I previously met with Ian Tate of CW Tate and Son Contracting back in 2015 when they were based at Free House Farm in Crathorne , North Yorkshire . At the time , Ian was preparing to move to Crossfield Farm , a few miles down the road at Castlelevington , near Yarm . This was where we met again in early March , as both the weather and Covid restrictions were beginning to ease . However , the pleasant , still , but cold air managed to all but seize my fingers up making notes , as Ian and I chatted , sat at either ends of his office on Crossfield Farm .

I have to say Ian has hardly changed , still the cheery upbeat character I met in 2015 , just with a couple of extra furrows on his brow .

Crossfield Farm is also part of , but on the edge of , the large Crathorne Estate where his family have farmed for more than 100 years . Lord Crathorne had always said he would move Ian once his father had retired , which he did back in 1999 . Sadly , last year Cliff Tate passed away at the grand age of 90 . The Tate family have always had a strong relationship with the Dugdales , and James Dugdale , 2nd Baron of Crathorne , personally found and offered Crossfield Farm to Ian .

When the move to Crossfield was complete , Free House Farm then went back under the estate ’ s control and has since had the yard and sheds redeveloped for traditional style housing .

Crossfield Farm had previously been managed by the Crathorne Estate for the past 40 years . As with many older farms there had been little investment , however Ian loves a challenge , and he was certainly faced with one . Ian and his trusty team had a lot of work to do in preparation for the move across from Free House to Crossfield , however they have always had a good working relationship with the estate , who not only helped by providing a level of investment , but also assisted in securing certain grants when available . They had from March to the November to get the farm into some king of working shape . The estate was flexible about moving dates , which was also a great help .

All there was , was an old open Dutch barn , brick out buildings , no concrete anywhere and no electric in any of the buildings ! The farmhouse was also rented out , so it ’ s a good job Ian and family live only 2.5 miles away from the farm in Yarm .

Ian was keen to keep as much of the old buildings as possible , so he really had to work out how to develop the barns to the best advantage , even designing special gates and barriers . Initially the old open Dutch barn was converted into a shed with gates . One barn was dismantled and brought from Free House Farm . To add to this , they also erected a brand-new larger shed . The old brick outbuildings that were a former piggery were converted to house the calves and a start was made on the concreting as well as putting all the electricals in . Although everything was a way off complete by the 15th November , the cattle made their move across , along with the rest of the team .

The first winter was a tad challenging , as although they had put some concrete down , large areas were still just mud and stone and in bad weather resembled a battlefield rather than a farmyard , so much so that some wagon drivers were refusing to get out of their cabs into the deep mud !

Now , some five years on , most of the yard is now concreted , with the final

section planned for May this year , and a fully functional office unit is on site .

They own 80 acres and farm some 1150 in total , comprising of many different parcels of land , with 500 acres of wheat , 150 of barley , 130 of oil seed rape , 80 of spring beans and 40 of spring barley , with 240 acres for grass hay and silage and grazing . The grain is stored at nearby Dawson Farm and is sold to Frontier and Wynnstay . The barley and beans go to a local beef farmer , as well as keeping some for himself .

The contracting side is really growing at a pace , with plenty more room for extra enquiries . The combining has taken off to such a level that they now combine some 1350 acres and , rather than rent , they have bought a Claas lexion-580-tt . They drill around 1500 acres , spray some 6 to 7000 acres and produce some 35 to 40,000 round and square bales , although 2020 was a tough year with bale numbers down to 25,000 due to lack of rain , making straw 2021 ’ s Yellow Gold ! Then on the other side of the weather coin , as often happens in farming , they lost all 130

acres of their own oil seed rape because of too much rain ! All they could do was sit and watch it rot away . However , winter weather can be a particularly good earner , as he has a gritting contract for some 57 sites in the north east - it does mean he can be out all hours but aren ’ t most farmers anyway !?

Ian believes in using the best of machinery for both his own land and the contracting side and has an impressive line-up of manufacturers , including Massey Ferguson tractors , Claas , Pottinger , McHale , Vaderstadt , Krone , Housham , Sumo and Dowdsell . They also have 3 Vale gritters and snowploughs to cover all the council and supermarket gritting contracts .

Ian has 3 full time staff and 3 extras at harvest time . He runs the business side and wife Lynn does the all-important bookkeeping . Lynn loves to come down and help out feeding the cattle when she gets chance , usually at the weekend , as during the week she works for The Bungalow

Continued on page 52