The Farmers Mart Dec-Jan 2020 - Issue 66 | Page 44

44 HILL TOP FARM
DEC/JAN 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
CHILDREN AND PIGS PROVE WINNING
FORMULA AT MAPPLETON
Chris Berry talks with
rural award winners
Caroline & Mark Basham.
MAPPLETON’S coastline may be
receding along with the rest of
Holderness’ eastern seaboard by a
North Sea that is determined to have
its way through longshore drift, but for
pigs and kids one small corner of this
village is claiming greater numbers every
year. Recently the work done by an East
Riding husband and wife farming duo
saw their Farmyard Friends Day Nursery
win the Rural Business of the Year title in
the Yorkshire Post Rural Awards held in
Harrogate.
Caroline and Mark Basham of Hill Top
Farm on the northern edge of the village
have succeeded in growing their pig
farming bed and breakfast operation
to 1450 pigs at any one time, with five
batches taken on during the year coming
in at 40 kilos and taken to finishing for Ian
Mosey. They started with accommoda-
tion for just 600.
‘ Farmyard Friends
Day Nursery win
the Rural Business
of the Year title
’
Farmyard Friends Day Nursery that
they started in 2006 can now take up to
64 young children in its three sections
that include: babies from 0-2 years old;
toddlers 2-3 years old; and pre-school
for 3-5 year olds. It is all a long way
forward from when they started in their
house next door to the nursery with 12
children.
Mark was born and grew up just 100
yards down the road from Hill Top at
Manor Farm on his dad Brian’s 600-acre
farm. Mark spends a good deal of his
time working alongside their son Robert
(18) who left Bishop Burton College last
year.
‘I’m now torn three ways,’ says Mark.
‘I could be full-time at the nursery just
repairing things for Caroline, and that
business is earning more than the pigs
operation; then there’s the pigs them-
selves and then there’s dad’s farm and
his agricultural contracting business.’
Manor Farm is predominantly arable
cropping with cattle bought-in as calves
taken to strong stores. Wheat is the main
crop with varieties such as Reflection,
Revelation, Evolution, Diego and Graham.
Diego, as Mark points out, performs well
for them.
‘Most of the land is heavy Holderness
clay. In 2019 we hit the high 4s on yield
generally. We also grow barley, rape and
beans. The cattle are bought in batches of
around 30 at a time from Carlisle. We have
100 fresh every year but with the previous
year’s as well in theory we can have
upwards of 200. We get them at 8 weeks
old and take them to around 15 months.
We try to get continentals. Most of our
stock is sold at York livestock market.’