Ringmer dairy farm ‘struggling’ with grass feed shortage

A Sussex farmer has said she is already using winter feed stocks to feed her 170 strong herd of dairy cows because of unseasonable weather.

Sarah Farnes, who owns and runs Downsview Farm near Ringmer in East Sussex, told BBC Sussex the farm was spending about £70 a day on using winter feed bought in from the South West because “there’s hardly any grass outside”.

Ms Farnes blames dry spring weather on the lack of available grazing for herds in their fields.

Her comments come as BBC Farmwatch hears the stories of farmers across the UK.

“We’ve already started using our winter feed because that’s all we can do, we have to feed them,” she said.

“We get our extra sileage from the West Country – at the moment it’s £25 a bale plus an extra £10 a bale to haul it here and we use about six bales a day, but come the winter when they’re in all the time it will be a lot more than that.

“It’s going to be an expensive winter this year.”

Kate Hobden, a herdsperson at Downsview, said: “We milk about 100 [cows] and we calve all year round. It would have been 120-150 but less is better, we can do them better and the lack of feed is a massive thing.

“Every farmer is struggling with that at the moment.”

The farm also credits its diversification into in-house ice cream production for saving the business.

“If we didn’t do the ice cream, we wouldn’t be here”, Ms Farnes said.