making it pay

[jodg]

Not entirely unrelated: the wife's sister and kiwi bloke run a 600 acre sheep farm over in NZ (in the bottom of south island i.e. Mordor). They've been trying to go organic but it's tough. The price of lamb is really low at market (a matter of the equivalent of a few quid) and, as all commodity prices are pretty much the same as here to go with a lower average wage, it's not exactly plain sailing.

I think the carbon footprint backlash will hurt as well. Up until relatively recently NZ lamb looked like a good option. Now, considering the miles lamb chops have to travel from there, I don't think that kind of foodstuff will continue to be so popular here in the UK and Europe.

[Stolly]

Prior to running Borrowdale last year I popped into the Rosthwaite local cafe, which coincidentally had these local sheep farming information boards on display for the tourists. If I read them correctly the sheep farming in that region of the lakes seemed to be supported by the National trust. I think the NT owned the land but also subsidised their tenant farmers in some way or other. Or maybe I completely misread it .

[daz h]

Prior to running Borrowdale last year I popped into the Rosthwaite local cafe, which coincidentally had these local sheep farming information boards on display for the tourists. If I read them correctly the sheep farming in that region of the lakes seemed to be supported by the National trust. I think the NT owned the land but also subsidised their tenant farmers in some way or other. Or maybe I completely misread it .

i wonder if they get an extra subsidy from the national trust then for sheep farming in that area.

[Stolly]

i wonder if they get an extra subsidy from the national trust then for sheep farming in that area.

I found a National trust link - see here

[daz h]

I found a National trust link - see here

good stolly , nice one but if you look further into it and click onto the hill farming part it says that even the national trust are saying that livestock hill farming is not economically viable

[Stolly]

I think you're right there daz, although only to a point. I'm a financial adviser (for my sins) and an awful lot of the farmers I've met in the dales are asset rich although perhaps income poor. They own a lot of land, buildings and farming stuff. More to the point, if they ever do have spare cash, rather than investing it with me, they just buy more land so they must believe in it one way or the other.

All of them have grasped the conservation thing, land management grants and whatever with both hands and of course tourism. Also one or two of the farmers have diversified and made a mint - I used to work from an office just up the lane from Rylstone (below Grassington in the Dales) and our office, which was seriously in the middle of nowhere, was one of maybe 8 or 9 specifically converted farm buidlings that made up a small out of town business centre. We got on really well with that farming family who basically ran sheep and cattle successfully (with not alot of profit) and offices successfully (for a lot of profit).