The Farmers Mart Dec-Jan 2018 - Issue 54 | Page 68

68 P S KIRKWOOD- POPLAR FARM DEC / JAN 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk

KEEPING THE PIG FLAG FLYING IN HOLDERNESS

Chris Berry talks with Peter and Angela Kirkwood at Poplar Farm, Rimswell

THIRTY years ago, the East Riding of Yorkshire was a hotbed of pig production. Since the 1960s a common phrase had been that the county was home to more pigs than people and no more was that true than in Holderness.

Today that has all changed due to a mix of imported pork being produced more cheaply abroad or at the very least being given greater governmental support by their home countries; fluctuations in world markets; consequences of previous losses with onset of disease; and now you’ re more likely to see pigs being reared on units under a bed and breakfast arrangement rather than the days when it seemed nearly every Holderness farmer had breeding sows.

Peter Kirkwood of Poplar Farm, Rimswell remembers those days well. His father Ted Kirkwood had arable land and poultry at Carr Farm next door, but it was another neighbour Mike Downing whose farm or rather his stock caught Peter’ s eye and imagination.

‘ Mike had sows fattening through to bacon weight and I would come across the fields by bike and help him feed them and muck out. That’ s where my interest started, and I went to market with my father when I was 14 years old and bought two in-pig Large White gilts.’

Three years later Poplar Farm came on to the market and at just 17 years old Peter bought it, demolished the farm buildings and house and developed it into what it is now a 1000 sow breeding and fattening unit. He’ s been through all the ups and downs this sector has offered up during his career.

69326- KandSWinterLtd- 8TH2. pdf 1 04 / 01 / 2018 11:21:15

‘ I’ ve seen all my neighbours’ pig units disappear. In this area most farmers had between 150-250 breeding sows. I can look around now and there is only one other unit left other than mine. All the rest are on with bed and breakfasting pigs and that can be a problem on the disease front because although we are a closed herd the bringing in of stock from elsewhere in the country always has the potential to upset the disease profile.’

‘ We’ ve undertaken two complete restocks in my time. The second one was with JSR and we’ ve stuck with them since. Our sows are JSR Genepacker 90s and the 9Ts that are being served now. We breed all our own on the farm with just a few boars bought in a couple at a time. We have an AI laboratory. We are using Hampshire boars and they have proved the tastiest genetics producing pigs that Morrisons are particularly happy with for their fantastic eating quality. We send 400 a week.’

While there are those who used to feel that every farmer in this area must have had a huge acreage as well as a burgeoning pig business Peter’ s experience worked in reverse. He took on land by way of diversification when times were rough.

‘ I only have a small acreage( 16 acres) here at Poplar Farm and when the unit was losing money the move I had made into arable land previously had proved sensible, especially with the way land prices had risen. It meant the asset value of what I had was gaining and that’ s a good thing to have when times are hard. Banks like that kind of thing.’

‘ We now have 600 acres. In 1985 when grain prices went through the roof I bought land rather than expanding the herd. I purchased New Headlands Farm at Aldbrough about eight miles away. It was 326 acres and a Mr Tibbett had built it from nothing ten years previously. The following year after buying New Headlands another 115 acres came up and we’ ve kept adding acreage since.’

‘ We grow wheat, barley and oilseed rape. This year’ s wheat varieties are Revelation, Horatio and Graham. The spring barley is Planet. Our yields last harvest were around 4 tonnes for wheat and 3.6 for the barley. We have a weighbridge at Aldbrough so we know exactly what every field does. We’ ve introduced spring barley to attempt to catch out the blackgrass during winter and the oilseed rape has been reintroduced in the hope the chemicals will kill the blackgrass. Our land type is heavy Holderness boulder clay.’

The cropping allows Peter to remain largely self-contained on the feed front.

‘ We mill and mix our own rations which helps with the cost of production and to be further sustainable we utilise solar panels at Aldbrough. They suit big consumption in summer when we need to keep the combine and grain dryer running. We also have a wind turbine put up here at Poplar in 2014 that provides power for the farm.’

East Riding Country Pork is the public, visible side of Peter’ s business. It is one that continues to give him satisfaction.

‘ We started it in 2000. I hadn’ t been happy with the public image of pig farming and I knew we were producing quality pigs, but consumers were talking of not being able to buy proper tasting meat. It spurred me on and I decided to have a stand at Driffield Farmers Market. After that we attended more and then looked around for premises for our own shop.’

Halsham, the next village, proved the destination and with a grant from Yorkshire Forward to bring it up to EEC standard East Riding Counry Pork became butchers.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

K. L & S. Winter Ltd

Livestock, Bulk and General Haulage

Dedicated to Superior Service and Animal Welfare

Proud to be working with Peter and Angela Kirkwood wishing them continued success

Tel. [phone] Fax. [phone]

Bleak House, 100 New Road, Hedon, Hull, HU12 8BT experts in business & personal law

Wilkin Chapman is delighted to support Peter & Angela Kirkwood and wish them every success for the future.

There for you for business, for life

Call Beverley 01482 398398 or visit wilkinchapman. co. uk