The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2019 - Issue 64 | Page 10

10 FAR BARSEY FARM & FARM SHOP
AUG/SEP 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
FAR BARSEY – IN THE COMFORT ZONE
I have met with many hard-working farmers and their families. Today I had the privilege to meet the Dean Family
who run Far Barsey Farm and Farm Shop; it is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of Halifax, Barkisland.
FARMING is a tough, challenging business,
that demands commitment and dedication
and many continually have to strive. John,
wife Ruth, daughters Katy and Rachael and
son in Law Richard have taken achieve-
ment to a whole different level. They have
scrimped, saved, suffered and gone without
along the way but now sit in a position
where they have a completely refurbished
farm from top to bottom, a superbly
appointed and stocked farm shop and a
marvellous high health status pedigree
Limousin herd.
Talking to John, Ruth and Richard you get
that sense of contentment and confidence
in what they do and the ability to manage
whatever happens comes across and an
assuredness that all will be sorted.
Far Barsey Farm has been in Ruth’s family
for what is now five generations. Ruth’s
grandfather was originally a dairy farmer –
delivering milk door-to-door from a hand
cart and driving his stock up and down the
village. Back then there were some twenty
dairy farms along the main road, nowa-
days there are just two left. Ruth and her
sister Jane loved to help on the farm, ably
assisted by Ethel, who was a land girl who
had stayed on after the war and, indeed,
continued with the family until the ripe old
age of 92!
John, like Ruth, is somewhat multi-skilled.
On leaving school, he worked as a motor
mechanic on both cars and trucks; he did
this for eleven years until 1984 when he
became a truck driver, which continued
until 1987. He used to come to the farm
and help milk the cows just to earn a bit
of extra. John did all the servicing of the
tractors, repaired the trailers and whatever
other maintenance needed doing, even the
joinery! To this day, John still does much of
the farm maintenance when required.
Ruth and John met when one day he
came down the lane and saw two girls
struggling to throw hay bales onto a trailer.
Quick as a flash John jumped over the wall
and offered to help. One of those girls was
Ruth, from then on John became more
and more involved with the business, the
rest is history as they say and next year
they celebrate 40 years of marriage. Their
two daughters Katy and Rachael loved the
farm as kids and always got involved and
helped out. When they left school the farm
was still Dairy and really couldn’t support
the two girls but also John and Ruth were
keen for the girls to make their own way
and learn about life outside the farm. Katy
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went to work for a dentist and qualified in
remedial massage. Rachael worked in a
bank and took an accountancy course as
well. Kate and Rachael have always loved
horses which stemmed from their great
grandfather’s passion. Rachael still com-
petes herself. Katy’s daughter Ellen is now
stepping up to the plate at the tender age of
5, she rides and competes on ponies.
When Ruth and John took the farm over
fully, they continued the dairy herd until
2000. The main reason they finally changed
was Milk Quotas, they were crippling the
business particularly when milk went down
to 20p which meant they operated at a
loss. They lost a lot of money, there was
no land nearby to purchase - if there had
been, they could have increased the herd
‘ John and Ruth worked
hard on building up the
herd, buying less and
less as the years went
by, their goal being
a full pedigree, high
health status herd
’
and might still have been in dairy today.
The area was becoming more built up with
farms being sold and as the herd was up
to 60 cows moving them up and down
the road was becoming increasingly more
difficult.
Dalziel - Serving
the Food Industry
We are pleased to be a long standing supplier
of ingredients and meat to the Dean family at
Far Barsey Farm Shop & wish them continued
success for the future.
Promoting product concepts – created for craft butchers
Dalziel Ltd, Unit F1 Summit Park, Whistler Drive, Castleford WF10 5HX
01977 605 590