
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Next year could see drones being used for the first time to drop microscopic worms on trees, to protect them from harmful insects. The worms, or nematodes, are natural predators of damaging insects and the forest industry is developing ways of controlling pests as pesticides it currently relies on are phased out.
Another outbreak of Bluetongue has been recorded in Norfolk making a total of 11 cases in England. Stock on six different premises, in Kent and Norfolk have been affected. There are restrictions on moving animals in the protection zones and farmers say its difficult to find abattoirs to process their animals within those zones. We speak to a beef farmer who remembers a big outbreak which affected farms across Europe in 2007.
All week we're looking at rare breeds. The North Ronaldsay are one of the UK’s oldest and rarest breeds of sheep. They're shaggy and small and can often be found grazing on seaweed along the coast of the northernmost of the Orkney Islands, which they’re named after. But more recently farmers on the UK mainland have taken to keeping the breed which is listed as a priority by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Presenter = Anna Hill
By BBC Radio 44.5
5454 ratings
Next year could see drones being used for the first time to drop microscopic worms on trees, to protect them from harmful insects. The worms, or nematodes, are natural predators of damaging insects and the forest industry is developing ways of controlling pests as pesticides it currently relies on are phased out.
Another outbreak of Bluetongue has been recorded in Norfolk making a total of 11 cases in England. Stock on six different premises, in Kent and Norfolk have been affected. There are restrictions on moving animals in the protection zones and farmers say its difficult to find abattoirs to process their animals within those zones. We speak to a beef farmer who remembers a big outbreak which affected farms across Europe in 2007.
All week we're looking at rare breeds. The North Ronaldsay are one of the UK’s oldest and rarest breeds of sheep. They're shaggy and small and can often be found grazing on seaweed along the coast of the northernmost of the Orkney Islands, which they’re named after. But more recently farmers on the UK mainland have taken to keeping the breed which is listed as a priority by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Presenter = Anna Hill

7,845 Listeners

1,084 Listeners

374 Listeners

857 Listeners

1,069 Listeners

54 Listeners

48 Listeners

86 Listeners

5,536 Listeners

1,804 Listeners

1,773 Listeners

1,065 Listeners

46 Listeners

285 Listeners

265 Listeners

255 Listeners

164 Listeners

39 Listeners

109 Listeners

271 Listeners

3,221 Listeners

1,027 Listeners

778 Listeners

12 Listeners

1,022 Listeners