52 CW TATE & SON CONTRACTING
52 CW TATE & SON CONTRACTING
APR / MAY 2021 • farmers-mart. co. uk
Partnership which is a Teesside based charity supporting the emotional wellbeing of local children who have suffered significant emotional trauma. Ian bought her a highland cow and calf for xmas 2019. They are a cute pair, however Snowflake is very protective of her calf Rosie, so they had her dehorned for the safety of the other cattle and themselves, as she is apt to charge at you, but equally loves to feed from your hand. Lynn has a real soft spot for animals and always instructs Ian to buy cute ones when he goes to the auctions. Both Ian and Lynn are passionate about their cattle and the care they deserve. One instance recently, was when one of the calves had
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considerable difficulty after the birth and just lay there with no energy or life. The vet was going to put her down but Ian said“ No, let’ s just give it some time”, and hey presto, here it is in the picture between Ian and Lynn, aptly named“ Miracle“.
Since moving to Crossfield, the herd has now expanded to around 180 beef cattle, including 24 suckler cows. They are mostly Limousin and Charolais- Charolais for their weight gain and Limousins for their shape. They are Ian’ s preferred breeds, but not exclusive. About 40 calves a year are bought from Gisburn and Carlisle with 10- to 12-month-olds from Northallerton and Ruswarp who are turned out to grass.
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Stores then go back to Northallerton at 20 – 24 months and Finishers go to Dawn Meats at 20 – 25 months. Ian has a very good name at Northallerton Auction Mart for the weight and quality he achieves for his stores. When I asked him what he enjoyed the most, he told me how much pride he took in his animals and showing them at Northallerton, which is testament to the skill and drive he has. The suckler cows run with a hired Charolais or Limousin bull. Bull calves are taken off their mothers and sent straight to Northallerton and heifers kept for turn out and finishing. Calves are fed on a coarse ration and then on to Ian’ s own mix of barley and beans. However, following a suggestion from a friend when some of the suckler cows were struggling to put on weight, he now uses fodder beet- what a revelation! They are fed whole, as if they were chopped up the cattle would eat too much and become ill. They absolutely love it when Ian throws in in some full beets, they happily chomp away at them and it has been a real bonus when feeding them up.
As you would guess with an operation of this size and continually growing, there isn’ t that much spare time, however Ian still has a 50-year passion he manages to find time to indulge in- following Newcastle United. That’ s not to say he doesn’ t get contracting calls before, during and after a Saturday game – good job the phone is on silent on Saturdays. Before 2020, the only time Ian missed a game was during harvest!
Ian’ s commitment and drive for the business is unswerving. He and his team strive to do the very best for their increasing number of contracting customers as well as taking care of their own land, crops and animals to the highest standard.
I asked Ian about any specific plans.“ To develop what we have and grow our number of customers.” As well as that, Ian planned to have a fund-raising event to help the Bungalow Partnership charity and Yorkshire Air Ambulance( that has had to help more than one friend recently). It has had to be put off due to the current situation, however Ian has all the organisation in place and knows just what to do as they held a very successful fund-raiser in August 2015 to mark them leaving Free House Farm and raised £ 2800 for Cancer Research and the Air Ambulance. When things return to normal and the event takes place, we shall be covering it, and in the meantime, we wish Ian, Lynn and the team continued success.
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