66 WEST END FARM APR / MAY 2022 • farmers-mart . co . uk
ARABLE CROPPING , HORSES AND NOW GRANNY ’ S COTTAGE AT THORNHOLME
Chris Berry talks with Jo Milnes of West End Farm
FOUR generations of Jo Milnes ’ family have farmed at West End Farm in Thornholme , just five miles south-west of Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire .
But it was her mother ’ s side of the family who first came to the farm in 1918 .
‘ My granddad , Bernard Wood , was only 6 years old when he came here with his parents ,’ says Jo . ‘ It was originally a mixed farm with dairy , beef , sheep , pigs , chicken for eggs and arable across 300 acres , but today it is 500 acres and purely an arable concern .’
‘ I remember when I was little we still had dairy cows , and we had beef cattle until BSE hit , but by the mid-80s we had no livestock .’
‘ We farm under granddad ’ s name as the business , BR Wood & Co . Originally my mum Margaret ’ s brother John farmed here . My granny wouldn ’ t let my mum farm and she became a nurse , but when Uncle John emigrated with his wife Anne to Canada my parents moved back from Surrey , via a year in Lincolnshire , to help my granddad who was still fit and well .’
Jo says the one who calls the shots on the farm is her dad and that she has a little input along with her sister Rachel .
‘ My dad , Rod , is an accountant . He ’ s never jumped on a tractor , but he has always done all the planning , bookwork and business side of the farm and we have an excellent farm manager , Peter
Bradley , who has been with us for getting on towards 25 years .’
‘ Peter looks after all of the cropping , has meetings with our agronomist and tells dad how much corn has been harvested for dad to be able to sell it . Dad has meetings with the likes of Openfield , Frontier and Mortimers . We are able to store grain on farm with fairly good facilities and our own dryer , which helps .
Jo says the cropping is largely winter wheat , winter and spring barley and oilseed rape .
‘ We have 170 acres of winter wheat this year with the varieties Crusoe and Illustrious which go for quality milling wheat . We can grow quality wheat because of our good , free draining chalk
J . C . Robinson Ltd
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‘ Pleased to be associated with Jo Milnes of B . R . Wood & Co and wish her continued success cess with her farming , equine and holiday accommodation businesses sses .’
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Wolds land and some good clay . We are always over 4 tonnes per acre and will generally achieve between 4 and a quarter to 4 and a half tonnes .’
‘ We ’ re using winter barley variety Craft across 115 acres this season and have 100 acres of spring barley variety Laureate all for malting that goes into Muntons at Flamborough .’
‘ Our oilseed rape is across just short of 100 acres and due to the ban on chemical usage we do suffer from flea beetle . Our issue is whether we sow the crop early or late and what difference that will make . Last year we lost half a field of rape .’
‘ We also have some spring beans that we sowed in 2021 after 2020 ’ s cultivation period had been a nightmare due to the rain .
Jo is married to Richard who has a car showroom and business in Bridlington . They married in 1993 and live on the farm in a house they had built for themselves . Jo ’ s parents live in the farmhouse . Their daughter Charlotte , who lived away for six years , also now lives in Thornholme . Horses have always been Jo ’ s thing . ‘ They were my grandad ’ s influence . He bought me a pony and I ’ ve never been without a horse since . I competed in pony club games , evented and hunted .’
‘ I learned Monty Roberts ’ methods for training horses and being able to train difficult horses . Looking back , a lot of what I did actually came through my own instinct .’
Jo also breeds horses , enjoys riding for fun and has an online business selling gifts for pets and pet owners called Distinctive Pets .
‘ Everything in the horse line pulls together . Breeding , training and selling horses is the main thrust of what I do . I currently have 16 horses of which I ride two for myself . I have four brood mares with two in-foal and we have 5 youngsters we have bred ranging from 1 to 4 years old . I have two stallions – a big warmblood Hanoverian eventer called Fred who ’ s 23 and looking as well as ever , and cheeky with it too ; and a lovely dun Connemara called Barrowby Thunder Rebel who came from the Barrowby Stud near Harrogate who is due to start eventing this year .’
‘ We have visiting mares in summertime . Last year Fred had 16 mares and Rebel had 10 , of which they both had one of mine . My daughter Charlotte and I have