The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2020 - Issue 68 | Page 59

LOVESOME HILL FARM 59 • FEB/MAR 2020 GROWING SINCE 1975 Proud to support John & Mary Pearson of Lovesome Hill Farm ♦ Grain & Oilseed Drying, Storage & Marketing ♦ Seed Corn, Maize & Grass Seed ♦ Propcorn & Fertiliser ♦ Animal Feeds & Mineral Supplements ♦ Straights, Molasses & Brewer’s Grains For friendly advice & a competitive price, contact Mill Farm, Raskelf, York, YO61 3LB 01347 822322 Leeming Bar Industrial Estate 01677 424172 www.argrain.co.uk | [email protected] ‘Our idea was always that the accommodation would help make the farm sustainable as it has been our ambition to keep the family farm going. It has proved very popular and we will get back going again when the time is right, but for now it is just important that everyone stays safe.’ ‘We use apples from our orchard, rhubarb from our garden and serve our own meats from livestock we rear on the farm.’ ‘I started with Farmstay UK 30 years ago when our sons Simon and Matthew were young. In those days farm accommoda- tion attracted a lot of passing trade, but hardly anyone does that now because everyone these days has a mobile phone to ring beforehand. We get a lot of repeat bookings and often the next generations come following in the footsteps of what their parents did with them.’ ‘We started our lambing breaks around 10 years ago and they have proved really popular. John gives our visitors the real experience of what it is like on a proper working farm at lambing time. It’s real farming and we’ve found it works really well for older people, as they have the concentration.’ ‘We like it to be just the right number so that everyone can get a lot more out of it. All visi- tors for the lambing breaks stay with John all the time and he explains it all. People like to get involved as much as they can, or as little as they want, there’s no pressure, but there is still that marvellous feeling everyone gets of seeing a new lamb being born. We still gt a kick out of it even now.’ ‘Everyone finds it rewarding,’ says John. ‘I have to judge people on how they are with the animals. You can’t just let people have a totally free hand, but we do encourage them to help with feeding the lambs and putting them into pens. It’s all a way of making people more aware of farming. You can’t do the same with calving time, but visitors can view from a distance.’ Mary also like to get the message across of where produce comes from. ‘I hope that I’m spreading the word about good home cooked, home reared food, especially when everyone is around our kitchen table. I stay off lamb while it is lambing time though.’ John’s family came to Lovesome Hill in 1940 when it was an estate farm. His father purchased it as a sitting tenant in the 1950s. Mary was born in Lincolnshire and grew up on her parents’ family farm near Market Rasen. Today’s farming operation at Lovesome Hill runs to 170 acres with a further 170 acres rented. It is a mixed farm with around 240 acres of arable land across the 340 acres growing wheat, barley and oilseed rape. Bed and breakfast pigs are kept for a local farmer; there is a herd of 40 Aberdeen Angus pedigree cows that John has built up over the past 15 years, as well as com- mercial cattle, predominantly Belgian Blue or Simmental bull calves bought-in at around 2-3 months that go to Carnaby around 16 months. The Angus cattle go to Carnaby on Angus scheme at around 24 months.’ The sheep enterprise runs to 90 breeding ewes, mainly Mules but also Texels, generally producing fat lambs for market, sold at Northallerton. John and Mary also have their own hens producing eggs for their visitors.