38 CROSSFIELD FARM AUG / SEP 2022 • farmers-mart . co . uk
Crossfield Farm – Giving Something Back
It was good to meet up again with Ian Tate of CW Tate and Son Contracting at Crossfield Farm Castlelevington , near Yarm . It doesn ’ t seem five minutes since we met before in April 2021 , just as things were getting back to normal after the pandemic . Thankfully it was much warmer this year , if a tad parky as we sat down to chat . Readers of Farmers Mart will have seen the piece we put in about Ian ’ s charity event supporting the Northeast Air Ambulance in the June / July issue
AFTER its previous success Ian was very keen to get the charity event going again , having had to postpone it due to the pandemic . More of the event shortly .
Crossfield Farm is part of , but on the edge of , the large Crathorne Estate where his family have farmed for more than 100 years . Ian and his family moved back to the estate following the retirement and passing of his father . The Tate family have always had a strong relationship with the Dugdales and James Dugdale , 2nd Baron of Crathorne , has been most supportive and helpful to Ian and his family . A quiet and generous man , Lord Crathorne agreed to attend the charity event and give away the raffle prizes .
Since taking on Crossfield Farm , Ian and his team have put many hours into updating and modernising the farm . The Crathorne Estate have also helped by making a significant investment as well . Ian has been keen to keep as many of the old buildings as possible , so he really had to work out how to develop the barns to the best advantage , even designing special gates and barriers . Initially , the old open Dutch barn was converted into a shed with gates . They also erected a brand-new larger shed . The old brick outbuildings that were a former piggery were converted to house the calves as well as putting all the new electricals in . Now , some six years on , nearly all the
concreting is complete , which is a far cry from the muddy quagmire it used to be in winter .
They own 80 acres and farm some 1220 in total , comprising of many different parcels of land , with 500 acres of wheat , 150 of barley , 130 of oil seed rape , 80 of spring beans and 40 of spring barley , with 240 acres of grass for hay , silage and grazing . The grain is stored at nearby Dawson Farm and is sold to Frontier and Wynnstay . The beans go to a local beef farmer and Barley is bought by Jamieson ’ s who in turn supply , according to Ian , some superb rolled barley for the cattle .
Pest control and soil management is an important part of Ian ’ s land management
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