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DEC / JAN 2024 • farmers-mart . co . uk

Norman Iveson Steel Products Ltd . Finghall , Leyburn Tel . 01677 450 420

Agricultural steel fabricators , manufacturing livestock handling , feeding and penning equipment as well as supplying UKCA approved steel portal framed buildings .

Proud to be associated with the Pra� family of Studdah Farm .

Agents for

IT ’ S now 60 years since James Pratt moved to Studdah Farm in Bellerby , near Leyburn in 1964 , but it ’ s another James , his grandson , that I talked with recently and who farms with his brother Richard and his parents Alan and Edith .

“ Granddad came from a bit further up the dale , from Marsett , near Semer Water ,” says James the younger .

“ When granddad moved here with dad we used to farm within the village . We were only milking 50 cows when Richard and I were teenagers and that wasn ’ t going to be enough for us both to work here . That ’ s when we made the move down to the new farm 20 years ago and purchased a bit more land and it ’ s grown on from there .

“ We now farm 220 acres all in one block . We had most of the land here but we subsequently bought 20 acres just after moving and another 45 acres later . In 2003 we put up a new building and put in a 24 / 24 Westfalia parlour .

James says the decision over a new parlour and investment in the dairy herd

came about after the farm had lost all its stock in 2001 after having been taken out during the Foot and Mouth epidemic as a contiguous cull .

“ Up until 2001 we had always had sheep as well as dairy cows . It was at this time we reassessed what we were doing and where we wanted to be for the future . That ’ s when we discussed wat we would do if we were going to go back into dairy cows . Myself and Richard wanted to farm and expand the herd and we ’ ve grown the farm since .

“ We ’ d had a Mule flock , up to 180 ewes , and we went back into sheep for a while , but then went out of them as we got more young dairy stock .

“ We ’ ve been wholly dairy now for 15 years , with pedigree Holsteins and a handful of pedigree Jerseys which are owned by us and a good friend of ours , Stuart Clapham who owned one Jersey and has developed from there . We just milk 4 of them . It ’ s a bit of a hobby . They ’ re good fun , something a bit different .

The farm sees James and Richard with 160 acres of silage and grazing ground ; 30