Some years ago when the predecessor to the Red Tractor farm inspections first began, we were assessed for our suitability to enter the scheme.
 
We passed all the checks although the inspector was unhappy that our Sussex bull was ‘too isolated’ in his spacious bull pen with its 180 degree views of the cattle yard where his ‘ladies’ were housed, just 25 paces away. He considered that it was, “important for the bull to be in the cattle yard with the cows and able to ‘socialise’.”
 
David, the stockman at the time, attempted to explain that there are practical reasons for not leaving a bull with the cattle all year round. These include the matter of keeping a tight calving index, which is why he spent just a number of months with them out at pasture during the summer, and that keeping a bull loose in the cattle shed during the winter months, is not in the best interest of the stockman, for health and safety reasons. None of this appeared to register as significant with the inspector.
 
I am reminded of this incident whilst listening to the stories of families being denied access to loved ones confined to care homes. It appears that we give more consideration to the animal kingdom and our livestock, than to mere mortals, let alone family members.
 
Some care homes banned all family visits for months on end during the first lockdown, and many did not relax the ban during the summer when they could have. It is of course important to keep residents safe from Corvid 19, but I believe that where there’s a will there’s a way. This is clear when you hear of the many cases where managers have been prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that those in their care have been reunited with their loved ones.
 
We all know of couples who have been kept apart and faced months of isolation which has caused them deep distress. Particularly those who have been married for decades and are now in their twilight years. There are many stories of relatives not being allowed to enter the grounds of care homes, even to wave through windows.
 
I am impressed by many stories where families have taken things into their own hands and made arrangements to rescue their elderly relatives from homes where the rules became too draconian and unbearable.
 
Some of these breakouts have been mentioned in the press and media, many have remained untold. All have been done with the very best intention so their loved ones can be re-united with spouses and families.
 
My old friend the late Pat Reid and his comrades who’s notorious escape from Colditz is legendary, would have been full of admiration for these intrepid plans for escape. It is a pity they have been necessary.
 
We should all be asking why it is considered unacceptable for a bull to spend his days gazing at his harem of cows from his spacious pen rather than be amongst them, but apparently quite acceptable for mere humans to be denied any contact from their family and friends for months on end.
 
The weather has remained mild and reasonably dry making it possible for us, like many other livestock farms to leave cattle out in the fields. This time last year they had already been in for at least two months. The rain begun in September and did not stop until March, making it impossible to leave livestock out in the fields sloshing around in the mud.
 
These dry days make it possible leave them out as long as possible, thus saving precious straw which we are short of due to the poor harvest. They are looking well on their diet of grass, hay, fresh air and exercise.
 
To read Carola’s columns in full, go to: www.carolagodmanirvine.com

Sainsbury’s has announced the permanent closure of meat, fish and deli counters due to a fall in demand. Asda and Tesco have already taken, or plan to take similar action in many of their stores.
 
Retail data firm Kantar reported a one third decline in the number of supermarket trips involving a visit to a deli, meat or fish counter in the 12 weeks to November 1.
 
The biggest factor in the demise of the supermarket counter is, according to Catherine Shuttleworth, of retail marketing agency Savvy, our hunger for speed and convenience. She said, “When it comes to fresh food, we want to shop conveniently.
 
We tend to buy meals for tonight, so we’re much more driven by short-term buying – and don’t always go to the supermarket but to smaller convenience stores that don’t have counters.”
 
Instead, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, local high streets thrived during April and May, and sales at some butchers were up as much as 50pc. Even now, sales remain higher than usual. In the past three months about 2m households visited an independent butcher, 100,000 more than this time last year. As retail analyst Andy Crossan of Kantar noted, “Many people have realised just how much they value their local retailers and are making a conscious effort to support them.
 
Farm Shops have also become vital to their local communities. It is clear that the public are keen to support local farmers as well as small independent businesses. Most farm shops have stepped up the range of locally sourced fresh produce for their community; some offering a free delivery service for those unable to make the journey.
 
