From the Karoo to the Wolds: A Catch-up with Philip

“Farming in the UK tends to be on a smaller scale than South Africa relative to land area. I used to farm on 25,000 hectares. Farms here tend to be smaller but more intense. I came to South Ormsby Estate in the early summer. Because I’d managed a stud in South Africa, I had a bit of a head start.  We don’t have a cattle passport system there but we tracked heredity. It’s a different horse with a different saddle here but I still know how to ride it!

“We track the family lines of our native-breed cattle. At South Ormsby Estate, we have about a third of the UK’s original-population Lincoln Reds. We keep a close eye on pedigree. Cows stay in their family groups and those groups can stay the same from season to season.

“We’ve got a set period when we put the bulls to the cows, running from mid-July to mid-September. We keep it to three 21-day cycles for the cows, so each cow gets three chances with the bull. This approach keeps the calving period smaller. It should start in late April or early May. Having only two months of calving in warmer weather is easier to manage. During that time, we’ll be looking at the cows regularly to make sure all is well.

“The Pasture-for-Life (PfL) and organic approach is still working well. We keep our cattle outside on the grass and forage crops for the whole year unless the weather is so bad that there are welfare issues. We’ve changed a few things here and there but rotational grazing is at the heart of it all.  We aim for the best utilisation of grass within the PfL system. We can put quite a lot of cattle in a one-hectare paddock and move them frequently, leaving lots of time for the grass to flourish again with lots of fresh, natural fertiliser.

“Everything is weather-dependent, of course, and Mother Nature always has the last word. We currently have about a month of summer grazing left to us and the temperature and growth-rate are lower than ideal. The last few wet winters presented real problems too, especially 2023-24. We always have contingency plans we can fall back on but the crucial thing to consider is how much rain we can stand.

“When you make a planning decision, it’s like throwing a rock into a lake; the ripples can go a long way into the future! Adaptability is key. I don’t run the herd team like a dictator. We have little chats in the office every day and make a plan. The team have plenty of input and their insights are valuable.

“I live on the Estate with my wife, Alison, and my four-year-old, Luke. Luke has just started school and he’s loving it. He’s like a little labrador. He just walks into a room and makes friends. He comes to the office every morning to say hello and do some colouring. Because he’s a proper South African, he’s bound to invite you to a barbecue sooner or later.”

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