The Farmers Mart Dec-Jan 2020 - Issue 66 | Page 50

50 GLEBE FARM
‘While the urban fringe creates some
problems it is great for such as straw-
berry picking and it forms a family day
out of cheap entertainment where you
can go into the countryside, spend a
tenner and have a good time together.
It always works well on a sunny day.
Joe helps run the PYO as well as being
heavily involved with all the arable and
horticultural work we have going on at
both sites. I also have a good farm man
Richard Ribbons who has been with us at
Horsforth since 1989. I rent out the livery
yard.’
Arable farming now makes up a
reasonable proportion of the whole farm
business and in 2019 the Kemps grew
over 300 acres of winter wheat varieties
including Claire, Revelation and Gleam.
‘Claire suits our land and for 2020 we
also have more Gleam and new to us is
Skyfall. We’ve some good loamy land up
on the Howardian Hills and anywhere
north of here and down in the Vale of
DEC/JAN 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
Pickering is very heavy land. We averaged
around 3.75 tonnes per acre this last year.
We will be putting in spring barley this
year, all feed for our cattle, and we will
be putting in beans.’
Perhaps the biggest move has
come since Will returned from
university. What had been
the 30 suckler cow herd
has now turned into an
operation that will see over
170 cows calve in 2020.
‘We brought the suckler
herd here when my father
died. We also put land down
to grass to combat blackgrass
which worked brilliantly but the
downside is we now have 200 acres of
grass. So, we now have a quickly growing
suckler herd that is predominantly
Stabilisers.’
Will talks up the tale.
‘I worked on a farm in Oxford on my
placement years. They were one of the
first in the country to have Stabiliser cows
and that’s how we decided to have them
here. We had Limousin X and Simmental
X from the original 30 but the Stabilisers
now make up 140 of the herd. We have
three Stabiliser bulls and keep an Angus
bull to go on the older bigger cows. They
are working for us and we’re really happy
with them. At present we have been
keeping all the females to increase the
herd. Our bull calves will sell as stores
through York livestock market this year.’
The Kemps have
developed lines in
pumpkins, turkeys and
Christmas trees making further
use of their proximity to the general
public at Horsforth. In 2019 they grew
26,000 pumpkins across both sites. They
rear 200 free range Bronze turkeys at
Glebe Farm, bought at 6 weeks old from
Farmgate Hatcheries near Cheltenham.
The Christmas trees are purchased from
a fellow Yorkshire farmer and were a new
venture for Christmas 2019.
‘We’ve latched on to the general public
coming and enjoying selecting their own
pumpkins,’ says Rory. ‘At our shack at
Horsforth we also sell hot and cold drinks
and beef burgers, families can have a
ride on a tractor and trailer and they can
carve pumpkins. Our turkeys are fully
mature at Christmas. They are all hens
because we think they are tastier. We
grow several breeds – Roly Poly, Rolstad
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Rory Kemp of Glebe Farm
and Plumpy. We take the oven ready
turkeys across to our PYO customers who
have ordered them on December 23.’
‘We are looking at further expanding
our PYO at Horsforth including strawber-
ries in a grow-bag and going table top.
We have also started a little PYO here at
Barton le Street. We’ve also just started
with some sheep. In 2020 we will have 30
Welsh Mules.’
Dales Gold is the farm’s branded rape-
seed oil that they sell through the PYO,
from the farm gate, at farmers markets
and through local suppliers.
Rory has also committed to country-
side stewardship schemes including quite
a substantial amount of legume fallow.
Diane was brought up on the neigh-
bouring farm in Horsforth.
One way or another it is currently all
systems go at both Barton le Street and
Horsforth as the Kemps seek to make the
most of every opportunity.