Best Scholar Report goes to Charley Walker
The HSBC/Farmers Guardian Silver Salver Award for the 'Best Scholar Report' submitted in 2008 - went to Charley Walker, from Duns, Berwickshire, for his report on 'Simplified, profitable and productive sheep and beef farming'.
Conference sponsors, represented by Emma Penny, Editor Farmers Guardian, and Bryn Edmunds, HSBC Senior Agricultural Manager for North Wales and Chester, presented the award.
Charley_Walker_Nuffield_Report
NATURE, NUTURE AND NUDITY - CHARLEY WALKER
Representing the only Scholar presenting from Scotland at the 2008 Nuffield Conference, Charley Walker, gave his paper on 'Simplified, profitable and productive sheep and beef farming', along with recommendations to develop a robust system for simplifying beef and sheep management by relying much more on the fundamentals nature, nurture and also nudity.
Reminding delegates that 30%, almost one third, of the cost of sheep and beef production is labour, Mr Walker said that on a family farm this often translates into long hours, with little time for management and a poor quality of family life.
"Our quest for maximizing production has often led us into genetics and systems that require high levels of input, particularly labour. But high productivity does not necessarily generate high profit," he pointed out. "Success should be measured by net profit, not by ability to maximize production. We should judge ourselves by the results of our efforts, rather than priding ourselves on the effort itself.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could find a better way - a cheaper way, an easier way," he added. "Well, thanks in large part to my Nuffield Scholarship, I have found a better way."
Mr Walker travelled in Europe, North America, Australasia and China. He learned that in business, as in nature, it is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but it is those that are most adaptable to change.
One of Charley's Australian hosts made the comment: 'If you breed an animal that makes you money and doesn't cause you hassle, you'll soon get to like the look of it!' And, his words really stuck. They summed up the business-like attitude of many of the breeders that he met on his travels. "They did not let tradition or emotion stand in their way," observed Charley. "They simply could not afford to."
He outlined three fundamental principles when selecting easily manage breeding stock - their ability to give birth, suckle and rear their progeny without assistance, minimising of labour and veterinary inputs by selection against lameness, poor constitution and disease, and the capability to perform well on grass and forage as opposed to concentrate feeds.
He encouraged breeders to take control of maternal genetics by operating self-replacing herds or flocks, or by finding proven sources of breeding stock.
"Animals requiring individual attention should be culled and their progeny should not be used for breeding. Farmers should concentrate on female stock for the farm environment and on male stock for the market environment," he advised.
Breeders must also take a more pro-active approach towards performance recording, to help improve the selection and demonstrate the commercial benefits of their stock to clients, he said.
Nurture and human intervention
During his scholarship, Mr Walker also observed flocks and herds which usually lambed and calved outdoors with little or no human intervention. Despite this, their lambing and calving performance was as good as many in the UK and many producers, particularly sheep, considered it important not to interfere with stock. The saving in labour, housing and medicine was dramatic.
"Nurture is not about lavish individual care and attention - it is about the management of flocks and herds, and their interaction with the environment.
"Once the right genetics are in place, management can focus on two key areas - reproductive efficiency and grazing management. Amazingly, lambing and calving, the area to which we often devote so much of our efforts, is something which can be left alone, as long as the supporting management is sound.
"Our focus should be on the management of whole flocks and herds, rather than on meddling with individuals.
Nudity and wool shedding
Believing wool to be a cost rather than a benefit to UK farmers, Mr Walker proposed wool shedding genetics should be used to breed the wool off sheep to eliminate the cost and stress associated within this area.
"Wool shedding sheep offer significant cost savings, mainly in terms of labour - no shearing, no crutching, no tail docking, no fly-strike, less shepherding and less gathering, with consequent benefits to growth rate and welfare. The loss of saleable wool is far outweighed by the cost savings achieved.
"What's really exciting is that there are already many wool-shedding breeds around the world and also in the UK; for example, the native Wiltshire Horn and its modern relative, the Easycare.
"With these genetics there is potential for ewes and their lambs to remain unhandled from the period prior to lambing until weaning in late summer. This is not a gimmick; these genetics will fundamentally change the way that we manage sheep.
"Just because we are doing something in a certain way and because everybody else is doing it, does not mean it is the best way." Mr Walker reminded delegates about his three principles on which to base the selection of breeding stock, along with his proposal for 'nudity' and wool shedding breeds which is a course of action that will radically alter the way that we farm sheep.
"Everything that I have shared with you today relates to what we are doing on our farm at home. I am enjoying implementing change and helping others to do the same."
CHARLEY WALKER - Barnside, Abbey Saint Bathans, Duns, Berwickshire, TD11 3TX
Tel 01361 840237 (h) 01361 840237 (w) Mob. 07899 702700
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