Old Pond publishing days

Cattle Lameness and Hoofcare - forthcoming book

Lameness and overgrown feet are a major welfare and economic problem in the modern dairy industry. The aim of Roger Blowey's book is to help prevent these conditions and treat outbreaks. It deals with both theory and practice.

Cattle Lameness and Hoofcare 2nd Edition by Roger Blowey BSc., BVSc., FRCVS. Hardback book, 136 pages including 198 illustrations. ISBN 978-905523-28-3. £19.95, end July from Old Pond.

The chapters in this book cover: 1. The incidence and cost of lameness; (2) Foot structure, function and inflammation (laminitis); (3) Weight-bearing surfaces and hoof overgrowth; (4) Hoof trimming; (5) Common diseases of the foot and their treatments; (6) The causes and prevention of lameness.

The second edition is a complete revision. Roger has provided more information about the impact on lameness of changes that occur at the time of calving. He describes new conditions such as toe necrosis and heel ulcers. In particular he draws on the findings published at the two-yearly Symposia of Diseases in the Ruminant Digit. The book is considerably enlarged and includes many new illustrations.

Roger Blowey, a practising veterinarian, is an RCVS specialist in cattle health. Among his many honours is the BVA Dalrymple-Champneys medal for work of outstanding merit in the advancement of veterinary science. His other publications include A Veterinary Book for Dairy Farmers.

John Moffitt CBE

The death today of John Moffitt has been announced. It follows a long period of illness.

The two Gentlemen of the Party: John Moffitt (right) and Jack Kemball during filming at the 1998 'Power of the Past' event at Wantisden, Suffolk. Jack Kemball died in March this year, just short of his 97th birthday.

Born in Cumbria in 1929, John Mofitt left school at 16 to work on his father's Hunday farm. In the early 1960s he and two other cattle breeders formed the first private AI company, CBS, which became Premier Breeders. The success of this operation, the renown of the Hunday dairy herd, the efficiency and size of his farms, his venture into Hunday Electronics, his public works and his founding of the Hunday museum all brought him acclaim and honours.

John had a deep interest in agricultural engineering, and in particular the work of Dan Albone, creator of the Ivel tractor, and Harry Ferguson. He restored an Ivel, making it perhaps the oldest working internal-combustion-engined farm tractor in the world. Working with George Potts, he built up one of the finest collections of Ferguson tractors and equipment.

John's enthusiasm was infectious. No one who was there will forget the Historic Pageant that he put on for Friends of Ferguson Heritage in June 1999 at his home at Stocksfield, near Newcastle.

Besides a parade of all his Ferguson tractors and equipment, he created a pageant in which the achievements of three great tractor innovators were recalled by actors.

(left) John Moffitt, Alex Albone acting the role of Dan Albone, Bill Martin as Harry Ferguson and Gerry White as Henry Ford.

John kept a detailed diary from 1950 and he was a great collector of records, literature and other items to do with his interests. In his later years these formed the basis of three books: Fergusons, the Hunday Experience (with John Farnworth, 2000); The Ivel Story (2003); 60 Years of Farming - an autobiography (2007). All have been published by Japonica Press.

Old Pond DVDs to which John Moffitt contributed are Power of the Past, in which he talked about his Gyrotiller and Ferguson Tractors which featured several of the rarer machines from his collection.

Two more JCBs filmed

This Saturday we started off south of Birmingham at Wythall where Tim Starkey-Smith levelled a yard using Frank Bullock's 2DII (left).

The machine was at one time owned by Joe Darby (right) who made sure that it was in working order for us.

In the afternoon Tim handled a monster: a 3DIII (left). The machine belongs to Jim Brereton who has been using it for forestry clearance and general maintenance for fourteen years. Jim keeps it in frequent operation at the White House, Cannock.

Optional extra with the 3DIII, the breaker (left) was only a partial success in Tim's hands.

Landsmans Bookshop to rise from the ashes

In the blog of 28 February we reported on the liquidation of Landsmans Bookshop Ltd.

It now appears that the name and stock have been taken on by Andrew Blandford who runs the Blandford bookshop in Broadway. He expects to revitalise the company and carry the operation on in the similar way. Andrew can be emailed at blandfordgroup@btconnect.com or phoned on 01386 858588.

Yellow Trail - better news

The BBC has now completed clearing music permissions for our DVD of Yellow Trail from Texas. This was the ground-breaking programme shown in 1976 as part of the BBC's "The World About Us" series. It featured Dale and Margie Starks and their crews of custom cutters working their way from Texas to Canada with Massey combines and Ford trucks.

We are still to receive a master, but the BBC has indicated that we will be sent it in the next couple of weeks. That being so, we should have replicated copies in stock by the end of June. We are now confident enough to begin taking advance orders. Phone Old Pond on 01473 238200.

Yellow Trail from Texas, director/producer Tim Slessor, released in 1976. Exclusive distributor in the UK, Europe (excluding German-speaking countries), South Africa and Australasia: Old Pond Publishing. Running time approx 50 minutes. £15.95, end June.

