The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2020 - Issue 67 | Page 60

60 DUGGLEBY HIGH BARN
FEB/MAR 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
Setting the record straight with
Meatruary at High Duggleby
CHRIS Berry talks with Ruth Russell, who
is on a mission, and her father John
Harrison – about Longhorns, Media and
Messages.
There are moments when we all decide
enough is enough, it’s time for less think-
ing about things, and more about getting
on with them. That’s how Longhorn
breeder and farmer Ruth Russell felt and
why, last month, she announced her
month-long initiative called Meatruary.
It was Ruth’s husband Andrew who
thrust a leaflet into my hand at Malton
livestock market in January and since
then Ruth has undertaken several media
opportunities on television, radio, in the
press and on social media.
‘I’d been getting quite frustrated about
the negative media regarding livestock
and nobody seemed to be addressing
the fact that quite a lot of the information
being given is incorrect.’
‘I’d had this spark to do something and
thought if I don’t do this, who will? I’d
read a piece about Veganuary and while
I appreciate the vegans’ opinions there
were things in their statements I thought
were incorrect and that I just needed to
get our message across.’
‘I don’t want to change the views of
vegans, but I do want to encourage meat
eaters to be more aware of what they are
buying. Unfortunately, there is a demand
from consumers for cheap meat, which
means imported or intensively reared
meat. The only way to combat that is
for us to get the message across so that
customers realise that and hopefully we
can then convert some of them to buying
from sustainable sources.’
‘I do like to fight causes. Where Andrew
and I used to live when we had a farm
above Pickering there was a right of way
through the farm and the new owners
wanted to stop people coming through. I
went around all the locals who had used
it over the years and got them to fill out
evidence forms to show it was in regular
use and to maintain its position as an
official bridleway. It is a story that is still
on the go.’
Duggleby High Barn, where Ruth farms
today, is on the edge of the Yorkshire
Wolds. It’s a combined effort between
Ruth, her dad John and Andrew. John was
drilling spring barley in beautiful February
sunshine when I visited to take some
photographs.
‘Dad’s in charge, and at 77 years old is
still the fittest person I know. Andrew helps
out along with his contract shepherding
and work at Malton livestock market. It’s
beautiful when it is warm and sunny like
this with stunning views, but it is quite
exposed, so we do get some strong west-
erly winds. It is predominantly an arable
farm with 277 acres of crops and we are at
between 400-600ft.’
‘We have part of the dale and several
grass paddocks and keep Longhorn cattle,
Texel purebred ewes to breed tups to sell
and around 150 Suffolk X and Texels.’
John, who has been farming all his life
was born at Grange Farm in Settrington.
He built up the successful Harrison Hire
business.
‘Originally I was looking for a bit of inde-
pendence as was working for my father
and I started hiring farm machinery in 1966
that gradually evolved into hiring cleaning
equipment with everything from power
washes to pipe systems in factories. That
became my main business, our head
office is still based in Settrington and we
also have a unit in Hull.’
‘I had continental cattle before we went
into Longhorns. It was in 1995 I acquired a
small paddock in Settrington and I wanted
to do something a little bit different, as
sometimes we made a little on the conti-
nentals and other times we didn’t.’
‘I saw some Longhorns advertised in
the Yorkshire Post. I went over to Temple
Newsam Estate to see David Bradley
and came back with a cow and calf. It
wasn’t long before I began to think I could
do with a few more as I could see their
potential for beef sold at a premium.
I started showing them at the Great
Yorkshire and
other local
shows, which
I did for about
ten years. I
wasn’t a dedi-
cated show man,
but we won quite a
few prizes.’
‘We now have a suckler herd of around
25 cows and most of our heifers now go
for beef, in fact we can make more out
of the beef than we can out of selling
pedigree livestock, because we are selling
into a specialist market with most of our
Longhorn beef going into hotels and res-
taurants in London through Ginger Pig that
was started in Yorkshire by Tim Wilson.’
It is this kind of sustainable farming,
finding markets where a premium will be
prepared to be paid, that Ruth would like
to see more of for all producers.
‘We’ve produced all our own replace-
ments for the past ten years. Only bulls are
bought in. Our stock is ready for the meat
trade at 24-30 months. Longhorns,like
most native breeds, are a slower maturing
animal that is raised extensively with two
summers out on grass. We finish them well
too, with our own barley and showed
a heifer at the latest Malton Christmas
Primestock Show. Ironically the butcher
who bought it wanted it for his wife, as it
was de-horned and that’s what she was
after, so it hasn’t gone into the meat trade
as we’d anticipated.’
Duggleby High Barn is in both the entry
and higher level stewardship schemes.
Six metre margins are around most
of the fields, there are pollen, nectar
and birdseed areas and there is pride
in the amount of wildlife and birdlife
from nesting lapwings and curlews plus
skylarks, yellowhammers, tree spar-
rows, buzzards, pheasants and grey
partridges.
The sheep operation started as part
of a rotation scheme on the arable side
with a three year ley, buying in gimmer
lambs in the autumn to graze and then
sell as breeding shearlings in the summer.
If more stubble turnips are available in
the winter more lambs will be bought
at market to fatten. The Texels are sold
at the local breeding sales at Malton,
Fadmoor and Wombleton.
Ruth isn’t on Facebook and so her twin
sister Anne has made sure Meatruary
is publicised that way. Ruth has
been greatly encouraged by the
amount of media attention she
has had and the support she
received during Meatruary
from fellow farmers, suppliers
and the general public.
‘As a country we import meat
from all over the world and that’s
just crazy. We are very eco-friendly
with fewer food miles. I wanted to
address some false facts that have been
given in the media, such as emissions
from British livestock. Ours are two and a
half times smaller than the world average
and British livestock only produces four
and a half per cent of all our country’s
total emissions. Agriculture, on the whole
in the UK, produces less emissions than
households, so it seems strange we seem
to be picked on when we are not the
worst culprits. Maybe we are just an easy
target.’
‘Grazing cattle is an effective way of
managing a carbon sink. These pastures,
the Wolds themselves, the moors, lots
of large areas of grassland are all large
carbon sinks. Many areas grazed by
animals are also totally unsuitable for any
other arable production. I hope that what
I’ve done in February with Meatruary
has gone some small way to redressing
what I have seen as an imbalance in
media attention – and that the public will
hopefully begin to have a better under-
standing of food production and not see
us as people who don’t care. We care
passionately about the environment and
farming.’
Watch out for perhaps ‘MeatMay’ or
‘Meateptember’ – I don’t think this is the
last we will have heard from Ruth!