The Farmers Mart Dec/Jan 2016 - Issue 43 | Page 64

Oak Tree Farm

Lincoln’s are the Future
for Me, says Chris
»»In the run up to
Christmas, Ian Wilkinson
headed to Oak Tree Farm,
home to the Foulness
Aberdeen Angus Herd. The
farm is tucked just outside the
small village of Newport not far
from Hull. Ian met Chris Page
who only entered farming fully
in 1995 but who has gained
a reputation as a consistent
breeder of high quality animals
– and not surprisingly, also a
frequent show trophy winner.
But times are a-changing
here.
Although a “late entrant”
to farming, Chris was always
interested, partly because
he lived next door to Freddie
Burley, a local pig farmer. At

the age of just 12, he helped
out on a farm for Morris Batty,
joining Morris full time when he
left school. Chris really enjoyed
the work, but when his father
secured him an apprenticeship
with a local builder, he went
along with that.
He worked mainly on housing
estates and then started his
own business in 1984 and
because of where he lived,
invariably most of his work
was for farmers, renovating
farmhouses, building new ones
and farm buildings and barns.
Chris never lost his love
for farming and animals
and in 1986 he bought a
smallholding at Soberhill and
rented small area