58 PIPER HOLE FARM AUG / SEP 2022 • farmers-mart . co . uk
New & Used
Tractor sales , import , retail & export
Tunstall Tractors Ltd have been trading in new and used second hand tractors and undertaking servicing and repair work since 1984 , originally under the name David Tunstall until the formation of the limited company in 1997 .
Proud suppliers to Frank Hunter and Piper Hole Farm .
“ We are 85 per cent forage based . When you see dairy cake at £ 400-plus per tonne the more the farm can support the goats the better . We ’ ve learned a lot from feeding forage as opposed to intensive feeding with concentrates . Our milk is much easier to work with when it gets to the dairy to make cheese for the simple fact that we ’ ve based it on a forage diet off the herbal meadows . There ’ s a distinct difference in the quality and workability of the milk between that from an intensively produced product to ours .
It is that distinct difference that Frank believes he must now capitalise on .
“ We ’ re now at the point where we need to reconsider our marketing strategy . My original theory of standing at a stall in a farmers ’ market talking with customers is all very well but it isn ’ t really cutting it anymore . Our produce now has a name , it has a reputation , it has its own label and we really have to market ourselves and the product far better .
“ We can see orders coming in on our computer screen from the reputation we already have and we can instigate more of that by being more social media savvy . I ’ m not saying we should abandon farmers markets , as it is still a shop window , but our product has moved on from purely that .
Piper Hole ’ s other livestock is , more typically to the area , sheep , but Frank says he ’ s changed his sheep strategy .
“ We now have Border Leicester purebreds and I ’ m moving towards 100 per cent Border Leicesters in future . At present we have around 130 Border Leicester X to the Rough Fell back on the hill land .
“ We were traditionally Rough Fells , but I found that when we were putting lambs into auction the buyers were deciding that was time to go for a cup of tea . They were buying the continentals and crosses rather than ours and that meant we were making a poor return .
“ We played around with them , rented more ground and we had 750 Rough Fell breeding ewes that we then tried as Rough Fell X Texel . They were bringing a cash flow that was acceptable , selling lambs from June to December , but then lamb prices crashed .
“ We brought in Border Leicesters as the base to the flock and used the Border Leicester tup on the remaining Rough Fell ewes . It has been a gradual grade up . It ’ s a better carcase and they ’ re good converters of our type of grass into meat and energy . We sell through Kirkby Stephen and Bentham and they ’ re doing better than when we had the Roughs .
Coming to Piper Hole took place in 2004 . It was like coming home for Frank as he was born next door and the farm he took on was his godmother ’ s who had been a major influence on his farming life and his interest in soil , land and how best to work a farm .