The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2014 - Issue 35 | Page 24

THE BULMERS OF SHARLSTON

On the road
with hay & straw
… and vintage
tractors
Chris Berry visits The
Bulmers of Sharlston.
When you see the host of
wagons starting out on their
annual east to west exodus
with hay and straw, one of
the names that is regularly
seen on the road is Bulmer
of School House Farm in
Sharlston. The village is best
known for its long since
closed colliery but it is here
that John and daughter,
Joanne and son, Ian have
built a fine reputation, not
just for delivering good
quality bales but also for
making them too. They’ve
always been on the road,
whether delivering milk,
cattle to market, hay and
straw or are now organising
their own tractor runs.

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Aug/Sep 2014 FarmersMart

“When the crops are ready we
get in on 4,000 acres buying the
wheat straw out of the swath,’
says Joanne. Last year we baled
between 17,000 and 20,000
Hesston big bales with our
Case Puma tractors and balers.
We know every year where
we are buying and the majority
is from Metcalfe Farming. It’s
all from land around here and
within a 20 mile radius including
Nostell, Pontefract, Darrington,
Smeaton and Castleford.
“We take it over to into
Lancashire and into the
Yorkshire Dales daily with our
customers furthest afield being
over near Blackpool. What
we’ve also found is that going to
Skipton and Gisburn livestock

‘Last year we baled between 17,000
and 20,000 Hesston big bales with
our Case Puma tractors and balers’
markets has worked well when
we have taken a smaller wagon
with a trailer. It’s Ian and myself
who drive the wagons today
although we are increasing our
haulage licence from two to
three drivers.”
John started with hauling
hay and straw after having
sold originally to a haulier from
Halifax.

“Ralph Douglas was getting
straw from us,” says John. “And
I reckoned he was making a
killing. I thought that - since we’d
put in all the effort - we could
make a bit more by hauling it
ourselves; so my dad gave me
some money and I bought a
TK Bedford from Leeds Motor
Auctions. We were doing round
bales at the time and with the

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