The Farmers Mart Feb/Mar 2016 - Issue 44 | Page 40

Beck Hill Farm Castle, Middleton in Teesdale and Leyburn. We look for something that gets a bit of finish like a Limousin with Belgian Blue in it somewhere, but anything that is decent is what we’re looking for. It’s all about quality.” A very busy time is coming up this month with both calving and lambing getting under way. “We start with the 250 pure Beltex, Texel and Dutch Texel ewes about 5 March along with a few Suffolks and Charollais. Half the Texels are bred pure back to the Texel tup; all the Beltex are put back to the Beltex tup; and the Dutch Texel back to their own tup. The pure Suffolks and Charollais go to the Beltex tup to breed crossbred tups. Every couple of months we have a draw and anything we don’t like for breeding will go to either Dawn Meats or into Leyburn Mart; or perhaps in future if good enough, to our butcher. We look to keep 60-70 females a year as replacements. The Beltex are sold at breed sales in Carlisle, Skipton and Kendal, with the Texel and crossbred tups sold at Kendal, Bentham, Carlisle and Leyburn.” Next up is the main flock of 600 three-quarter bred Texel ewes all put to the Beltex. Some of the gimmer lambs will be kept or sold as breeding sheep but most go as fat lambs. At the end of March around 200 Beltex X Texel hoggs lamb and are then sold at Skipton in early May as hoggs with lambs at foot. The remaining 300-400 ewes to lamb are the seven-eighths Beltex that are all then put back to the Beltex. “We’ve been Beltex-oriented since 2009 because of their excellent carcase quality,” Robert said. “We tried others but these have proved their worth. We’ve heard others say that Beltex don’t grow quickly enough but we’ve never found that.” Mile House Veterinary Centre provide a continued, valued service to their livestock needs. Will and Robert assist each other when the pressure is on and also have two full-timers who have been with the farm for many years – Colin Tyson and Anthony Dawson. Last year, their good friends, James Bailey of Ivanhoe Livestock and Will Barker, their neighbour, also started being involved more regularly with the sheep. Robert attended Harper Adams University where he studied agriculture and also saw him working on HRH The Prince of Wales’ farm in Tetbury, no less. Will’s interests have seen him start up a new business in Aerial Ag Mapping with independent crop consultant, Patrick Stephenson. “The use of drones provides a remote sensing service that allows you to see areas of your fields that might be problematic. One of the biggest things about it is weed identification. By use of drones and the information they capture we can create maps so that the sprayer can then automatically spray where the weeds are,” he explained. The brothers are also looking to offer a contract farming service for mixed farms. “There are whole farm contractors already out there for arable farms but we offer a real whole farm service because of our joint livestock/arable enterprise. Some whole farm contractors just want the arable We are proud to be associated with Will Atkinson of Beck Hill Farm and wish him well for the future. Umbilical Slurry Spreading ● Digestate Spreading ● Silage Making See our website for our wide range of services 07860 228871 ● 07732 591598 ● [email protected] 40 Feb/Mar 2016 www.farmers-mart.co.uk side. We can do both and that’s where we hope to become the one-stop shop for mixed farms.” Will is also currently taking digestate, the bi-product of an anaerobic digester in Newton Aycliffe, and applying to his growing crop in spring. “It’s a nutrient rich form of slurry that we apply using an umbilical system via a 24 metre spreader bar driving up and down tram lines. It saves on bagged fertiliser costs and adds the organic matter we’re looking for.” It’s certainly a busy time for Will and Robert right now as they push forward with new ideas, new techniques, new contracts and even a new sale already planned for 2017, as Robert told me: “We’re planning our first on-farm tup sale that will also include breeding gimmer shearlings. Ours will be a bit different to others too as we’re aware that some buyers get co