There is clearly a growing need for more independent food outlets. Places for people to walk to as we are more aware of the health benefits, including our general wellbeing from getting out into green spaces for our daily exercise, and restoring our inner calm, as well as cutting down on food miles and pollution.
 
Plans for Ote Hall farm shop and restaurant will include an all embracing venue to shop local, enjoy tasty meals in a cosy and welcoming setting, as well as the opportunity to enjoy our very beautiful, historic and ancient farm.
 
Ote Hall Farms have always been managed to the highest standards, including the ecology, environment, flora and fauna, and improving our soils and woodlands. We also maintain the highest welfare standards for our grass fed Sussex beef cattle.
 
The so called ‘blue sky thinkers’, so regularly quoted by the press, media and farming press, who believe they are about to ‘revolutionise’ British farming and the countryside, by ‘educating’ farmers on how to manage our farms, are light years behind the curve.
 
With the exception of some notable industrial sized intensively farmed ‘production units’, the British countryside is in fact remarkable, and beautiful because of the farmers who have managed the land for generations, not in spite of them.
 
More worrying is the carnage we are now seeing, not just along the route of HS2, where ancient woodland is being felled to make way for this railway, which, due to fast changing working habits, will be underutilised by the time it is completed. Tragically we can also see the very same destruction happening on our door step.
 
How can it be right that developers about to build thousands of homes south of Haywards Heath are allowed to fell the wonderful ancient oak trees along Isaacs Lane? Surely there are preservation orders on these beautiful trees. Where are the preservation and conservation officers when you need them? How can this carnage have been allowed? Someone should be held accountable to the local community who are in utter despair, and weep as they drive by.
 
This is neither progress or acceptable, it is pure vandalism. 
 
To read Carola’s columns in full, go to: www.carolagodmanirvine.com

The humble sandwich without its fillings, which is mostly provided by farmers, growers or fishermen, would be even humbler, empty and pointless. And of course without arable farmers those slices holding it together would not exist.
 
The sandwich is a good metaphor to describe certain divisions of our society. The slices of bread, depict on the one side those who like to control, and on the other, those who thrive by being controlled.
 
The filling, which is without doubt the interesting bit, adds the taste, is sometimes ambitious, surprising and makes the thing worth eating. In there you find a huge diversity of textures and combinations of flavours, sometimes originating locally, nationally or internally.
 
Whilst thinking about the ongoing saga regarding food standards, the US Presidential election, the fast approaching time when we withdraw from the EU on 31 December, and some impending local issues, I considered that in simple terms, the sandwich symbolises nicely people we deal with daily.
 
We all know individuals who thrive on controlling others and calling the shots, either for passion, party politics, personal elevation or pettiness. We meet them in all walks of life, including politicians, businessmen and women, community and charity contributors, and indeed in some families. Some use these qualities for the good, unfortunately others do not.
 
Those who blindly allow the former to control their lives, tend to drift contributing little, and too often consider the world owes them a living. They are easily manipulated and we find them everywhere, disturbingly increasingly within the farming community.
 
If we were to illustrate this class of person in agricultural terms, they would be the proverbial sheep. Happy to follow without really knowing where they are heading, including over a cliff!
 
The people who fall into the ‘filling’ class, are by contrast the interesting ones. They are curious, unpredictable, difficult to decipher, but living and working life to the full. Without them the wheels of the economy, communities and the very engines of society would cease turning.
 
These are the people who make a difference and contribute to our everyday lives. Amongst them are people of all race, colour, intellect and abilities. They are free thinkers who are not compartmentalised, cannot be bullied, nor brain washed by the constant flow of ‘fake news’, bogus rhetoric and rubbish which is spewed out by much of the ‘so called’ independent broadcasters, media, and handful of celebrity narcissists.
 
It is clear that the national press and media are being encouraged to call the shots by driving the stories which undermine our legally elected democratic government, while supporting the hard line anti-establishment aims, by stoking up distrust and discontent.
 
The newspapers, airwaves and sadly farming journals, are full of it. They have spotted an opportunity during a time of national and international crises, to whip up unfounded doubt and decent, to fever pitch.
 
