62 BRICKYARD FARM APR / MAY 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
SOIL IMPROVEMENT AND VALUING TEAM ETHIC BUILDS SUCCESS AT BRICKYARD
Chris Berry talks with Andrew Wilson of Slingsby .
BEING able to look outside of the box and value those who work as part of his team are two of the qualities Andrew Wilson believes help take his farm forward . He also understands the benefit of shared experience with other farmers , utilising benchmarking to set higher standards and through organisations such as Future Farmers of Yorkshire .
Andrew is tenant of Brickyard Farm on the edge of Slingsby where he rents 330 acres from Castle Howard Estate alongside 70acres of owned land . He also rents a further 220 acres for growing potatoes and has handled stubble-to-stubble work for two local farmers across 300 acres for many years .
He also runs a bed-and-breakfast pig enterprise that started in 1990 and has seen Andrew stocking Ian Mosey ’ s pigs in straw yards since 1998 , presently with 1200 taken through from weaners to bacon . Future plans include a new shed to increase pig numbers to 2000 .
The Wilson family is just five years short of its centenary having farmed on Castle Howard Estate since 1926 . Andrew ’ s great grandparents Thomas and Esther took on Park House , Easthorpe from Esthers parents in 1926 ; they had two sons , Ken and Don . Kenneth was Andrew ’ s grandpa and married Daphne . They took on Porch Farm , Slingsby in 1954 . Andrew ’ s parents Chris and Ann moved to Brickyard Farm in 1989 , with Andrew becoming joint tenant in 2006 .
Andrew told of how the farm business was expanded in his grandpa ’ s time through haulage , which was to play an important role until just two years ago . ‘ Grandpa had a little wagon in the 1960s to deliver swedes and potatoes to the wholesale market in Leeds . Dad undertook more of the farm work while grandpa handled the transport side . Grandpa passed away at 63yrs old in 1986 when I was just 9 years old .’
After a few years without a lorry , dad restarted a haulage enterprise in 1991 , primarily hauling sugar beet to York Factory , grain , fertilizer and potatoes .
Andrew said his parents ’ move to Brickyard Farm was part of a very positive step by the estate .
‘ My parents had moved here around the time when the estate was streamlining its farms . The estate had calculated that to provide for a family plus an additional member of staff , 300 acres was the optimum size .’
‘ It was very forward thinking and provided us with a fantastic opportunity because at Porch Farm we had had no facility to expand .’
Looking after the soil is one of Andrew ’ s primary considerations in achieving greater arable sustainability in today ’ s challenging times . This has led to a change from the traditional rotation of continuous wheat or winter wheat , winter barley and oilseed rape .
Andrew ’ s land type varies with clay to the north of the farm and sandy loam to the south .
‘ The clay is challenging ,’ said Andrew . ‘ It can be very heavy and wet land . On that land our rotation is now two winter wheats , winter beans , two winter wheats followed by a cover crop before spring oats .’ In some situations , the second wheat before oats is a spring variety , as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on grass weed herbicides .
Andrew said he has also changed the way in which he sows the crops to better utilise farmyard manure and reduce the cultivation required .
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