THE GRASSY SHIRES

[Music] he England and in the heart of England the Midland shires Nottinghamshire leers northamptonshire Rutland and War some of us never get a nearer view Than A View From the train traveling north and this is what we see a gentle undulating landscape nothing dramatic quiet green fields of grass a country of Rich p ures and fat cattle of unassuming quiet little Villages Villages of brick in the clay valys or of stone rather like cops Villages and the Limestone ws and between the trees the occasional sight of a fine country house then we think of the sporting Squires of other days and sometimes a name Melton atherstone cotmore reminds us that these were the Great hunting [Music] shes these Midland counties form a sort of Island between the smoke and factories of the black country to the West metal towns which have grown up from the cold scenes which lie beneath and to the east the scotlands and the flat F of East Anglia rich country too but another world another kind of farming and another scheme of Life all together and in between the grassy shes a kind of green trough and in the midst of this trough leerer first the city there is only one leester the facts I can give you the facts population 300,000 prosperous manufacturing town in the River Saw Industries Woolen Goods hosery boots and shoes which were founded of course on local supplies of wool and leather you see how all roads to the city lead from the farmlands outside Rich farming land and here and there riches beneath the land as well in the west there's a little coal mine in The Fringe Of The darbishire Coal Field and in the East the land is widely quadded for Iron Stone the iron bearing beds are found in the Northampton Shands and in the Milestones of the middle lias the deposits yield up to one ton of iron for every 3 tons of oil now I've seen the quads driving away right through the Farmland what happens then I has been a of trouble about that I'm a farmer and I know of course they've got to get the iron out we understand that but they want to remember that the top soil is just as precious they've worked the land all round about here and as I say there used to be rare trouble about it taking away our soil but nowadays we get it all back again at this qu that lower land over there that's been worked already but all you see is just farmlands cuz what they do here now as they take the Ironstone out is to put back the top soil where it belongs and then we can grow crops again as strong as ever only of course 10 or 12 ft below the old level if all the quarters did it like that there'd be no need to spoil the land for farming at all [Music] you can stand there on the edge of this iron bearing land and look out for miles across the green fields of the veil veil of beaver grass again grass and dairy farming this is my farming country we Veil farmers are nearly all Dairy Farmers and there's a reason for that the reasons in the land it was too heavy to plow in the old days too heavy that is for anything less than a four horse team and it's not such good fatting land as you get in other parts of the county but mind you it does make very good milk and the best cheese in the world Stilton cheese Stilton cheese Stilton Village isn't in leerer at all know it isn't but the cheese is all made here in Beaver Veil and always has been how it got its name that's another story of course it's different when there's a war on then we just make a hard press cheese whenever there's a flush of milk in the old days all the Stilton was made at home but now we have our own Cooperative dairies and what's left of what's used for cheese is us used for pigs plenty of way for the pigs the fat of the land and plenty left over in normal times I fine fat pigs and fine fat cattle too feeding on the fattest grass in Britain ah now you're talking of Market Harbor grass Welland Valley grass that's a part of the country I do know and there's no fields in England can give you fatter cattle and better beef than these the heavy clay soil provides a pasture of exceptional quality which will fatten as much as one bulock in a half and one sheep to the acre y you'll see beasts there that were born and bred in almost every part of the British Isles ORD crosses from Ireland they're quick fatteners and very Hardy and Lincoln Reds great red Brown animals from Over the County border they run up to 16 and 1800 weight a piece or handsome black beasts from the wild Welsh Hills fine proud EDS and spreading horns and the PO Angus a smaller hornless breed from Scotland not so weighty as the others but a fine quality of beef and golden brown Devon cattle gentle dreamy looking from the southwest country ah there they all are eating resting leisurely contented getting sleek and fat on the rich Ry grass and clover until they're ready for the market and the Butcher and our dinner [Applause] tables it looks to me as if met grazing is a pretty easy sort of Life compared to other kinds of farming I mean some good fields of grass a dog and a stick and there you are oh come now be fair a graer has got to use his brains as well as his dog and stick here nip get back there go on back come ony look at Tom Clark now he's a typical razier from down medburn way he's got to know a lot he's got to know the right animals to buy the sort that'll do best on his land and the right time to buy them come on and then he must know just how many each field will carry come on there mustn't be too many or they'd eat the pasture right out and there mustn't be too few or the grass would run away and grow old and rank you've got to keep it just so it looks easy but it isn't easy for one thing the weather is never the same and never what you expect it's going to be and when it comes to moving them it's got to be done slowly gently or they go careering about and lose a lot of weight the stores that's the lean animals they're bought from March to May and by July the most forward of them are ready for markety ho good up up I looked in at Harbor Market the other day there were some fine looking beasts there but I missed the shouts of the auctioner dealers bidding against each other as they used to do oh well you see that was a wartime market then the fat cattle are all bought by the government on their way into the ring every animal is weighed a good bulock will scale anything from 12 to 1500 weight well I saw our friend Tom Clark there watching his lot being sold yeah he'd be there to keep an eye on things then in the ring there'd be the certifying officer and two graders and of course there was the usual crowd of farmers dealers and onlookers there's no place like a cattle market for a glimpse of local life and C [Music] Market harbra principal sales and distributing Center for lestera beef cattle upwards of 12,000 head graded annually busy season middle of July to end of November so that by the Autumn the pastures will have been pretty well empted pretty well except for some sheep and store cattle brought in for the winter bite and Tom Clark on his way home from selling his last bunch of Bullocks will be thinking of getting his wife fences down so that hunting can begin well maybe that's how it used to be but when war came lerer was called upon to do its bit of plowing up same as they've done everywhere else 160,000 Acres of permanent grass land broken up land which has Lain in pasture for over 200 years but what did you do about Machinery you grassland Farmers had no machines machines ah that was a pretty problem for the committee and no mistake 18 Machinery depos opened hundreds of tractors brought in Ms rollers drills cultivators but what about people to work the machines ah that was another teaser but of course we grassland Farmers had precious little labor well first we called on the women's land Army 2,000 WLA girls drafted in 30 camps and hosts opened in different parts of the county then for the heavy work gangs of men men unfit or exempt from military service [Music] 600 M of farm ditches and 240 Mi of main water courses cleared 12,000 Acres of water log land drained when the time came for Gathering the new crops every available pair of ANS was called upon toel there were the soldiers stationed in the county and I saw a bunch of them this morning they were pulling flexs yes that's a special War time problem and it takes a lot of handling then gangs of local women were organized and school boys camps and men and women on holiday from the [Music] cities well anyhow the results have been well worthwhile but the old grasslands are yielding fine crops and leester won't be a grassy Shire any longer well I wouldn't go so far as that what they call a farming is more likely that means putting each field back to grass and better grass every so many years and growing grain and root crops in between the plow will be taken around the farm and if it's worked right there's no reason why we shouldn't keep more livestock than ever we did and grow crops as well though mind you our grassland tradition hasn't grown up out of nothing and then then there's the years of specialized skill and experience of the grazers that's important too so you really mean that lerer and the other grassy shes will go on producing Rich milk fat cheeses and Prime English beef and grow corn and root crops too well why not but when all said and done the land is Rich enough to do both jobs [Music]