This Last Year: Both Exciting and Challenging!
- tablehurstfarm
- Sep 12
- 4 min read
September 2025
Here’s a retrospective look at some major developments for Tablehurst Farm during the past 12 months. A snapshot of the landscape on which farming takes place together with the joys and the challenges that accompany the work.
Land - Pastures Old and New
As well as the 200 acres owned by St. Anthony's Trust that we have farmed for over 30 years, Tablehurst has rented 296 acres of other land in and around Forest Row. During the past year, one private, 20 year, 85 acre lease came to an end, and 15 acres of St Anthony’s land was transferred to a new school farm for children with additional needs.
A core principle of biodynamic farming is that the number of animals a farm raises should be reflective of the amount of food and bedding it can produce. Losing this land would have compromised this principle, but for a fortunate turn of fate that came our way.
Philanthropist Roger Ross, a supporter of biodynamic farming and a Co-op shareholder, purchased the local 490-acre Great Cansiron Farm, and placed it into a newly formed Great Cansiron Holistic Trust (GCHT). He presented Tablehurst with the opportunity to rent 267 acres of this formerly conventionally managed arable land and convert it to biodynamic. This would enable us to expand the dairy herd and grow arable crops such as wheat, oats and beans, which we can use to make our own pig feed, produce straw bedding for cattle and even mill wheat for locally grown biodynamic flour.
It was a fantastic though very challenging opportunity. But we immediately began to prepare budgets and plan how we could integrate it into the Tablehurst Farm organism.
Herbal Leys
Because the land has been in continuous arable crops for decades, it is low in humus and organic matter. To improve the soil we wanted to sow it all to herbal leys for three years. A herbal ley is a very diverse community of plants such as chicory, yarrow, various clovers and legumes, together with a variety of grasses. This will build up the soil structure and organic matter and provide grazing and winter feed like hay and silage.
Government Subsidies
The planning that we commenced in January was entirely financially dependent on government subsidies called Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFI) that had been put in place quite recently to replace the subsidies we received before Brexit. One was to help in the cost of converting to organic farming from conventional, over two years, the other to encourage the growing of herbal leys. But then, just as we were poised to agree a lease with GCHT, to the surprise of the entire farming industry, the government announced the indefinite suspension of SFI on 11th March.
Suddenly we were left searching for a viable way to commence the project at a critical time of year when sowing MUST begin, in order to catch the spring season. A breakthrough occurred thanks to the determination and generosity of Roger Ross who offered to lend THF the money for the imminent sowing of the herbal leys whilst the two parties finalised a plan and signed a lease. Subsequently, the signing was further delayed as Roger wanted to look at the possibility of a combination of BNG and Carbon Credits to fund the project, which might affect the way we farm it.
Weather Conditions
So, with dryish but favourable weather conditions we commissioned the agricultural contractor who had worked the fields for many years, to cultivate them and sow them to herbal leys.
But that’s when the concern really began, because then it didn’t rain and didn’t rain! Through April, May, June and into July, nothing really appeared apart from a few weeds and some chicory, which is extremely drought resistant, and some sparse legumes. It seemed the grasses might have germinated initially and then died. As well as facing the loss of an expensive new pasture, we would have the additional expenditure of buying in winter feed for the cattle, AND the cost of resowing. The plan was starting to look like a disaster.
Rain, Grazing, Mowing: Hope for the Future
Then something of a miracle happened! Rain finally came, and the legumes such as red and white clover, lucerne, sweet clover, alsike clover and birdsfoot trefoil did come and grow, together with the chicory. It was thin, because the grasses didn’t make it, but there was something there on two thirds of the land.
As a result, in the middle of August we mowed the legumes on about a third of the new land and made 285 bales of silage. We are grazing 52 young cattle on another third and we topped a third where little came other than weeds. The drought has also meant that we made little hay or silage on the rest of Tablehurst Farm. To feed our animals through winter, we need 1,000 bales. We hope to cut more as summer draws to a close, but further rain is sorely needed. Even with enough rain, we only have until about mid-September to make it. We will no doubt still have to buy in additional forage.
As you can see, we have had an interesting 12 months! Many factors are beyond our control but as farmers we are constantly adapting to the new challenges we face.
To end on a positive note, in early August, it was a joy to see those 52 young cattle running into the rich new pasture that had finally flourished on the land.
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