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“ Last year we got the cows out in mid-April , but the year before it was the end of March . Like every dairy farm it all depends on the weather . They are usually all in by the end of September .
Chris says that the feeding , in addition to grazing , is done using a BvL twintub mixer .
“ We use RBC for nutrition work and Varley ’ s cake . Charlie ( Payne ) will give a bonus for beating certain butterfat percentages . At the minute we are at 4.5 fat and 3.5 protein . You have to balance the cost of feeding to gain that extra .
“ We will do 180 acres first cut of silage , 140 acres second cut . We try to get 4 cuts overall by going every 5-6 weeks .
Grazing is undertaken on a rotational basis .
“ Our fields are split , as best we can , into similar size fields . We put the high yielders in first and low yielders will follow them round , with the highs getting the best grass every time and lows cleaning up . In the last couple of years , with grass getting away early in spring and romping on , we have shut some grazing fields up and strip grazed them . When they have then been way beyond grazing we have then shut them up and silaged them .
The herd is pretty much all down to AI producing replacements for the herd and beef calves .
“ We are with Genus RMS ,” says Chris . “ We AI everything and have a bull for the low yielders to sweep up anything we can ’ t get in calf .
“ We aim on calving 70 dairy heifers a year , which is the rate we replace at . Our cows will typically go 4-5 lactations
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and some do far better . We use Blue , Angus and Charolais for our beef calves which leave here at 7-8 weeks when Kevin Hardcastle picks them up and sells as stores in Otley . Anything a bit small we put the Angus on , the bigger cows we put the Charolais on and anything in between will get Blue .
Stephen says there ’ s a little bit of arable land too , and that the Brittons have developed a separate business selling soda grain .
“ It ’ s a diversification , albeit still a diversification that ’ s involved with farming directly . We process feed wheat into soda grain and sell it on to other dairy farmers . It provides much needed starch to feed dairy cows .
“ Our other main crop is 100 acres of maize . We grow around 70 acres of it off the farm on other rented land .
Stephen says that he has spent a little time away from the farm during his farming life , but that he has always also been committed to the family farm .
“ I worked on a pig farm when I left school , and I worked for some local agricultural contractors , but no matter what , I ’ ve always worked on jobs that have been about agriculture .
Stephen has more recently turned his attention to hedgelaying and in 2022 he won the novice class in the Yorkshire Hedgelaying Championships . Stephen says the competitive side of hedgelaying wasn ’ t his first thought , but more the usage of the grants to make better hedges for the farm .
“ As soon as these grants came out for planting hedges on farms , particularly on the pasture side of farms , we thought we
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might as well put these hedges in because what we had were rubbish . We planted hedges , initially , around 2-3 fields and left them to grow . All of a sudden I then thought that we ’ d better get these hedges laid properly and I wanted to know more about doing it .
“ The Nidderdale AONB people wanted to do a hedgelaying course , but as usual I didn ’ t have time to go on it .
“ I asked Derek Slater , who ’ s a neighbour who contract rears heifers for us , whether he would tutor me . He got all his billhooks out , we got shaped up and Charlie went with us and he got going with it as well .
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After hedgelaying for about five years Stephen entered the Yorkshire Hedgelaying competition , urged on by Derek . Stephen says it didn ’ t all go to plan , in terms of his time there at the competition , but obviously it was time well spent as he won his class and both he and Charlie won in 2023 .
“ It was locally run at Kate Smith ’ s in 2022 . I ’ d gone the year before when it was held at Tom Ramsden ’ s , and I had them on at me , wanting me to enter . It was my weekend on the milking at home when it took place , so I was an hour late , but I got my bit of hedge laid , then we had a cow calving so I had to leave .
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When I landed back I found myself with the trophy and prize money . I was gobsmacked .
“ It is capping how many people come to watch the hedgelaying championships . I was surprised who was there , people I hadn ’ t anticipated like Ken Addyman from Blubberhouses . He was tractor man for Stuart Falshaw .
“ Derek helped a little bit and he looked after Charlie in November at Mark Samson ’ s Well Quarry near Bedale for the 2023 Yorkshire Hedgelaying Competition . He had a go in the novice class , while I was moved into the intermediate class and that ’ s where we both won .
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