Z1205/039

Male. Dairy farmer b.18.05.1954 SIDE A 00 mins)Childhood in Stenton Le Steeple, Nottinghamshire. Family farmed for generations. After grammar school became herdsman on father's farm. Married. Saw advertisement for Wootton Park Farm, Beds., and took it, in 1982. Son born. 05 mins)Farm then had no house, only 44 acres of land, a 100 acre wood and a barn. Land rented from different parts of village and at Lidlington to carry stock during summer. Dairy farming practice. House built in 1983. Started milk processing business and delivery. 10 mins)Typical day timetable. Lets out his wood for pheasant shooting. 15 mins)Restricted milk quotas limit milk production. Impact of foot and mouth disease (in 2001) on stock movement, although no actual outbreak in Bedfordshire. Resultant winter forage supply problem. Impact of bureaucracy on farming. Children may not want to continue farming. Milk price to farmers no higher now than in 1983. Arable farming has increase in Marston Vale and stock farming declined. Machinery can now cope with the heavy clay land. Future of farming depressing. 20.4 mins End of Interview. (No recording on Side B) Original interview 20 mins.

21 August 2001

From: 1950 To: 2001

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dairy cattle, farmer, Nottinghamshire, pheasants, disease, cattle disease, Milk Marketing Board, arable, agricultural machinery, clay, LIDLINGTON, Nottinghamshire, WOOTTON