Farming Pioneers Celebrate a Quarter of a Century

By Sharon Marsh
April 2005

The pioneers of independent sheep farming have completed a quarter of a century in the industry and say they look forward to any challenges the future may bring. Green Patch, a Falkland Islands Company (FIC) owned farm, was originally operated as part of Fitzroy with 'outside shepherds' working from the Murrel, Green Patch, Estancia, Horseshoe Bay and Long Island - quite a long horse ride from settlement to homestead on a Saturday afternoon and back for turn-to on a Monday morning.

In 1958 Green Patch was established as a separate farm from Fitzroy and the settlement was built. Over the years it was not considered to be the most profitable of the FIC-owned farms on East Falkland, experiencing difficulty with maintaining stock numbers and consistently 'topped up' with animals from other farms.

Jock McPhee was the only farm manager at Green Patch from 1958 to 1980 and now owns Brookfield. Jock explained how, in 1980, the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) brought Green Patch from FIC and set about subdividing and selling it off as independent farms; both FIG and FIC were "under pressure" to make changes in farming, said Jock.

This was a new system and the idea of people owning and working their own land was treated with scepticism island-wide. However, after being vetted by a selection board consisting of Adrian Monk, Bill Luxton, Jim Clement, Brook Hardcastle, Harold Bennett and Bill Goss, six couples were informed that they were to become proud landowners and they set out on what has for the majority of them become a business and a lifestyle.

Jock, having assisted with the subdivision of the area, said he and his wife June opted to buy a piece of land mainly because their daughter Trudi was, "keen to farm". Although the area now know as Brookfield had once been set up by FIG as a model farm to breed stock animals, "similar to Saladero", Jock explained, "it was disbanded after two years (1926-28) - I think FIG ran out of money".

When the McPhee family took over the 4,039 hectare farm there was nothing at the present settlement apart from a single chimney - a remnant from the model farm; there was not even a water source. And so in 1981 the term 'moving house' was used literally as Trudi's bungalow was cut into sections and transported to the farm. The operation was so successful that in 1986 it was repeated with a two storey house.

The porches were removed from the house that was built for Jock and June in 1958 at Green Patch and the main part was jacked up, with the help of fellow farmers and friends, and transported to Brookfield on large purpose-built sleds. Amazingly a bottle of 'Task Force Ale' (sponsored by the Sunday Mirror for consumption by British troops in 1982) was sitting on the kitchen table when the house left Green Patch and was still in the same position on arrival at Brookfield. Each new section was allocated one house in the settlement and as they were gradually shifted to the farms it left a rather empty settlement at Green Patch.

Glenda and Neil Watson were living in Stanley with their three children when Green Patch came up for sale. Always outdoor people they were bitten by the farming bug and made the huge decision to sell their town home to buy a farm. Long Island cost the Watsons £19,000 to buy with their large house in the centre of Stanley only realising a price of £9,000. Money was tight said Glenda, "… but if you make up your mind to do something you get on and do it. Our farms are often referred to as having been cheap to buy, however there are few farms in the Falklands now that would be double the value of a large Stanley property."

Neil's approach to farming was typically relaxed, "I could ride a horse and milk a cow - no reason why I couldn't run a farm", adding with a grin, "I had to learn how to shear a sheep though." Long Island is still run traditionally with most of the sheep work being carried out on horses; family members and friends help out with the main gathers on weekends. Glenda is notorious on these gathers for her "assertive" nature but has at no point considered giving up farming, even during the very lows of the wool prices. The Watson family have in the last few years been able to supplement their income by running tourist farm days.

The price paid for the Green Patch farms was just for land, stock and a house. The new farmers had to rent tractors, hire the shearing shed and pay so much per head for sheep in the paddocks at shearing time. However wool prices were good at the time and the (on average) 2-3,000 sheep units were considered to be a viable operation for a family.

Peter and Maggie Goss were an entrepreneurial young couple who had spent eight years running and working a contract shearing gang. They had tried to buy land on several occasions and were thinking about leaving the Falklands for New Zealand or Australia where they hoped there would be more opportunities available. On hearing that Maggie's childhood stomping ground was coming up for sale they successfully applied for Horseshoe Bay.

In the mid-1970s the shepherd's house at Horseshoe Bay had been shifted to Green Patch settlement, a contract which Peter Goss had applied for; his relief was evident that he had not been a part of that house as in the winter of 1981 the house that Maggie had spent eleven years of her childhood in made its way back to Horseshoe Bay. There were two derelict houses at the farm, however neither were fit to live in and Peter and Maggie lived in a small caravan until they could get one room habitable in the house. Maggie said it wasn't the most luxurious set up and recalled many evenings wrapped in a blanket as Peter and his father worked all hours to renovate the house.

Horseshoe Bay started out with 3,200 sheep (no hoggetts the first year) on their 5,232 hectare farm but quickly increased the stock by buying in from Goose Green and shifting the 1,700 they already owned and ran on Bluff Cove Mountain to their new farm. With a rotational grazing system and further subdivision of the camps, 45 in total now including paddocks, they have maintained their 90% Polwarth flock at 5,500 - 6,000 for the last ten years.

