The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2015 - Issue 41 | Page 52

Wallish Walls Farm

Wallish Walls Farm – a welldeserved winner of the Tye
Trophy – Northumberland area
»»The well-deserved
winner of the Tye Trophy for the
Northumberland area is Wallish
Walls Farm, in the beautiful
Derwent Valley, where the wellknown Taylor family has farmed
for well over six generations.
Today, it is run by Edwin Taylor
and his son, also Edwin, who
are both understandably
delighted to have achieved
this notable recognition of their
ongoing efforts.
Over time, the farming
business has grown from
120 ha (300 acres) and has
changed from a mixed dairy
unit, to a predominantly arable
based operation - with livestock
enterprises that utilise land not
suitable for cropping.
The farm comprises of 1,039
ha (2,566 acres) of which 560
ha (1,383 acres) are owned and

the remaining 479 ha (1,183
acres) are tenanted and located
in several land blocks within a
10 mile radius.
Some 65 percent of the
agricultural area is down to
arable production, growing a
mixture of winter and spring
cereals and legumes. Autumn
cover crops are sown before
spring beans, peas and oats
helping to build fertility and
increase soil structure.
EXPERT CROP ADVICE
& SOIL SAMPLING
The farm has used minimal
tillage for several years and is
now adopting a direct drilling
method for crop establishment.
All arable operations are carried
out by the farm’s own machinery
and labour except for baling,
where a local contactor is used.

52 Aug/Sep 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

At present the farm uses two
respected agronomists for
crop advice and carries out soil
sampling on a regular basis.
The remaining farm area
is made up of a mixture of
temporary and permanent
pasture supporting a sheep and
cattle enterprise. The sheep
flock consists of 1,100 North of
England Mule ewes put to Texel
rams producing lambs that
easily reach market weights
from milk and grass. They are
housed during the winter from
January until lambing in April.
The cattle enterprise comprises
of a pedigree Belted Galloway
suckler herd producing pure
bred cattle and quality beef. The
herd of 40 cows and followers
are grass fed and outdoor reared
utilising the poorer grazing areas
on the farm.

“We also have a small nucleus
herd of pedigree *Whitebred
Shorthorns that are used to
cross with Galloway cows to
produce Blue Grey animals
for sale,” says Edwin Snr. “In
2004, the Whitebred Shorthorn
was added to the Rare Breed
Survival Trust’s Watchlist as a
“critical” status 1 breed.”
In addition, this versatile
business has several existing
contract