Kingston Stroll #9: Down on the Farm - Crops & Beasts
This is the 9th of a 10-cache series which takes you from the heart of the village through the fields and along the farm lanes of the Swanborough area immediately to the east. The 3.5km circuit can be completed in under 2 hours allowing for necessary cache and optional short bird-watching, photographic and refreshment stops en route.
The cache, a tiny black conical push-topped tube, is hidden further down this delightful path connecting Swanborough village with Kingston NL.
To find the cache, click on the image above to access a jigsaw puzzle, completion of which will reveal the cache coordinates - and a useful hint.
Please note that the cache description contains an external link above to a jigsaw.
Although it is from a well-known source, it has 'not been checked by Groundspeak nor by the reviewer for possible malicious content and access to the site is therefore at your own risk'.
The farm estate grows both crops and livestock . . .
Arable farming: The estate farms about 900 hectares (2250 acres) of arable land centred around Iford on soils varying from heavy clays near the Ouse to the east and thin chalk soils on the South Downs to the west.
About 400 ha (1000 acres) is wheat for milling and animal feed, with most grown for bread making. The fertile soils around the village of Iford support high yields and good quality.
Also grown is barley for malting, mostly exported to Europe through Shoreham or Southampton, oilseed rape which is crushed at Erith in Kent to make cooking oil, and seed peas are grown for a famous frozen food company.
A small area of land is used to grow maize for feeding to the beef herd.
A 'minimum tillage' system is used where most of the soil is not ploughed but cultivated instead. This improves the biology of the soil, reduces fuel usage and increases retention of organic matter.
Livestock: the estate has a herd of about 350 suckler cows, which utilise the steeper and wetter parts of the farm unsuitable for crops. Many of these areas are within the Kingston Escarpment and Iford Hill SSSI, and thus very sensitive, and the cows are managed so as to allow the wildflowers and plants to flourish. The cattle also graze in the Castle Hill National Nature Reserve, and care is taken to improve the rare chalk grassland through careful grazing at key times of the year.
The suckler herd offspring are fattened in Iford, using silage and cereals grown on the farm. The animals grow on grass and are brought inside at about 18 months old to finish during the winter.
There are about 1000 head of cattle on the farm in a mix of breeds. Many are traditional Sussex cattle, well suited to grazing the rough pastures on the South Downs, and hardy enough to leave outside for most of the year. The rest are a mixture of cross-breeds selected for milk production, easy calving and high quality calf carcass.
The estate has two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the Lewes Brooks SSSI and the [Kingston Escarpment and] Iford Hill SSSI managed to maximise their environmental benefits. The former is an area of important wetland, situated to the south of Lewes, with ditches hosting a wide range of flora and fauna, as well as a significant population of rare and interesting birds. Water levels are controlled to provide flooded areas in the winter to attract overwintering waders, while in the summer certain areas are stocked at lower levels to give patches for those birds to nest in. The Iford Hill SSSI is recognised particularly for its flora being one of the few sites where Round Headed Rampion (Phyteuma orbiculare) flourishes.
