Grazing School, Genetics Day at Matterdale, Cumbria

There is an abundance of quotes that advise us to never meet our heroes, as they will always disappoint, or words to that effect.

My admiration for James Rebanks, his X/Twitter persona, @herdyshepherd, and his remarkable body of written work, especially ‘English Pastoral’

has been a subject of amusement to my family for some time.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a day on his farm, with a group of farmers from all over the U.K. and further afield, learning about genetics from Rebanks and another remarkable man, Rob Havard, of Phepson Aberdeen Angus.

What was unexpected, at least to me, was much of Rob’s presentation was actually advocating the nearly forgotten skills of livestock shepherding and stockmanship skills. The all-important act of simple observation which I have encouraged my children to undertake in all aspects of their lives was confirmed as being especially important when it comes to livestock farming.

As we are all finding in so many walks of life, science, combined with some old school values and knowledge may well be the answer to how best to farm and produce food at the same time as enhancing families, health and communities.

Rebanks turns out to be not only a warm host but a fascinating mixture of humility and confidence, qualities which come, in part, from 600 years of farming in and around his current family home, continuing a way of farming which hails back many thousands of years. Part of the strength of what he is achieving is that this is very much a family affair, with all his children key to the venture and of course, his wife Helen author of The Farmers Wife seems to me to be the rock upon which the entire operation exists. This aspect resonated most strongly with me as the true family farm is every bit as endangered as so many of the species we treasure.

I was one of the oldest attendees at this single day of discussion and demonstration. While I feel as hungry now for knowledge and learning as I have ever done, it was wonderful to witness the interest of so many people far closer to the beginning of their journey. The term ‘regenerative farming’ and the importance of soil health are both hot topics these days. In reality, however, few people are really that knowledgeable about either, let alone so many of the other buzz words that surround food production and farming in these strange times.

The abandonment by the last government of these sectors and the apparent wafer-thin understanding of them by the new incumbents means that we will all be relying on the voice of people such as Rebanks and the attendees at his annual Grazing School if we are to have any real hope of reversing so many negative trends that persist in the global approach to these massively important matters.

Jan McCourt