The Farmers Mart Dec-Jan 2020 - Issue 66 | Page 48

48 GLEBE FARM DEC / JAN 2020 • farmers-mart. co. uk

FAMILY WITH THEIR FEET FIRMLY IN TWO RIDINGS

CHRIS Berry talks with the Kemps of Horsforth and Barton le Street.

Beef cattle, winter wheat, spring barley, beans, turkeys, pumpkins, strawberries, raspberries and Christmas trees – if it moves or if it doesn’ t the Kemp family will find some way of growing it and trading it.

Rory Kemp grew up at Springfield Farm, Horsforth in the West Riding where his father became a tenant farmer around 1953 before purchasing Springfield in 1976. Today Rory lives in the North Riding at Glebe Farm in the serenely idyllic rustic village of Barton le Street as well as retaining Springfield. Across the two locations he now farms around 1100 acres with 790 owned.

It’ s very much a whole family enterprise with Rory, sons Joe( 26) and Will( 23) and his wife Diane all taking active roles.

‘ My father David wanted to be a dairy farmer and it was his father, my grandfather Joe who got him the tenancy. Joe was a first generation farmer who through his poultry business owned a company called Yorkshire Egg Producers in Drighlington. My dad started with 60 acres and finished up with 257 acres of which 167 were rented.’

‘ I went to Askham Bryan College and when I left there I answered an advertisement to work as a harvest student for Gerry Abbey who farmed at Glebe Farm where we are today. My father had gone from 32 cows to 84 by 1991 when he retired and we had grown to 125 Holstein Friesians by 1995, but it was difficult farming on the urban fringe for quite a number of reasons, so I went looking for another farm. By chance I bumped into my ex-employer Gerry.’

‘ I had always been a dairy farmer up until then and the initial idea of moving farms was to take the cows to another farm. I asked Gerry’ s advice.’

The upshot was that Rory came out of dairy farming, collecting his last milk cheque in May 1996, and bought Glebe Farm, a bigger operation than he had originally had in mind.

‘ We would have needed serious investment in a new parlour if the herd had stayed where we were or if we had moved them here, but this is first and foremost an arable farm. I had paid 68p for milk quota and I had made it known if it was ever worth it again I would sell it and I did. It was the milk quota value along with the sale of the herd that gave us the chance to buy Glebe.’

‘ We had started a PYO at Horsforth in 1984 that was going quite well and continues to this day with just strawberries and raspberries now, but at one time we were growing lots of soft fruits. I left 30 suckler cows that my father looked after at Horsforth and converted some of the now redundant dairy buildings into a livery yard.’

R COVERDALE & SONS

Reliable & quality service at the right price

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Proud Hauliers to Rory Kemp & Family

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Wishing Rory & family continued success for many years to come.

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SAM JEFFREY

FODDER BEET SERVICES

Specialising in fodder beet & sugar beet, grass cutting, grass tedding, raking, baling, harvesting, planting & sales.

Proud to be working with Rory Kemp

Trading Hay & Straw for 20 Years

Tel: [phone] | Mob: [phone] Email: info @ coverdales. co. uk

Franks Curtis Ltd, Beansheaf Ind Park, Kirby Misperton, Malton, N. Yorkshire, YO17 6BG

📞📞07949 293432 | Malton, N. Yorkshire samjeffreyfodderbeet @ hotmail. com