The first and last Doncaster-produced McCormicks

Nearly at the end of filming for Stuart Gibbard's new DVD, McCormick International - the Doncaster Years. This week we spent a day at the Cambridgeshire farm of Stephen Haylock and his son Matthew.

Peter Neale came to the farm and drove his very special machine: the very first Doncaster-produced McCormick tractor. Farmall M, September 1949.

Stephen Haylock owns the very last machine off the line (right), McCormick CX 105 XtraShift, July 2007.

Then there's his Diamond Edition CX 105 from 2006 (left).

Not to mention the restored Coronation Model Super BMD (right).

Finally, Matthew put their Interntional BTD 5 (left)through its paces on the heavy clay soil.

The Rural World of Eric Guy - forthcoming book

From the 1930s to the 1960s commercial photographer Eric Guy apture the rural world from his base at Basingsoke and Reading. Guy was a countryman through and through, working almost exclusively on agriculture and country life. He operated mainly in Berkshire, south Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, north Hampshire and south and west Buckinghamshire. When he retired in 1963, the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, bought his negatives and copyrights.

Jonathan Brown, Honorary Fellow of the museum, has selected 176 images from the 2,000 held there. The topics these portray include: farms and estates; cereals and sheep on the Downs; cattle, dairying, pigs and poultry, working horses and the change to mechanization; the Second World War; the village scene and crafts. Dr Brown has supported the photographs with a knowledgeable text and captions.

The Rural World of Eric Guy by Jonathan Brown, paperback 128 pages including 176 photographs. ISBN 978-1-905523-87-0, to be published 23 July, £9.95.

Plant Names Simplified - now in stock

"Dahlia, dah-le-a; named after Andreas Dahl, a Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnaeus. Originally (and still in America) pronounced dah-le-a and not day-le-a as commonly heard. All dahlias usually grown are hybrids from species rarely seen in gardens. Half-hardy tuberous herbaceous plants.

COCCINEA, kok-sin-e-a, scarlet

IMPERIALIS, im-peer-e-a-lis, powerful

JUAREZII, ju-a-re-zei, after Juarez

MERCKII, merk-ei, after Merck

VARIABILIS, var-e-ab-il-is, variable coloured

ZIMAPANII, zim-ap-a-nei, after Zimapan."

This glossary contains over a thousand entries like the one above, the aim of the authors being to remove the 'awkward obstacle' that these names can present. In recent years this classic aid for the gardener and plant lover has been published by Landsmans Bookshop. Old Pond has agreed to take the book over.

Plant Names Simplified, A.T. Johnson & H.A. Smith, paperback 180 x 120 mm, 128 pages. ISBN 978-1-905523-82-5. £7.25, available now.

Shepherd's Pie - forthcoming Brewis audio CD

In 1995, five years before his death, Henry Brewis recorded a double audio-cassette of some of his stories and verses. Old Pond is now issuing a re-mastered edition of the first part of the recording, 'Shepherd's Pie'.

Shepherd's Pie, written and narrated by Henry Brewis. Audio CD re-mastered by Douglas Docherty from the 1995 original, runs for approx 60 minutes. Available mid-May, £7.95. ISBN 978-1-905523-85-6.

Northumbrian hill farmer Brewis remains the the most trenchant and funny observer of farm and country life in recent decades. Whether he is talking about the cussedness of sheep or the naivety of rural incomers, he always hits the nail on the head.

Contents: May morning - Market forces - Return of the prodigal daughter - That's show business - The office - Dear diary (1) - Wotsisname? - Economical with the truth - Capital punishment - Grave concern - Dear diary (2) - One more gone - Stranger in the night - Dying race.

Astrid Massey - growing up in Germany 1928-45

H W Freeman (see post 16 April) and his wife Betty were the centre of a group of friends/helpers attracted by their personalities and lifestyles. Betty's closest friend was probably Astrid Massey who, like Betty, was a German expatriate. Astrid, a generation younger than Betty, took over from the older woman when she retired from teaching German classes at Suffolk College, Ipswich.

Astrid in about 1944

When Astrid died in 2005 she left pencil jottings in which she had sketched for her four adult children an account of growing up in Germany. Her widower, Harry, has collated the notes and published them under the title 'Astrid's Book'.

Few of us who knew the precise, hard-working and very helpful person when we attended her evening classes could have guessed at the backgound revealed by the book. Astrid Ziolkowski, born in 1928 near Bremerhaven in north Germany, grew up in a poor but close family against the backgound of the immense changes in Germany. Astrid describes some of the impact of these changes and the differing attitudes of members of her family to the Nazi regime. Astrid herself 'danced for Hitler'.

When she was quite young Astrid moved with her family to Hamburg. In July 1943 they were there during the three nights of carpet bombing. Her unemotional description of how she survived is riveting.

After the bombing came evacuation to Bavaria and the confusion and poverty of the end of the war when she had to come to terms with the loss of family members. Her story ends happily when she meets and marries Harry who was with the British occupying forces.

If you would like to read a truthful, concise account of one person's experience growing up in Germany between the wars, then you should look at 'Astrid's Book'. It is obtainable at £6.95 from Harry Massey, 48 Holcombe Crescent, Ipswich IP2 9PW, United Kingdom. Phone 01473 683090. The book includes photographs.