal leys established. As part of a new SFI agreement we are trialing a few different herbal mixes this year, mainly based around red clover, chicory and plantain. As we have had the best results in getting these species established on our heavy soil type.
The lambs have now been weaned and are currently grazing on our ex-haylage ground. The ewes are now grazing on permanent pasture in rotation. Soon to go back onto temporary grass once they have dried off. Grassland management has been tricky this year with the level of growth that we have had, meaning that we have had to cut more ground for haylage than usual.
I have also been into my local primary school to deliver a talk to a couple of Year three and four classes on sheep farming. I was very encouraged by the amount of interest there was in the subject, even if there were a few difficult questions to answer! I also attended the Central Region farm walk in early June. It was very interesting to see previous ambassador Ed’s flock and the things he is doing with genetics. It was also a good chance to meet the Central Region committee.
August/September Update
Having had a fantastic couple of days at the NSA sheep event, it has been a busy couple of months here in North Lincolnshire. It has been a fairly easy straight forward harvest on the arable front, largely down to an extended period of dry weather. Six weeks of no rain starting in the middle of July has posed its challenges on the sheep side. However this is where our herbal leys have come into their own, with differing root depths they have managed to thrive whilst traditional leys have browned off. This has allowed us to keep finishing lambs off forage despite the challenging conditions.
As part of the SFI this year we have sown some more herbal leys down into the arable rotation. We have been busy increasing sheep numbers. We have taken the numbers up from 400 ewes and ewe lambs to 500 with the hope of going up to 600 by the end of September.
As we look ahead to the winter months, attentions have turned to feed planning. Measuring the grass cover of the farm, how much conserved forage we have and a rough estimate of the dry matter we are going to get from the cover crops. We can work out if we have surplus or deficit of feed to last until the spring, when grass growth picks up again.
A willingness to gain more knowledge and expertise about the UK sheep sector led to George to apply for the ambassador scheme this year. “I’m a big believer in sharing knowledge, not just of sheep farming but of regenerative agriculture in general, an area of interest for me. I feel becoming an NSA Next Generation Ambassador is the perfect place to continue with this career and personal development,” George explains. After completing his agricultural degree at Harper Adams, George travelled, working on farms in Australia, New Zealand and Norway. On returning home to his family farm he was happy to use some of this experience and take on responsibility for the expanding sheep enterprise. The flock currently comprises of 400 Aberfield cross ewes run on herbal leys as part of the wider enterprise’s arable rotations.
Feb/March Update
It has been a challenging start to 2024 here in Lincolnshire. Mainly due to the weather, one of wettest Februarys on records playing a major part in this. The grazing of cover crops has had to be cut short by 4 weeks due to excessive rainfall. This has meant that the ewes have been housed an extra month. On a brighter note, we were very pleased with our scanning results this year, as this is something that we have been trying to improve on within the flock. Having got back from a fantastic first Next Generation session the focus turned to lambing. It was a bit of rocky start with a handful of ewes aborting due to campylobacter. But speaking to fellow ambassadors and local farmers, we have not been the only one with this issue. How ever we have come through the other side and lambing is now in full swing with some cracking lambs being born. The recent better weather has meant that ewes and lambs have been turned out as soon as possible and are enjoying the spring grass.
April/May Update
With a tough lambing period coming to a close on the second week in April, attentions turned to spring drilling and grazing management. Having had a cold, wet winter, we were ready for some warmer weather to enable grass growth. With all the ewes and lambs out on temporary grass and herbal leys we were able to start implementing our rotational grazing system. The ewes and lambs go onto this system after we have taken the 4 week weight of the lambs. The purchase of new digital plate meter has not only sped up this job but also made it much more accurate. The mobs are on a 21day rotation with a move every three days. Our aim is to get the sheep onto the paddock at 3000kg DM/Ha and then remove them at 1500kg DM/Ha. However in the last couple of weeks we have seen grass growth skyrocket and we are 250kg DM/Ha over our targets. So more sheep are required!
We are currently in the middle of sowing down new herbal leys in the arable rotation as part of the SFI scheme. We have also been keeping a close eye on egg counts, with the Nematodirus forecast indicating a very high risk in our area. Although freshly seeded leys help greatly with internal parasites, lambs have still had to be treated.
June/July Update
AS we have moved into the summer months it has been uncharacteristically wet here in Lincolnshire. Whilst this is bad news for the winter cereals it has been very good for grass growth and getting new herbal leys established. As part of a new SFI agreement we are trialing a few different herbal mixes this year, mainly based around red clover, chicory and plantain. As we have had the best results in getting these species established on our heavy soil type.
The lambs have now been weaned and are currently grazing on our ex-haylage ground. The ewes are now grazing on permanent pasture in rotation. Soon to go back onto temporary grass once they have dried off. Grassland management has been tricky this year with the level of growth that we have had, meaning that we have had to cut more ground for haylage than usual.
I have also been into my local primary school to deliver a talk to a couple of Year three and four classes on sheep farming. I was very encouraged by the amount of interest there was in the subject, even if there were a few difficult questions to answer! I also attended the Central Region farm walk in early June. It was very interesting to see previous ambassador Ed’s flock and the things he is doing with genetics. It was also a good chance to meet the Central Region committee.
August/September Update
Having had a fantastic couple of days at the NSA sheep event, it has been a busy couple of months here in North Lincolnshire. It has been a fairly easy straight forward harvest on the arable front, largely down to an extended period of dry weather. Six weeks of no rain starting in the middle of July has posed its challenges on the sheep side. However this is where our herbal leys have come into their own, with differing root depths they have managed to thrive whilst traditional leys have browned off. This has allowed us to keep finishing lambs off forage despite the challenging conditions.
As part of the SFI this year we have sown some more herbal leys down into the arable rotation. We have been busy increasing sheep numbers. We have taken the numbers up from 400 ewes and ewe lambs to 500 with the hope of going up to 600 by the end of September.
As we look ahead to the winter months, attentions have turned to feed planning. Measuring the grass cover of the farm, how much conserved forage we have and a rough estimate of the dry matter we are going to get from the cover crops. We can work out if we have surplus or deficit of feed to last until the spring, when grass growth picks up again.
