The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2020 - Issue 67 | Page 68

68 QUARRY FARM
FEB/MAR 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
Looking Forward to
the Government’s
New Agriculture Bill
Chris Berry talks with NFU national livestock board
chairman and North York Moors farmer Richard Findlay.
THE farming industry needs
people like Richard Findlay. This
might seem like the phrase that
goes along the lines of ‘blowing
smoke up someone’s posterior’
and might appear as though
I’m effectively massaging his
ego, but it is meant in the most
sincere way. Richard has been
chairman of the NFU’s national
livestock board for the past two
years and this month he stands
for re-election. If he didn’t carry
on in his position, for whatever
reason, I’m sure he’d put his
time to exceptionally good use
elsewhere, but what I mean
about needing people like him is
the commitment he gives day-in,
day-out to working on behalf of
farmers while also maintaining
his farm business at home in
Quarry Farm, Westerdale in the
North York Moors.
It is no mean feat to undertake
the mileage required to not just
attend meetings but chair them
and have significant input on
behalf of the rest of the farming
community. Richard’s farm still
has to operate, income still has
to be found and I am sure there
are times when he and others
who put themselves out on
Taking care of
our customers
& their animals
for generations
H.H. Smith & Son
Whitby are pleased
to be associated with
Richard Findlay of
Quarry Farm & wish
him and his family well
for the future.
behalf of the rest of the farming
world wonder why they do it.
My good friends and now both
sadly departed Ronnie Foster
and Martin Burtt also spent
countless days and sometimes
weeks away from their farms in
the name of helping their fellow
farmers. Sometimes, in my
opinion that goes unnoticed, in
fact I’ll add Rosey Dunn to that
list and I’m sure others could
add even more.
Richard is lambing 1100
predominantly Easycare ewes
this year and a small Beltex flock
of 60 ewes producing hopefully
quality tups. His lambs are traded
through Seven Hills Farmers
Marketing Group of which he was
one of the original magnificent
seven. Today the group has
between 50-60 members and
supplies 40,000 lambs a year
supplying Tesco, ALDI and the
Co-op, with the carcase balance
of shoulders and necks being
exported. That’s his farming
operation in one. Quarry Farm
has 200-plus acres of in-bye and
he has his sheep over 1200 acres
of heather moorland.
‘I aspire to being Yorkshire’s
laziest farmer,’ Richard says
somewhat glibly, although it is
very much a part of his media
repertoire and announced on
each occasion, one feels, with
the same wry smile. ‘By that I
mean I try to keep things simple.
I don’t do any clipping – that’s
why I went for Easycares
that shed their wool. We had
Swaledales breeding Mule
lambs before foot and mouth
in 2001 and lost our sheep on
the moor that were culled out.
That’s when I realised that if I got
someone in to shear my sheep,
as I used to do it all myself, it
would cost me more than the
wool was worth. I tried different
breeds and chose a Cheviot X
to have a reasonable chance of
surviving on the moor and also
to provide the hybrid vigour
to provide a higher lambing
percentage.’
‘I’m not too bothered about
keeping purebreds, so I play
about with crossbreds, but the
Easycare allows me not to have
to shear and I’ve just bought a
half-Cheviot tup to keep bringing
the Cheviot hardiness. So long
as the ewe sheds its wool that’s
what I’m after.’
‘We’ve made a point of
keeping twin-born ewe lambs as
replacements and our lambing
percentage since we started that
way has gone up from between
150-160 per cent to 170-180 per
cent. We put the Beltex X to our
Easycare X Cheviot ewes and
some have gone to the Suffolk
this year for early lambing.
Those Suffolk X lambs, from
around 100 of our ewes, will
hopefully hit the market around
the end of April when there is
normally a premium price to be
had and help our cashflow.’
‘Like most hill farmers I’m
always glad to see the farm
payment come in and we also
have a higher level stewardship
agreement. While these are
almost guaranteed to come in,
not knowing when is a bit of a
cash flow challenge.’
Of course, everything could
change with regard to farm
MASHAM FOR SHEEP
WENSLEYDALE FOR CHEESE
BROADLEYS FOR INSURANCE
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Proud to be associated with Richard & Polly Findlay
Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
payments and exports now that
Brexit is under way but Richard
is encouraged by the early
stages of the newly elected
government.
‘We, as a country, are much
more in control of our destiny
and that is a big opportunity.
The very decisive result in the
election has provided quite a
bit of clarity. We will be leaving
Europe and there is still a chance,
if negotiations fail, that we could
leave without a deal, which
would be catastrophic for the
country generally but particularly
agriculture. We’d be looking at
tariffs and things we’d want to
avoid at all costs. This govern-
ment realises things can’t change
overnight and that they can’t do
what happened in New Zealand
where subsidies were just cut.’