Local Food Heroes - Stephen Wheeler speaks to farmer Will Speakman

Once Christmas is over, and the January snows have melted away, we’re all looking for signs of the long-awaited spring. Newborn lambs bouncing in the fields is a welcome promise of longer and warmer days. Will Speakman farms 400 acres in Churchdown, and his 230 head of Charollais and Jacob ewes have starting lambing. I talked with Will during one of his many patrols of the ewes in the lambing barns, with his sheepdogs Pip and Jack keeping guard outside.

The ewes are segregated into those expecting single, twin or triplet lambs – every ewe is scanned during their pregnancy. Their diet of home-grown hay, oats and barley is adjusted depending on how many offspring are expected. The mothers with a single lamb are given one of any triplets to adopt – twins being a manageable number to suckle. Will tries to deliver all 400 expected lambs himself, without the help of vet, so January is a round the clock vigil for himself and his father. 

I asked Will about the Charollais breed. “They were first imported from France in 1976, where they centre around the town of Charolles in the Loire, grazing alongside the famous Charolais cattle. Because of their easy lambing, robust and fast-growing lambs, and high quality meat, they are now one of the most numerous sheep breeds in England.”

Nowadays English sheep-wool is not commercially viable. “The cost of shearing our flock is more than the fleeces are worth,” said Will, “Cheaper imports and man-made fibres have closed off that market.” Despite that, Will is optimistic for the future of sheep-farming in the Cotswolds, and for British farming generally. “My family is still farming in Churchdown after 35 years of ups and downs in agriculture. We send to market a great product that has been reared to the highest possible standards,” said Will. “The fact that local people can enjoy my lamb is something I’m proud of,” he added. “There is a strong demand for local, high quality farmed food”.

New season Cotswold lamb will be ready to buy at Easter - with bowls of steaming new potatoes and spring vegetables. Now there’s something to look forward to.

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30th January 2010

Will Speakman

Will Speakman