It is time to talk up Great Britain, recognise what a great country we are fortunate enough to live in. We should offer support to those working night and day to get the nation back on its feet, and allow them to do their job without groundless snipping from the side lines.
 
The New Year may bring in a new American President who clearly has little regard or respect for the UK, preferring to get cosy with Monsieur Barnier, and his Irish ‘friends’.
 
But as we finally cut ties to the EU completely, we shall escape the stifling and destructive control of Brussels. This will renew the energy and drive towards innovation, technology, trade, industry and much besides. Great Britain has a reputation for being one of the most pioneering countries on earth.
 
British agriculture leads the way and sets the highest standards of production and animal welfare, a policy which this Conservative Government continues to stand by.

Despite the exceptional wind and rain resulting in the fields deteriorating into bogginess, probably now beyond redemption for autumn drilling, the countryside remains remarkably green, healthy and glorious.
 
The fields, woodland, hedgerows and copses are alive with native birds, hoovering up the last of the bugs and berries which the summer provided in abundance.
 
There are also foxes and badgers - too many. Rabbits, squirrels, deer, stoats and harvest mice. The countryside and farms are a veritable wildlife haven, most notably areas which are managed by experienced gamekeepers. Good husbandry of pheasants, partridge and duck for the all-important shooting industry, results in a habitat attractive to wild birds which soar in numbers.
 
Game cover crops planted with maize, sunflowers, vetch, millet, sorghum, kale, chicory and or mustard, provide valuable feed. So too the grain placed around the farms which also attract wild birds.
 
Taking all of the above into account, I find it baffling that the Government appears to have ‘caved in’ to the extraordinary nonsensical demands of Chris Packham.  His call for limiting the release of pheasants within 500 meters of Britain’s Sites of Special Interest (SSSIs) is clearly the thin edge of the wedge. If Government continues to follow Mr Packham’s advice, the countryside, wildlife and rural jobs will be the losers.
 
For centuries the countryside has been managed by experts, namely the farmers and gamekeepers who ensure that wildlife and their habitats thrive, alongside well managed shoots. 
 
I am sure BBC presenter Packham is utterly charming, but once again clearly demonstrating his lack of understanding about wildlife and countryside matters.
 
I do not believe that Government ministers really wish the countryside to become sanitised, tarmacked, silent and overflowing with cyclists, thus pushing the natural flora and fauna into remote isolated parts of the country.
 
However, it is deeply concerning to witness many plans to urbanise the countryside, here in the South East in particular. In our parish there is a daft idea to create a super cycle highway by tarmacking a beautiful ancient and well used bridle path, popular with dog walkers, horse riders and the occasional off road cyclists.
 
Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) are eager to spend millions of pounds on transforming the Theobalds ancient bridle path which cuts across private land where the locals enjoy peace and tranquillity, linking Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, into a six meter wide tarmacked super highway, including overhead lighting and art installations.
 
There is very little chance that cyclists would travel this route but the locals, dog walkers and horse riders who are campaigning against this desecration of the countryside, are so far, being totally ignored.
 
MSDC owns all the land running adjacent to the railway line between Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill stations. This more appropriate route would be far more direct, cheaper and usable for cyclists, as opposed to the Theobalds bridle path. The plan would destroy ancient hedgerows, fell oak trees which are hundreds of years old, and destroy natural habitats for wildlife, and drive away regular local walkers and riders who would be in danger of being mown down by Lycra clad, go faster helmeted silent cyclist travelling at up to 23MPH. It is unlikely they would use is, preferring dedicated cycle tracks without bends.
 
As once again we go into lock-down it is clear that economically the consequences are dire. The cost to the treasury hardly bears thinking about but  it is clear the PM, so desperate not to impose a national lock down, has been persuaded by the ‘experts’.
 
However, consider if we had remained in the EU how much worse it would be. Watching the catastrophic impact that Corvid 19 is having on numerous EU countries which in due course we would have been called upon to bail out.