• DEC / JAN 2024 |
WHITCLIFFE HALL FARM 63 |
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Stephen classes himself as fairly competitive but that the competition is more about having a good day out .
“ It ’ s really nice if you can go , switch the phone off , and enjoy the day . There ’ s nothing better , if you ’ ve done it right , than seeing what you ’ ve done . Sometimes you might not think you ’ ve done quite so good , but the following year when it ’ s all greened up and sprouting from top to bottom , and wildlife is using it you then think it ’ s a right job .
Stephen says he ’ s learned so much about the art of hedgelaying in the past six or seven years .
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“ You can take a lot more off than I ever thought , when you ’ re trimming sides down , and the more you take off the faster the regrowth comes . It ’ s capping how supple the plant is when you ’ re taking your cut , where it grows from , and you think you have to leave loads on , well you don ’ t , because it will grow .
Stephen ’ s tutor , Derek , has been a hedgelayer all his life and Stephen pays tribute to his friend and to others who have helped him .
“ Derek has shown how to weave in and out and how much to take off . Some don ’ t take much off at all , but we now tend to take off a fair bit and
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our newly laid hedges are neat . We ’ ve hedges to sort that are a bit outgrown . We need to lay those to thicken them up , but we have made vast improvements to what we had .
“ I ’ m no expert , but I like to talk to the ‘ owd lads about it , some of whom are in their 80s now , and always used to cut hedges by hand .
“ These crafts are going to die out unless new , younger people like Charlie learn . When I took part in 2022 there were only 7-8 of us in my class .
Stephen says tongue-in-cheek but also quite seriously .
“ You ’ re getting paid not to farm . Okay we ’ re still dairying ,
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but all these grants and SFI schemes are here . As farmers , we ’ re being given the message that people don ’ t need food anymore , or at least not the food we produce . We ’ re sick of seeing television programmes , like one shown recently , that says the food we produce is killing everybody with methane .
“ So , the government is willing to pay for things like hedgelaying to be done . If we all keep our farms tidy , have good fencing and hedging that seems to be more important than food , and the public can see where the money is being spent . It ’ s not the way we really want supporting , it would be better if those
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people who criticise farming didn ’ t do it whilst their mouths were full of what we produce , but at least it is something – and we are enjoying doing it .
Many will know Stephen from his more public role at the Great Yorkshire Show where he is chief steward for the Beef Shorthorn classes having started alongside the late Cliff Hopwood .
“ I was with Cliff for years . I now have his grandson James with us . James does a great job and makes my life very easy at the show .
Chris was a member of both Winksley-cum-Grantley and Knareborough YFC .
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