Ailsa and Tony Heathman were also working in the shearing gang with Peter and Maggie when they opted for farm life and bought Estancia. Ailsa recalled how when she had received the news that they were the owners of Estancia, Tony was on the top of Mount Usborne, "… he and Peter McKay had walked up the mountain carrying a motorbike battery to be the first to talk from the mountain on two metre radios". The energetic pair had however failed to test the battery prior to departure and were not to be pioneers on the radio that day, as the battery was flat.

Ailsa was proud to recall Estancia has only ever been "in the red" once and that was because in 1982 FIC decided they wanted payment for wool freight to the UK upfront and she had to borrow £700 from her parents - paid back as soon as possible after the war. She considers their situation fortunate as they were the first to benefit from the road and have since branched out into growing vegetables (particularly carrots), and tourism.

However, due to the Estancia's position in relation to the other farms who didn't benefit from the road so early Ailsa said she could "write a book" about many weekends spent out looking for travellers who were, "…. either lost or bogged on the track, sometimes until six o'clock in the morning".

The Heathmans two children were educated in the early days at home and, "never got away without doing their homework, I've even seen them sitting by the creek with a chopping board on their knee to rest on, doing their homework while we built a set of grates".

As to changes over the years, Ailsa is sad to see signs on farm boundaries denying admission without permission, "… why should the eighty-odd of us who own land deny others the pleasure of the land?"

Terence and Carol Phillips began their farming career at Mount Kent, the only farm still operated from the original Green Patch settlement. Having been brought up in camp Terence always had a desire to own his own farm and they had tried to buy farm land elsewhere in the Falklands. Carol recalls how, having lived in Stanley for six years, they started with nothing of use on a farm. However, the pioneering spirit was alive and well within the Phillips clan and with one dog and a pup, "…. We went into the unknown of the North Camp where we had never been before."

"Three of the six sections worked their farms through Green Patch for a couple of years and we had to pay FIG for each cow, calf, horse and mutton we kept in the paddocks. We also had to pay five pence per sheep to shear in the Green Patch shearing shed until such time as we could all afford to buy our own; electricity was the same price as Stanley; all these charges were looked after by the FIG overseer at Green Patch, Ray Newman."

Terence and Carol later bought the Green Patch paddocks, power house, one house and the warehouse which was converted to a shearing shed. The Green Patch shearing shed was later sold back to FIC and moved to Walker Creek.

In 1989 Terence and Carol sold Mount Kent Farm to Pat and Dan Whitney and took up farming in the Douglas area where they continue to be successful farmers at Hope Cottage. Carol said, "All the section holders got on very well, worked together whenever help was needed and also got together on many social occasions."

Pat and Dan Whitney were at Port Louis before they decided to "go it alone". They now have some of the finest wool in the Islands and regularly win recognition for their efforts in the annual sheep shows and the finest bale of wool competition. The road and particularly 24 hour power have made huge changes for them, say Dan and Pat, who enjoy being their own bosses and the lifestyle in general: "We are the right distance from Stanley and although we will never be rich we wouldn't swap the lifestyle."

As with all the Green Patch farmers the Whitneys still use peat as their main source of fuel for heating and cooking. Although he doesn't cut his own peat now, in his heyday Pat was known to carve a massive 113 yards from the bank in one working day.

The Green Patch farm closest to Stanley has remained the least accessible throughout the 25 years it has been operating - with a road not expected to reach the area until next year - and has also undergone more change of ownership than its counterparts. The Murrel was purchased by the late Claude and Judy Molkenbuhr and Tim Miller with Claude buying the farm outright when Tim chose to try farming at Bold Cove (near Port Howard).

Claude was a reknowned horseman, doghandler and stock worker with many years' experience working on West Falkland. Judy and Claude passed away in 1985 and 1988 respectively, with the farm being left to their 13 year old son Lee. Gail Miller ran the farm for several years under the guidance of overseers Dennis Middleton and Owen Summers until Lee had finished school and travelled to Australia. Lee chose shearing as his trade and since then Adrian and Lisa Lowe have run the farm with Lee as a "sleeping partner".

The Lowes thoroughly enjoy their lifestyle and could not imagine working for anyone else or living in Stanley. With only 2,500 sheep they have diversified into tourism to supplement their income.

The one thing that becomes very clear after speaking to all the farmers who work the land that was once Green Patch is they are all there because they love the lifestyle and are prepared to put up with a few hardships to retain their preferred way of life. Ailsa summed up the situation: "Green Patch farmers had to paddle their own canoe or sink; there was no Department of Agriculture or FIDC (Falkland Islands Development Corporation) to help out in the early days."

Sharon Marsh is Deputy Editor of Penguin News but for almost 20 years was a farmer on West Falkland

First published in the Penguin News, 1 April 2005, and reproduced by kind permission of the Editor

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