Graham Goddard: Walkhampton Common
The cattle, sheep and ponies work in harmony.
You take one of the three out of the equation and parts of the vegetation stop growing.
It's all about managing it as best you can.
Graham Goddard lives with his wife on the edge of Walkhampton Common. Walk for five minutes up the track from their back door and you’re standing on this common on the western edge of Dartmoor National Park, with views stretching all the way to the coast.
We arrive a little early for our arranged meeting, so Rob and I pull over just below the farmhouse, and wander among trees. Here, the common is fringed with trees, around forty acres of old woodland made up of oaks, ash, holly, hazel and beech. Golden leaves above us catch the afternoon light, and the thick moss on the stone walls is glowing.
After a short walk, we meet Graham and his wife, who have been at their farm since the early 1990s. Graham began with some sheep, cattle and ponies, but now only keeps ponies: his herd of around 30 mares graze on the common all year round. Other farmers let sheep and cattle onto the common. ‘The cattle, sheep and ponies work in harmony,’ he tells us. ‘You take one of the three out of the equation and parts of the vegetation stop growing. So it's all about managing it as best you can.’
What is commoning?
I ask Graham what he thinks people’s general understanding of commons and commoning might be. ‘It's a way of life, commoning. It's not something you can just all of a sudden pick up, you know. You've got to understand how it all works - and the knowledge of the commons is passed down the generations. You've got to have your own farm, or a tenancy on land, with rights to graze out there. And you have to have the right sort of animals - not all cattle or sheep will live up on the moor; but certain breeds will, and they'll thrive, and they know where to go at different times of year. And you've got to understand the environment - it’s not just about feeding the animals anywhere, and making a mess. And when you're in an environmental scheme, you are being paid to manage what's up there.’
Graham is chair of the Walkhampton Commoners Association. ‘I take it as a privilege,’ he says, ‘and I do my best to ensure that everything we’re doing is to our benefit, and that we’re being as environmentally friendly, sympathetic as possible.’
As chair, Graham convenes and attends meetings with other commoners who have grazing rights on the common, keeps on top of correspondences, and occasionally has to deal with issues. Graham describes the commoners as ‘a motivated group working for the benefit of the common’. And for him, working together is at the heart of good commoning - this is something we hear again and again from farmers, and extends to include those who have rights to graze but do not exercise them, and land owners and land managers. It’s a complex business but it’s important to stay in discussion when agreements are to be made, or changes are sought.
Graham believes that he and other farmers know the environment of the common much more intimately than some environmental assessors, and wonders where the conversation will go. ‘Sometimes it's not for the best, you know. Thirty years ago, they {the government} were paying us to drain. Now, the hot topic is rewetting and carbon capture.’ He’s concerned that the provision of food is not overlooked. ‘Whoever’s in charge should be thinking seriously about food security, and should listen to farmers on the ground more.’ Graham hopes that new schemes don’t call for further reductions in stock numbers - when it comes to managing the various habitats of the commons, Graham, like many others, believe that the moors cannot be so well cared for without the animals. ‘They keep it looking like it has been for generations.’
“Thirty years ago, the government were paying us to drain. Now, the hot topic is rewetting and carbon capture. Whoever’s in charge should be thinking seriously about food security, and should listen to farmers on the ground more.”
Dartmoor Ponies, and the Pony Drifts
Graham’s attachment to farming, and particularly ponies, goes back many years. He always wanted to be a farmer, and the success of the family plastering business allowed him to buy the farm he now runs. Since his teens, inspired by his grandfather and other farmers in the area, Graham has taken part in annual pony drifts. These are unique to Dartmoor: a time when farmers come together, on horseback, to drive ponies off the common and into farmyards to be sorted: those that are ‘thrifty’ and healthy go back to the common, and others may be sold. ‘They’re quite clever,’ says Graham, as he tells us about the ponies, ‘They know what has been going on for generations and generations. We drift different areas of Dartmoor on different days, and those days are set in stone - unless it's pouring down. It's one of the last things each year that everyone does together as a group. I still stand on the same spot that I did when I was 14, and people know you're going to be there from a given time.’
The market for horses is reasonable at the moment, but not as good as it was in the 1960s when a farmer might be able to live off farming Dartmoor Ponies alone - something that’s extremely rare now. Nevertheless, the number of active graziers on Walkhampton Common is fairly stable. There are some keen younger farmers coming through the ranks, but Graham is a little concerned that fewer people these days want to take on the hard work. He feels strongly that farmers need to be supported to farm with the commons. ‘Being able to put your stock up there, particularly in the summer months, is so important. You need to be able to shut your fields up to make hay and silage to feed the animals in the winter. Without that option, hill farms would not be viable. If you're going to use the commons properly, in conjunction with your home farm, it's got a future, but I wouldn't say it's a fantastic future. The margins are sometimes very low.’
“If you’re going to use the commons properly, in conjunction with your home farm, it’s got a future, but I wouldn’t say it’s a fantastic future. The margins are sometimes very low.”
At present, with rising prices of feed and fuel, the gradual phasing out of BPS (Basic Payment Schemes), and a transition into a phase of new payments that are not yet well defined, the future is looking uncertain for upland farmers, and this is extremely difficult. ‘Can you imagine any big business trying to plan to do something in two years’ time not knowing what they're going to get paid for doing? It wouldn't happen!’
Thinking about resilience
There is a lot of discussion among farmers and organisations, but the granular detail that takes different land types - particularly moorland - into account is lacking. What, I wonder, can contribute to resilience? Graham thinks that supporting a large number of small farms is better than supporting a small number of larger farms; smaller farms have more capacity to care for the fine details, not just the livestock but also the hedges, the meadows, the woodlands. These are all part of the land Graham loves so much. And before we leave, he talks about one of his favourite spots on Walkhampton Common. ‘Leeden Tor. Go up there and look up the Walkham Valley. It’s just beautiful, any time of the year. It’s all lovely, but that’s probably my favourite view around here. If you don’t stop to look at it, you tend to forget it’s there.’
